Cover image courtesy of Coolmore
It has been well-documented that Justify (USA) has made one of the best starts to stud of the modern era and taking a look at his statistics certainly supports those bold claims.
Justify maintains a stakes winners to runners strike rate of over 10 per cent worldwide.
Justify’s average yearling sale price has increased over 80 per cent since his first offering in 2022.
Sixty per cent of all Justify’s Southern Hemisphere bred stakes winners hail from mares by Fastnet Rock.
This season, Justify yearlings have fetched over eight times their service fee.
A Champion racehorse himself, from only two crops to date Justify has sired 26 worldwide stakes winners including six at Group 1 level. The sire of last season’s leading 2-year-old filly Learning To Fly as well as this year’s G1 Golden Slipper favourite Storm Boy, Justify is certainly making his temporary home of Australia one worth living.
| 2023/24 | 40 | 19 | 2 | 3 | 5% | $3,398,630 |
| 2022/23 | 21 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 14% | $1,999,312 |
Table: Justify's (USA) results per season
Crowned last season’s Champion First Season Sire, Justify has continued his red-hot form having added three stakes winners to his name already this season. This has the Coolmore Stud phenomenon striking at an incredible 10 per cent stakes winners to runners which is far superior to his nearest rivals. Last season he sired G2 Reisling S. and G3 Widden S. winning filly Learning To Fly, G3 SAJC Sires’ Produce S. winner Air Assault and Listed ANZAC Day S. winner Legacies.
The current season’s leading sire of 2-year-olds, Justify is headlined by the brilliant Storm Boy who backed up his G3 BJ McLachlan S. win with an emphatic victory in the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic on the Gold Coast earlier this month. Not just a sire of precocious juveniles, Air Assault added further black type to his name with a Listed SAJC Hill Smith S. victory while talented filly Star Of Justice is his first stakes winner in New Zealand having claimed the G3 Barneswood Farm S. earlier in the season.
| 2024 | 12 | 10 | $4,553,148 | $1,300,000 | $509,259 | $455,314 | $384,444 | $55,000 |
| 2023 | 58 | 50 | $10,460,700 | $1,400,000 | $750,000 | $209,214 | $130,000 | $66,000 |
| 2022 | 74 | 66 | $16,140,580 | $1,000,000 | $900,000 | $244,554 | $183,458 | FOA |
Table: Justify's (USA) sales averages per season
It comes as no surprise that the demand for Justify stock has increased considerably with the average price of his yearlings almost doubling since his first crop was offered in 2022.
Justify’s first crop of yearlings commanded an average price of $244,500 which was only second behind The Autumn Sun ($305,000) for average yearling price of the first-season sires of that year. A slight dip in 2023 was likely due to a slightly sluggish start (by Australian standards) with him only being represented by two pre-Christmas starters.
With his best daughter making her race debut in the G3 Widden S. in late January of the same year, whispers of Justify started to intensify and so did his results at the 2023 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
All 10 lots offered found homes at an average price of $344,000 with the top offering setting back connections a healthy $750,000. Consistent racetrack results and a slightly reduced stud fee has his average yearling price climbing over 80 per cent on his initial offering to over $455,000 which is over eight times his service fee for that crop.
| Learning To Fly | Ennis Hill | Fastnet Rock | Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale | $900,000 |
| Air Assault | Elegant Eagle | Zabeel | Inglis Premier Yearling Sale | Passed In, Reserve $100,000 |
| Storm Boy | Pelican | Fastnet Rock | Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale | $460,000 |
| Legacies | Abyssinie | Danehill Dancer | Homebred | - |
| Star Of Justice | Fair Isle | Fastnet Rock | New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale | $190,000 |
Table: Justify's (USA) progeny by damsire and sale
Sixty per cent of Justify’s five Southern Hemisphere stakes winners are out of daughters of Fastnet Rock. Both Learning To Fly and Storm Boy are from mares by Coolmore’s own Fastnet Rock, while the Pencarrow-bred and -sold Star Of Justice hails from the Fastnet Rock mare Fair Isle (NZ).
Of his 14 runners from Fastnet Rock mares, four of them have won which has the nick striking at an incredible 28 per cent winners to runners. Aside from the three Southern Hemisphere stakes winners previously mentioned, the cross is also represented by an American stakes winner in the form of Listed Churchill Downs Edward Brown S. winner Just Steel (USA), who is a son of exported G1 Australian Guineas winner Irish Lights.
A decision to rest the globetrotting stallion from shuttling to Australian in the 2022 season means we will be without a crop of Justify yearlings next year. However, with an outright G1 Golden Slipper favourite and strong offerings to come at the remaining Australian yearling sales this year, Justify is almost certain to have plenty of admirers in the couple of months and years to come.
