Run The Numbers – Stallion market cools as fewer sires get fee increases

*The Autumn Sun will stand at a fee of $137,500 during the 2026 Australian breeding season. (Photo: Darren Tindale – The Image is Everything – Bronwen Healy & Darren Tindale Photography)*

Australia’s commercial studmasters are as cautious as they have been since the pandemic when it comes to setting service fees, with a drop in the average service fee for a commercial stallion and the lowest percentage of sires receiving a price increase in six years.

An analysis of the 98 active stallions from 2025 who will again feature on an Australian roster in 2026 shows that just 10, or 10.2 per cent, saw their prices rise. That is down from 12 per cent last year and follows a four-year downward trend since that figure peaked at 23.5 per cent in 2022, at the height of the bloodstock market.

The comparison data also showed that 41.8 per cent of stallions priced at $10,000 and above had a decrease from their 2025 fee. This is the second-highest percentage in that metric since the 2020 season. It was 43 per cent in 2024.

Just under half of those stallions, 47 of 98, had an unchanged fee.

Year	Up	Down	Steady
2026	10.20%	41.80%	48.00%
2025	12.00%	34.80%	53.30%
2024	16.10%	43.00%	40.90%
2023	20.00%	28.60%	51.40%
2022	23.50%	22.50%	53.90%
2021	19.60%	29.90%	50.50%
2020	6.90%	58.60%	34.50%

In 2025, commercial stallion fees hit a historic high, with the average for sires above $10,000 at $45,217. This year, that average has dropped to $42,104, the third-highest for any single year. For reference, all figures quoted include GST.

When looking at that average, it is important to note the impact of the loss of Wootton Bassett, who stood at $385,000 last year before his untimely death. If he had still been at the top of the charts, the annual average would have remained unchanged.

In fact, when we look at the average price of those stallions that stood in both 2025 and 2026, we can see that it increased from $41,842 to $42,002, a 0.2 per cent increase. But that has to do with the size of the increase for those that went up.

Four of the 10 horses with price increases are in the six-figure range. Extreme Choice jumped from $330,000 to $385,000, while champion first-season sire elect Home Affairs leapt from $82,500 to $176,000, the highest percentage jump among those commercial stallions.

The Autumn Sun’s fee also more than doubled, from $66,000 to $137,500, while Ole Kirk jumped into the six-figure club, up from $99,000 to $110,000.

Also joining that club is Coolmore’s star recruit Super Seth, who begins his Australian career at $137,500, having stood at a career high of NZ$75,000 in his final season at Waikato Stud in 2025.

Darley’s Too Darn Hot and Anamoe stay unchanged in their fee, as do champion stallions I Am Invincible and Zoustar.

The total of nine stallions in that $100,000-plus fee range is an increase of two from when fees were first announced last year, although that figure included Snitzel, who died in June, ahead of the 2025 season.

The five other stallions not listed above whose price has risen in 2026 are Harry Angel, Castelvecchio, Hellbent, Cool Aza Beel and Flying Artie.

A noteworthy re-addition to the Australian stallion scene in 2026 is Ghaiyyath, who did not shuttle in 2025. His 2024 fee was $27,500, but on the back of the emergence of a host of first-crop winners, including multiple Group 1 victor Observer, he comes back to Australia at $88,000. He was not counted among those with an increase as he missed a year.

When we compare across the different price ranges, we see the increase in stallions priced $100,000 and above has come at the expense of those at $50,000-$99,000 of which there are 13, three fewer than last year.

The number of stallions priced in the $25,000 to $49,000 range has also slipped from 43 back to 28.

Overall, there are five fewer stallions with a fee above $25,000, down from 60 in 2025.

There are 12 stallions in the $10,000-plus range that will have their first seasons at stud in 2026, three fewer than last year. They are led by Darley’s Tentyris, who stands at $88,000.

The average fee of those new stallions is $31,167. That is the highest average for freshman stallions in Australia since 2023, and a slight increase on the figure of $30,250 recorded in 2025.