Congratulations to Philip Poole, Salopian who bred Salopian Stradale, the 2023 Sire of the Year!

In 2023, the title of Sire of the Year, a prestigious recognition in livestock breeding, award was recalculated following the initial announcement.

Upon reassessment, the Sire of the Year 2023 accolade was bestowed upon Salopian Stradale V87:21:00841, born on December 28, 2020. His top priced son was part of a notable consignment by Stuart Craft of Lakeview at the Lanark 2023 sales. The highlight of this consignment was lot 235, which was acquired for 52,000 guineas in a joint purchase by DP & RA Delves of Bridgeview and TJ & CR Boden of Sportsmans. Additionally, two lots at Carlisle, numbers 577 and 578, sold for 750 and 600 guineas respectively, both consigned by Andrew Hambleton, culminating in a total of 53,350 guineas for the pen and an average of 17,783 guineas.

Salopian Stradale, comes from a lineage of exceptional breeding stock, being a progeny of Solwaybank Rock Solid (Sire of the Year 2021), who was acquired by Salopian for 26,000 guineas at the Scottish Branch sale in Stirling in 2017. Stradale is a full brother to Salopian Solid Gold, a previous breed record holder sold for 200,000 guineas. Stradale himself was sold for 24,000 guineas in a shared purchase by I&J Barbour (Solwaybank), DP & RA Delves (Bridgeview), and Stuart Craft (Lakeview)

Congratulations to Phil & Russ Poole on such a wonderful achievement.

The runner-up for the title was Howgillfoot New Dawn, bred by Lilia Hutchinson of Cumbria. Jointly owned by James Ludgate of Rempstone and Sally Beale of Rookery, New Dawn’s progeny achieved notable success at the National Sale at Shrewsbury. Specifically, lot 228 was purchased by J Innes of Strathbogie for 30,000 guineas, lot 230 by D Taylor of Ballynacannon for 16,000 guineas, and lot 231 by JJ Tooze of Spittal for 2,000 guineas, averaging 16,000 guineas for the top three priced progeny.

The Sire of the Year competition provides insight into the rigorous selection and recognition processes within the livestock breeding industry, emphasising the importance of provenance, and the achievements of both breeders and buyers in the pursuit of genetic excellence.