Dubawi and Frankel top of the charts in TBA Flat Stallion Awards
Dubawi and Frankel topped the list of sires in the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association’s (TBA), annual Flat statistical based awards.
The awards, calculated from racecourse results throughout the calendar year, include both British and Irish statistics for British-based stallions and breeders.
Juddmonte’s Frankel claimed the BBA Silver Cigar Box as Britain’s leading sire by earnings in 2021, bringing an end to Dubawi’s eight-year reign of the award.
With 87 winners in Britain and Ireland amassing £5,209,199, Frankel gained eight new top-level winners in the year, four of whom were successful in Britain and Ireland. Godolphin’s homebred Adayar provided the stallion with his first Derby scorer and was the first three-year-old colt to take the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in a decade. The Normandie Stud-bred Hurricane Lane, third at Epsom, won the Irish equivalent three weeks later before adding the Grand Prix de Paris and St Leger to his record.
Snow Lantern and Inspiral completed the quartet of domestic Group 1 winners for the sire, with victories in the Falmouth Stakes and Fillies’ Mile respectively.
In terms of individual Flat winners, Godolphin stalwart Dubawi, who turned 20 at the start of the new year, retained the Barleythorpe Stud Silver Cup for the fifth successive season. The son of Dubai Millennium’s top domestic performers in 2021 included the Group 1 British Champions Sprint Stakes winner Creative Force, Group 2 City of York Stakes victor Space Blues and Yibir, winner of the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes.
Overbury Stud’s Ardad was awarded the Tattersalls Silver Salver for leading British-based first season sire by Flat earnings.
Amassing 20 individual winners and £489,941 in prize money in 2021, Ardad’s progeny posted big race results in the shape of Group 1 Middle Park Stakes winner Perfect Power, and Group 3 Sirenia Stakes scorer Eve Lodge.
The Queen’s Silver Cup for leading British-based Flat breeder was awarded to Godolphin. H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s thoroughbred breeding operation retained the award for the ninth consecutive year, topping the lists in terms of earnings.
Spearheaded by Adayar’s Classic victory in the Epsom Derby, Godolphin’s domestic season also included Group wins from stable stars Yibir, Space Blues, Benbatl and Real World.
Cable Bay won the British European Breeders’ Fund’s Stallion Special Merit Award for results from the 2021 flat racing season. The award, decided upon by a panel of judges, was awarded to the Highclere Stud resident whose flagbearers included the consistent Group race performer Dragon Symbol, and Liberty Beach, winner of the Group 2 Temple Stakes at Haydock.