Proven value sires

Bated Breath and Oasis Dream have been highlighted as proven value sires in their price range.

Taken from Thoroughbred Daily News, 31st January 2021:

15,000 to 20,000

One would be hard-pressed to nominate a sire in this price range that has compiled a body of work over a career that compares with Oasis Dream's. The 21-year-old former Gr.1 July Cup winner was fast out of the gate with his first crop and soon established himself as a world-class sire, with the likes of Midday, Muhaarar and Power among his 17 Group 1 winners. The dark bay stood for up to £85,000 at Juddmonte's Banstead Manor Stud, and is this year down to a career-low £20,000.

His 9.5% rate of stakes winners to runners puts Oasis Dream in a class with sires that stand for many multiples of his fee, and he likewise gets 66% winners/runners. The dip in his fee goes hand-in-hand with the reality that his numbers of stakes winners have levelled off in recent seasons, but an average of seven per season since 2016 is still nothing to scoff at, and he is still turning out Group 1 winners, with three of his 17 having come since 2016: Muarrab won the Gr.1 Dubai Golden Shaheen as a seven-year-old in 2016 while Pretty Pollyanna and Polydream won the Gr.1 Prix Morny and Gr.1 Prix Maurice de Gheest, respectively, in 2018.

Oasis Dream has sired 122 stakes winners and his daughters have produced 58 stakes winners and five Group 1 winners. He had a remarkable year in 2020 alone as a broodmare sire, with Gr.1 Irish 2000 Guineas winner Siskin, Gr.1 Melbourne Cup winner Twilight Payment, Gr.1 Cox Plate scorer Sir Dragonet and Gr.1 Prix Saint-Alary victress Tawkeel on his honour roll in addition to standout juveniles Miss Amulet and Chindit. A mark of his consistent brilliance is that Oasis Dream is still well-supported in the sales ring, too: his 29 yearlings sold in 2020 averaged €86,669/£76,604. It's hard to imagine a horse in Oasis Dream's price range with a better chance to get a breeder anything from a sales horse to a potential broodmare or a top-class runner.

10,000 to 12,500

A Group 2-winning sprinter for Roger Charlton who was second in four Group 1s, Bated Breath marked himself out early as a prolific source of high-class winners, his first three crops including the likes of Gr.2 Rockfel Stakes and Gr.3 Albany Stakes winner Daahyeh, Gr.2 Railway Stakes winner Beckford, Gr.2 Dahlia Stakes and Gr.3 Prix Minerve Stakes winner Worth Waiting and Gr.2 Boomerang Stakes and Gr.3 Jersey Stakes scorer Space Traveller.

The bay has continued to build on those results, and in 2020 notched his first Group 1 winner in the Gr.1 Matriarch Stakes victress Viadera. Bated Breath's juveniles had another outstanding year, too, in 2020, highlighted by Makaloun winning the Gr.3 Prix de Conde and Cairn Gorm taking the Gr.3 Prix de Conde. His winners to runners ratio is 60.2%, and the crop bred after his first successful season with three-year-olds are three themselves in 2021. His yearlings are providing a return for their breeders and pinhookers, too: 53 sold at auction last year realized an average of €50,018/£44,162 that was 4.4x their £10,000 covering fee.