Zoustar top sire in the world with Australian record of individual winners in 2024

Super stallion Zoustar will be the most successful sire in the world this year after passing the Australian record for most individual winners.

Zoustar is the world’s leading sire of winners this season after breaking the Australian record for most wins in a calendar year. Picture: Widden Stud

Widden Stud’s super stallion Zoustar will finish 2024 as a dual world champion sire.

Zoustar’s wins with Zoology and Zouprince last weekend gave the stallion the Australian record for most individual winners in a calendar year, passing the previous mark set by Exceed And Excel of 285 achieved in 2017.

With 289 individual winners and counting, Zoustar is a clear leader on the world rankings, nearly 40 winners in front of champion American sire Into Mischief with only two weeks remaining in the year.

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Zoustar has sired the winners of a remarkable 501 races globally this year which is more than 50 wins clear of his nearest rival, meaning Widden’s wonder sire will be a two-time world champion.

He joins legendary stallions Danehill and More Than Ready as the only horses to sire the winners of more than 500 races in a calendar year.

“Zoustar is in rare territory now,’’ Widden Stud supremo Antony Thompson said.

“He will end 2024 as the world’s leading sire of individual winners and the leading sire of overall race wins. He’s also sired 22 stakes winners and his progeny have won more than $40m in a calendar year.

“It’s also worth nothing he has sired a US Breeders Cup winner and an Eclipse-award winning two-year-old filly in England this year so he is truly a global stallion.’’

Thompson said the decision was made not to send Zoustar back to England’s Tweenhills Stud for the northern hemisphere breeding season starting early next year.

“We have kept him at home, he is so valuable to our breeding industry and for Widden Stud,’’ Thompson said.

Zoustar, who was the leading sire at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale earlier this year, has 39 yearlings catalogued for the Magic Millions Sale on the Gold Coast next month.

Originally published as Zoustar top sire in the world with Australian record of individual winners in 2024