Starting in April 2011, no fewer than 9 of the top 150 sires either died or were pensioned. It's pretty remarkable when you break it all out in terms of earnings and stakes winners. The breakdown is after the jump.
| Sire | Date Died/Ret | Influential Sires (Rank) | SWs | Earnings | Top Progeny | Notes |
| A.P. Indy | Ret APR11 | Malibu Moon (9) Bernardini (12) Mineshaft (18) Pulpit (23) Jump Start (44) Full Mandate (61) Flatter (67) |
140 | $112 Million | Rags to Riches | Way too many awesome progeny to list |
| Bernstein | Died OCT11 | -- | 70 | $34 Million | None | Lots of Solid ARG and JPN horses |
| Bertrando | Ret DEC11 | Officer (54) | 54 | $41 Million | Karelian | California Sire |
| Dynaformer | Died MAY11 | -- | 129 | $104 Million | Americain Perfect Drift Dynever Barbaro |
|
| Grand Slam | Died MAR12 | Limehouse (97) Stronghope (133) |
73 | $61 Million | Cajun Beat | |
| In Excess | Ret JUL11 | Indian Charlie (63) | 50 | $35.5 Million | Notional Musical Chimes |
|
| Indian Charlie | Died DEC11 | -- | 61 | $43 Million | Uncle Mo Indian Blessing |
|
| Rahy | Died SEP11 | -- | 91 | $96 Million | Serena's Song Fantastic Light Dreaming of Anna |
Broodmare Sire of Giant's Causeway Broodmare Sire of Life At Ten |
| Royal Academy | Died FEB12 | Bel Esprit | 160 | $120 Million | Val Royal |
Major International Sire Grandsire of Black Caviar Half to dam of Storm Cat |
A few interesting notes:
- AP Indy is awesome. Nothing else needs to be said. It's difficult to put into words how influential he is. But this does a pretty good job.
- I always find it interesting how California sires have their own niche cut out for them. You very rarely ship anyone in to breed to them, but they really have a great state-internal breeding program out there.
- Dynaformer is amazing. And I admit he is one of my all time favorite stallions.
- I always liked Grand Slam. His breeding is clever, with an inbreeding of Bold Ruler through Gone West and through his female tail. Plus he's a direct female descendant of Reine-de-Course Plum Cake, whose offspring include a Broodmare of the Year and Alydar. Plus his dam (Bright Candles) is the best daughter of the best daughter of the daughter of Plum Cake. Kinda stretching a bit there, but no denying its a great bloodline.
- Crazy that In Excess and his son Indian Charlie were out of the mix the same year.
- Indian Charlie really didn't have many great progeny hit the track.
- Rahy was(is) a great broodmare sire.
- Royal Academy was a half to Pancho Villa, a solid sire, and to Terlingua, the dam of Storm Cat. He's out of a hell of a nice broodmare.
- And man, did Royal Academy make some really nice sprinters.
This isn't all inclusive, just the big ones that caught my eye and/or I remembered. Not a whole lot of insight here, just a ton of great horses that left the shed in the past 14 months.
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