The British champion now heads all active National Hunt sires in GB and Ireland.
A constant flow of winners, headlined in the last week with a second Grade 1 victory for Tea For Two at Aintree, has boosted Kayf Tara to the head of the list of all active National Hunt sires in Britain and Ireland and second only to the great King’s Theatre in the table, less than £100,000 in prize-money behind the reigning champion.
A fantastic 37% strike-rate for winners to runners this season has seen Kayf Tara easily pass the £2 million mark for progeny earnings, with his most recent scorers including not just G1 Betway Bowl winner Tea For Two but also the 10-year-old No Planning, who won his eleventh race at Newcastle on Saturday, and A Little Magic, who struck for the third time this season for Jonjo O’Neill and JP McManus at Market Rasen on Saturday.
The Grand National meeting also saw some decent performances from Kayf Tara’s runners. Blaklion was sent off joint-favourite for the big race itself and ran a valiant race, jumping superbly throughout, to finish fourth to One For Arthur. Don Poli’s three-pars brother Debece was beaten less than a length when third in the G1 Sefton Novices’ Hurdle with another Kayf Tara gelding, the Grade 2 winner Constantine Bay, just behind him on fourth. Meanwhile, four-time winner No Comment took second in the G3 Gaskells Handicap Hurdle.
The season has been laced with Kayf Tara’s offspring featuring prominently in many major races, not least Thistlecrack’s scintillating victory in the G1 King George VI Chase on Boxing Day and Special Tiara’s deserved success in the G1 Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham. Every single one of his 105 individual winners this term have made it a season to remember – and it’s not over yet.
