Run The Numbers – The world’s most successful sires of 2025
With the calendar year about to come to its conclusion, Run The Numbers looks at which sires are the global leaders for overall winners, with a former shuttle sire to Australia leading the way.
The expectations of Mendelssohn, the son of Scat Daddy, were sky high from the moment he arrived at Clarkeland Farm in Kentucky in early 2015. His dam, Leslie’s Lady, had already produced Group 1 winners Beholder and Into Mischief, who would become a record-breaking stallion.
With that pedigree, it was no surprise to see him top the Keeneland Yearling Sale at US$3 million, purchased by Coolmore, who put him into work with Aidan O’Brien. Mendelssohn franked that investment by winning both the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and the UAE Derby, the latter by an extraordinary 18 lengths.
He would start second favourite in the 2018 Kentucky Derby won by another future Coolmore star, Justify. Mendelssohn was eased down at the rear of the field.
The parallels between the two sons of Scat Daddy did not end there. They both debuted together at Coolmore’s American base Ashford Stud in 2019, before both were sent to Australia later that year.
The hype on unbeaten Triple Crown winner Justify was understandably massive, and he served 149 mares, pretty much a maximum for a shuttle stallion, in that first Australian season. In comparison, Mendelssohn served 71 mares and produced a crop of 42 foals in what would be his only Australian contribution.
Justify produced 65 winners and five stakes winners from that first southern hemisphere crop, while Mendelssohn’s numbers were comparatively humble, with 20 winners and two stakes winners.
After that year, Coolmore decided to send Mendelssohn on the same path as his own sire Scat Daddy, shuttling him to Haras Don Alberto in Chile. It proved the making of him.
Five years later, Mendelssohn is poised to become the most successful sire in the world in 2025 when it comes to the volume of individual winners.
As things stand, he has 324 individual winners, well clear of his closest rival, which is Australia’s own Zoustar (285).
Mendelssohn’s 2025 winners have come in a remarkable 20 individual countries, with 147 of them in the United States and 128 in Chile. He has had 11 in Canada, eight in Peru, and six each in Australia and Puerto Rico.
Among those 324 winners there have been 23 stakes winners, nine in Chile and eight in the USA. There have been three Group 1 winners, Created and Apolo Rey in Chile and Khamal in Peru. Combined his progeny have won 600 races globally, with the equivalent AU$21.8 million in progeny earnings.
Zoustar was the world’s most prolific sire when it came to winners in 2024 but will have to settle for second position this year. As mentioned, he currently has 285 winners, 19 of them stakes winners, with success in 21 different countries. His progeny won 459 races and AU$35.6 million in prize money.
The vast majority of Zoustar’s winners came in Australia, where he has had 188, with 13 stakes winners, including two Group 1 winners, Joliestar and Schwarz.
Zoustar had 38 winners in Great Britain, including two stakes winners, while his other Group 1 winner came via King Of Gosford in the United States, where had seven winners.
Third on the global list is another Australia resident, Toronado, who has 277 winners, his best annual haul, up 20 from his 2024 total.
The Swettenham Stud-based son of High Chaparral, who was set to miss this year’s Australian season but rebounded from a potentially career ending injury, has had winners in 26 different jurisdictions.
Of those winners, 168 came in Australia, 63 in France and 12 in Hong Kong. Australia was responsible for six of his eight stakes winners of 2025. His progeny have won 431 races and AU$23.6 million in prize money.
Fourth on the list is Constitution, who like Mendelssohn, has shuttled between North and South America. He has had 235 winners, with 13 stakes winners, who have banked AU$25.3 million.
Into Mischief, Mendelssohn’s half-brother, is destined to become America’s champion sire for the seventh time this year. But having never shuttled, he doesn’t have the number of runners to challenge for overall volume of winners.
He is placed fifth, with 232 winners across 386 different races. His list of winners this year includes champion American three-year-old Sovereignty as well as fellow Grade 1 winners Ted Noffey, Patch Adams, Tommi Jo and Tappan Street. He has had winners in 14 different countries.
Rounding out the top 10 are Practical Joke (228), Goldencents (219), American Pharoah (212), Kizuna (211) and Wootton Bassett (205).
The second most winners from an Australian-bred sire is Capitalist with 200.
Kizuna leads all global stallions when it comes to progeny earnings with the equivalent of AU$52.6 million, clear of Into Mischief, with Lord Kanaloa on AU$49.9 million.
Leading global stallions by winners in 2025
All data courtesy of Arion.co.nz
Author
Related Articles
Run The Numbers – A Romantic odyssey
As Romantic Warrior closes in on becoming the first horse to earn more than AU$50 million in prize money, Run The Numbers looks at world racing’s biggest earners.
Run The Numbers – Eight Northerlys – Bob Peters’ extraordinary WA domination
A race named after one Western Australian Hall Of Fame inductee has been completely dominated by another, with Bob Peters winning his eighth edition of the Northerly Stakes as both an owner and breeder, this time with a horse by a shuttle stallion out of a female line which extends back over 200 years in Australia.
Run The Numbers – Following the Snitzel trail
The comparisons between Russian Revolution and Snitzel were inevitable after son followed father as a winner of the Oakleigh Plate. It was always a hard act to follow at stud, but as Run The Numbers finds out, the Newgate resident is doing a good job of keeping pace.