Cult heroes and champions in both codes: star sires lost in 2025

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We might be accustomed to learning of the death of stallions at regular intervals throughout each year, but sad news in late December about several longstanding members of the National Hunt division did mean that the month has been given a sombre note.

Blue Bresil (20) and Mahler (21) both departed at a good age. However, the jumping ranks were already considerably depleted by the loss of Jukebox Jury (19) in the summer.

A few years ago, Blue Bresil was rivalling Walk In The Park among the most commercial of offerings in Britain and Ireland. A useful stayer on the Flat, he was a particularly astute recruit from France by Yorton Stud in 2016, and his early results prompted Rathbarry & Glenview Stud to swoop at the end of 2019.

It is fair to say that Blue Bresil has been kind to many breeders that used him, but his fortunes have rather waxed and waned with the exploits of his most famous son, Constitution Hill.

When Michael Buckley's gelding had the world at his feet, after running away with the 2022 Supreme, Blue Bresil achieved a giant €107,200 sale average from ten offerings at the Goffs Land Rover (now Arkle) and €98,500 at the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale a few months later.

With Constitution Hill becoming an increasingly perplexing figure, they had slipped to figures of €35,550 and €44,696 respectively in the summer of 2025.

It could be argued that Blue Bresil has not produced enough of note in behind his enigmatic poster boy, which is a worry for those holding his progeny, but he does have his best Irish-bred crops of 200-plus waiting in the wings and something will surely jump forward among them.

Constitution Hill is Blue Bresil's most famous sonCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

While the Cashman family had already snapped up the exciting Jeu St Eloi to take over the mantle, in Irish St Leger winner Jukebox Jury's case there is a big gap left behind at Victor Connolly's Burgage Stud.

The grey, who was brought across from Germany at the end of 2017, had been at the peak of his powers, with his Grade 1 novice hurdler and now potential Stayers' Hurdle horse Honesty Policy, the Champion Bumper winner Bambino Fever and Il Etait Temps, who leads the two-mile chase division after his emphatic success in the Tingle Creek Chase. His sixth Grade 1 win arrived on Saturday – albeit fortunately – through Skylight Hustle at Leopardstown.

Remembered as a kind horse by Connolly, who said he would miss Jukebox Jury "terribly", he is yet another example of the value of National Hunt sires carrying that precious if sometimes fiery Montjeu blood, with his other sons such as Walk In The Park and Authorized among the most coveted names around.

Mahler was never a huge commercial hit but was regarded highly enough to remain in situ at The Beeches Stud throughout his career, and he must be among Galileo's most successful National Hunt sire sons.

Having got as far as finishing second in the St Leger and third in the Melbourne Cup in his only season racing, Mahler might very well have been a top-notch stayer had he made the track as a four-year-old. However, he has managed to produce a string of reliable staying chasers, such as Mahler Mission, Chris's Dream and The Big Dog.

Mahler: The Beeches Stud's Grade 1-winning sire died in December aged 21Credit: Coolmore

Twice the leading point-to-point sire in Ireland, he won't have an heir but, similarly, will have other good horses in the pipeline, such as his most expensive sales representative, the 20-length Quakerstown winner and £370,000 Mags O'Toole Tattersalls Cheltenham purchase Dawn Of Light.

We should not neglect to mention that another Coolmore division, Castlehyde Stud, announced the death of Westerner (25) in the spring. 

The exceptional Wildenstein stayer quietly delivered plenty of good jumpers, such as Cole Harden and Ferny Hollow, and is still holding a podium position in the British and Irish sires' title, chiefly owing to Galway Plate winner Western Fold.

Vinnie Roe, sire of smart chaser Vinndication, never replicated his brilliant career as a four-time Irish St Leger hero, but had a great innings and a happy retirement until the age of 27 at Longford House Stud.

Giants depart worldwide powerhouse

Coolmore's international roster suffered the heaviest losses on the Flat, most notably when illness claimed Wootton Bassett at the age of 17 in September.

While unconfirmed figures are bandied around, we have to assume that the sire was purchased for something equivalent to that of a proven international striker bound for the Premier League when Coolmore prised him from Haras d’Etreham in 2020.

Once bought as a yearling for £46,000, Wootton Bassett can comfortably be regarded as a phenomenon who upgraded the achievements of those mares from his modest early books to such an extent that he came close to being British and Irish champion sire this year. Some experts had wondered whether he could end up having the kind of profound global influence exhibited by another Coolmore giant, Danehill.

His second crop of Irish-bred two-year-olds produced eight Group winners, with the likes of Puerto Rico and Albert Einstein expected to take high rank in the 2026 campaign. Coolmore has since welcomed to stud two of his Classic-winning three-year-olds, Henri Matisse and Camille Pissarro, and it can be assumed they will be given due opportunity to emerge as a credible successor.

Otherwise, there are another three blue-blooded crops for the future, not to mention other aspiring stallions, such as Maranoa Charlie and Wooded, waiting in the wings.

Camille Pissarro, with James Cloney and Michael Nolan, is among the next generation for Wootton Bassett Credit: Coolmore

Coolmore's international division lost two other giants during the year. Fastnet Rock, Australian's champion sprinter and twice its leading sire, is a bona fide southern hemisphere giant who also shuttled to Ireland for more than a decade.

While he reached the grand age of 24, it is somewhat unusual that his most decorated performer, the sensational Via Sistina, appeared so late in his life. That Fastnet Rock has already been Australia's champion broodmare sire for the last two seasons is perhaps the strongest benchmark of his enduring influence.

Meanwhile, So You Think (19), whose matinee idol looks transferred to both achievement on the racecourse and from the stallion barns, will be another who is nearly impossible to replace.

Not many middle-distance horses have managed to replicate top-level success on the reverse journey from the southern to northern hemispheres, but the son of High Chaparral, regarded as "perfection on four legs" by his legendary first trainer Bart Cummings, went on to win five of his total ten Group 1s for Aidan O'Brien in the white heat of European competition.

So You Think was twice runner-up in the Australian sires' title and a horse who anyone lucky enough to have set eyes on him will not forget.

And finally . . .

Imagine if Hawk Wing existed in the present social media age. The purring from his sublime wins in the National Stakes, Eclipse and Lockinge. The outrage after those races he didn't win, such as when coming too late behind Rock Of Gibraltar in the 2,000 Guineas. The high head-carriage, the flashes of Woodman temperament. It would be chaos.

The Racing Post's John Randall explained that his 11-length Lockinge win makes him the best Flat horse Aidan O'Brien has trained. However, his esteemed former colleague, Tony Morris, was never convinced and once called him "a real charlatan".

Hawk Wing's Lockinge Stakes win was unforgettableCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Hawk Wing doesn't exactly deserve a mention for being a stallion; indeed, his best-known product is the lovely old sprint handicapper Hawkeyethenoo. He lasted only a few seasons before being exiled to the racing backwater of South Korea, where interest soon waned even there.

For those of us who were at Newbury on May 17, 2003, none of the conjecture actually matters. The way he emerged alone from the murk like a kind of ghostly apparition, his beautiful dark coat glowing from the sheeting rain, is a defining racing memory to be stored alongside Frankel's Guineas. 

Regardless of whatever he did before or after, he was peerless in that moment. 

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