Cover image courtesy of Darling View Thoroughbreds
With the Magic Millions Perth Yearling sale done and dusted for another season, it’s opportune timing to delve into the statistics surrounding Western Australia’s leading sire Playing God. A two-time Group 1-winning entire, Playing God was a top-line racehorse himself and with seven crops of racing age on the ground he is proving himself as one of the most exciting stallions to have emerged from the west.
Playing God maintains a stakes winners to runners rate of almost 10 per cent - one of the best in Australia.
Playing God’s yearling sales average has increased almost 400 per cent on his first crop.
This season, Playing God’s yearling sales average reached $120,000 or seven times his stud fee at time of service.
Playing God is represented by eight per cent juvenile stakes performers.
Originally a Mungrup Stud resident until its dispersal in mid-2020, Playing God was quickly snapped up by the Atwell family’s Darling View Thoroughbreds. At the time of acquisition, Playing God’s oldest progeny were just three years old and he had already sired three individual stakes winners headlined by his G1 Kingstown Town Classic winning filly Kay Cee.
Fast-forward almost four years and Playing God is capturing the attention of not only his home-state participants but some biggest names in racing and all for a very good reason.
| 2017/18 | 302 | 8 | 1 | 1 | $363,289 |
| 2018/19 | 203 | 27 | 15 | 1 | $898,210 |
| 2019/20 | 72 | 50 | 25 | 1 | $2,828,487 |
| 2020/21 | 74 | 62 | 37 | 4 | $3,120,593 |
| 2021/22 | 54 | 87 | 44 | 5 | $4,177,815 |
| 2022/23 | 37 | 103 | 43 | 4 | $5,740,426 |
| 2023/24 | 24 | 102 | 42 | 5 | $4,873,847 |
Table: Playing God's General Australian Sires ranking
Playing God’s career continues to flourish with the boom sire recently emerging into the top 25 general sires by earnings for the first time in his short career. With limited foals in his first two crops, Playing God was forced to do it the hard way but it wasn’t long before the son of Blackfriars emerged as one to watch. While his first crop included the stakes-winning juvenile Lordhelpmerun, Playing God’s progeny have flourished with age.
His 35 first-crop foals include five individual stakes winners and almost 80 per cent of those that have raced have won at least once.
Since 2020, Playing God has been represented by at least four stakes winners every season. It appears the Darling View Thoroughbreds-based sire is in for his best season yet having already sired five stakes at this early point in the season. A break-through victory for the Neville Parnham-trained Bustler in the G1 Railway S. last December handed Playing God a second elite victory which elevated him into the upper echelon of Australian sires by earnings.
In a testament to his versatility, Playing God’s ability to produce racehorses of all walks of life is highlighted in the fact his five stakes winners this season hail from three different crops.
| 24 | Playing God | 102 | 5 | 5% | $4,922,017 |
| 1 | I Am Invincible | 312 | 14 | 4% | $23,817,400 |
| 19 | Street Boss | 116 | 4 | 3% | $5,373,628 |
| 6 | Savabeel | 154 | 5 | 3% | $9,061,210 |
| 5 | Teofilo | 31 | 1 | 3% | $9,464,970 |
| 4 | Snitzel | 223 | 7 | 3% | $10,739,848 |
| 7 | Pride Of Dubai | 170 | 5 | 3% | $8,377,673 |
| 3 | Zoustar | 306 | 7 | 2% | $12,719,974 |
| 22 | Tavistock | 139 | 3 | 2% | $5,181,982 |
| 8 | Capitalist | 249 | 5 | 2% | $7,309,682 |
Table: Top 10 sires by stakes winners/runners percentage
While Playing God sits in 24th place on the Australian General Sires' Premiership, he is the leading sire by stakes winners to runners. From just 102 runners this season, Playing God has averaged five per cent stakes winners to runners while his nearest rival and reigning Champion Sire I Am Invincible has managed four per cent stakes winners to runners. Overall, the Western State super sire manages almost 10 per cent stakes winners to runners which is almost identical to that of Australia's pin-up stallion I Am Invincible and all based off a very modest service fee.
| 2023 | $33,000 |
| 2022 | $27,500 |
| 2021 | $16,500 |
| 2020 | $13,200 |
| 2019 | $11,000 |
| 2018 | $11,000 |
| 2017 | $4,400 |
| 2016 | $4,400 |
| 2015 | $4,400 |
| 2014 | $6,600 |
Table: Playing God's service fee by season, fees inc GST
Commencing stud duties in 2014 off an opening stud fee of $6600, (inc GST) Playing God covered just 49 mares. For the next three seasons he would cover a similar number of mares at a reduced fee of $4400 (inc GST) before his first crop of runners made a significant impression on the racetrack. From just eight runners, Playing God sired the winner and third placegetter of the G3 WATC Sires’ Produce S. in Lordhelpmerun and Platoon. A promising start to his stud career warranted the then Mungrup Stud’s decision to increase his fee to $11,000 (inc GST) and it certainly didn’t deter customers with a 33 per cent increase in mares covered on his previous season. A break-through victory from Kay Cee in the 2019 edition of the G1 Kingston Town Classic amongst a host of stakes and city performers all but solidified Playing God’s stud career.
Unsurprisingly, the exciting young sires fee was adjusted to $13,200 (inc GST) for the 2020 breeding season when he was acquired by Darling View Thoroughbreds. Producing at least four stakes winners every season from there on in, Playing God’s 16 individual stakes winners across seven racing seasons has him justifiably the equal highest priced Western Australian stallion on record standing at the same fee as Mungrup Stud’s own recently-deceased Oratorio at $33,000 (inc GST). Again the market didn’t waver at the boost in fee with the 16-year-old covering his largest book of mares last season (144).
| 2024 | $119,423 |
| 2023 | $113,521 |
| 2022 | $93,540 |
| 2021 | $52,728 |
| 2020 | $75,772 |
| 2019 | $39,375 |
| 2018 | $36,133 |
| 2017 | $24,423 |
Table: Playing Gods's yearling sale prices per season
Breeders nor buyers shirked at the increased stud fees with an overall uptick in his yearling sale averages in the last few years. Demand for Playing God’s first crop of yearlings was unremarkable with his 13 yearlings fetching a modest average of $24,500 or almost four times his service fee.
A six-figure yearling coupled with a healthy sales average of over $75,500 in 2020 signified a healthy future for the promising stallion. A dip in 2021 during the height of the pandemic was quickly rectified after he posted four and five stakes winners in successive seasons and solidified himself as Western Australia’s leading sire. Maintaining a sales average well into the six figure range at last week’s Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale was headlined by a dream result for Mungrup with Bustler’s full sister fetching a record-breaking $625,000 to the bid of Sheamus Mills Bloodstock (FBAA).
While some may note that Playing God’s results are all based in the west, last week’s sales results are reflective of the respect that some of the industry’s major players have for the stallion.
