CONGRATS continues to reaffirm his place as Australia’s most proven first season sire’ with 2YO double at Saratoga last weekend.

The Vinery stallion’s oldest Australian progeny turned two on August 1 but the son of A. P. Indy is already well established as a serious sire in North America.

So much so that he was crowned USA Leading First Season Sire in 2010 in the wake of a phenomenal start to his stud career.

Congrats sired 26 individual 2YO winners including a dozen stakes-horses.

Among those were 4 Grade 1 performers led by Turbulent Descent who went onto win a total of four Group Ones.

Incredibly, 9.9 percent of that crop are now stakeswinners while 89.9 per cent of the total (first) crop are winners.

Congrats has only been able to build on his opening successes with a current tally of 196 winners at a winners-to-runner of 75.1 per cent with 40 black-type performers, 15 stakeswinners/25 stakes-placed.

Given Congrats’ proven ability to sire fast and precocious juveniles on turf and dirt in the USA and in other places, many are expecting the stallion to make a serious play for Champion First Season Sire in Australia in 2014/15.

The horse’s progeny have landed in some of the nation’s most astute stables including those of Warwick Farm trainer Matthew Smith, whose success takes in the Group 1 Myer Classic winner Hurtle Myrtle and the un-tapped Krupt who won the 2008 Group 2 STC Todman Stakes (1200m).

Smith sought out two of Congrats’ first Vinery-conceived yearlings at the 2014 Magic Millions Yearling Sale purchasing a filly out of Magie Francaise and a colt from the celebrated Pebbles’ grand-daughter My Precious.

“We did a bit of research on Congrats in America and it was easy to identify that he was a stallion going somewhere on the figures he was producing in his first season,” Smith commented.

“We bought two horses by home, they were the best ones we could find at the sale, they are really really nice horses.

“They are both currently in work and are really nice horse but we haven’t done enough with them to be able to tell; but they are real good types and pretty forward mentally.

“They are very strong, big types that have continued to improve every time we’ve had them in and out, and I really like (the Congrats) and I’d have no trouble going to buy a few more of them,” Smith concluded.