We're roughly at the halfway point of the Flat season now, with the July Festival in the rearview mirror and Goodwood soon to appear on the horizon, so it seems as good a time as any to assess how the class of 2026 is shaping up when it comes to the first-season sires.The first thing to say is that championship honours remain very much up for grabs, with the four young stallions at the top of the table currently being separated by just four winners. Persian Force leads the way with 12, ahead of Bayside Boy on 10, Blackbeard on nine and Minzaal on eight, with that quartet having rather set themselves apart from the remainder. It's then a four-way tie for fifth spot, with Naval Crown, Perfect Power, Sealiway and Thunder Moon each having been represented by three winners.Of course, quantity is one thing, but what we'll really be looking for in the second half of the season is to see which of these sires can produce the quality to underpin the promising starts they've made.Last year, for example, Starman was the dominant force among the freshman sires with 45 individual winners, but perhaps even more important when it came to highlighting his top-class credentials was his tally of Group winners. Indeed, with four on the board at the end of the season, he achieved something done by only Frankel and Too Darn Hot in the previous decade, earning himself a significant hike in fee to €40,000 (from €10,000) when he embarked on his fifth season at Tally-Ho Stud in 2026.Whilst it's still relatively early days, the class of 2026 will need to start pulling its weight sooner rather than later when it comes to delivering two-year-olds capable of mixing it in black-type company. For context, Minzaal is the only freshman sire based in Europe to have been represented by a black-type winner so far, namely the Listed Prix Yacowlef scorer Crownbreaker, while only three others have had a horse placed in such company.By comparison, nine different European-based stallions produced at least one black-type winner from their first crop of two-year-olds in 2025, with Starman being joined by the likes of Space Blues (Power Blue) and St Mark's Basilica (Diamond Necklace), both of whom were represented by a Group 1 winner.Work to do, then, for the class of 2026 if they're going to endear themselves to breeders already starting to make plans for 2027. Fortunately, time is on their side, while the numerical battle between the four sires currently vying for top spot promises to keep us bloodstock enthusiasts entertained for a few months yet.A Force to be reckoned withPersian Force, a studmate of Starman at Tally-Ho, is currently operating at a strike-rate of 32% winners to runners (12/38). His 12 winners include 11 in Britain and Ireland for whom Timeform ratings are available, led by Goodwood scorer Pershaada (97), who missed out on black type by a nose when last seen finishing fourth in the G2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot.Already Persian Force is responsible for two juveniles who have gained black type, namely the G3 Anglesey Stakes runner-up and G3 Marble Hill Stakes third Immortal Guard (93p), along with the Listed First Flier Stakes second What A Girl Wants (81). The latter remains a maiden after five starts but certainly has the ability to join her sire's growing tally of winners, a list that also includes a couple of potential improvers in Doncaster scorer Noble Raider (87p) and Treasurer (86p), who got off the mark at Salisbury after finishing in mid-division in the G2 Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot.A 4-1 chance when Paddy Power first offered betting on the first-season sires title back in January, Persian Force has 99 juveniles to go to war with, according to Global Stallions, 38 of whom have already appeared on a racecourse. The winners have dried up slightly since Royal Ascot, with Treasurer his only scorer during that period, but there ought to be plenty of ammunition to come, including one of his most expensive yearlings in Salt Lake.A half-brother to Starman's dual Group 3-winning juvenile Lady Iman, Salt Lake is in training with Robson De Aguiar after being bought for 135,000gns at Tattersalls October Book 1.Bayside Boy backers sitting prettyIntroduced as a 100-1 shot with Paddy Power to be crowned leading first-season sire, Ballylinch Stud's Bayside Boy has been the big surprise package among the early pacesetters, albeit he might find it harder to stay there given that he has fewer two-year-olds to run for him than the trio he's battling it out with for top honours.Nevertheless, the son of New Bay will take some budging if he can maintain an impressive strike-rate of 45%, with his 10 winners coming from only 22 runners. They include Hamilton debut winner Sale Shark (94p), who was arguably drawn on the wrong side of the track when finishing fifth in the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot last time, along with Navan maiden winner Barrow Boy (92p) and Blessed Voyager (91p), who has been off the track since getting his sire's British runners off to the perfect start at Newbury back in April.Whilst Bayside Boy is yet to have a runner placed in a black-type race, there's every chance that the best of his 85 juveniles on the ground might not have stepped on a racecourse yet. After all, he didn't make his own debut until this very day (July 16) during his two-year-old season, before peaking late in his three-year-old campaign with victory in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.One for the notebooks is the unraced Bayside Waltz, Bayside Boy's most expensive yearling when knocked down to Blandford Bloodstock for 300,000gns at Tattersalls October Book 1. He is trained by Andrew Balding for owner Saeed Suhail.Minzaal making his moveBlackbeard and Minzaal were most people's idea of the horses to beat among the class of 2026, with Shadwell's Derrinstown Stud resident Minzaal leading Paddy Power's aforementioned market at 10-11, ahead of Coolmore's Blackbeard at 6-4.There remains the possibility that one or the other will end up justifying those short odds, given the sheer weight of numbers that they have behind them, but it's fair to say that progress has been slower than might have been anticipated, certainly in the case of Minzaal, who didn't have his first winner until late-May.In contrast to Persian Force, however, things have really looked up for this son of Mehmas since Royal Ascot, with six of his eight winners coming in the past month alone, boosting his overall winners to runners strike-rate to 21% (8/38).His two most expensive yearlings already feature on that list of winners, including Crownbreaker (94), a half-sister to the G1 July Cup hero Mill Stream, who is now an even more valuable broodmare prospect for Amo Racing following her Listed win at Deauville, having cost them 550,000gns at Tattersalls October Book 1.Minzaal also has a second black-type performer in Minzova, who finished third in the Listed Premio Gino E Luciano Mantovani at Milan's San Siro Racetrack, while Karl Burke's Minzelle (88p) – a 450,000gns purchase at Tattersalls October Book 2 – finished sixth behind Crownbreaker in the Prix Yacowlef, having previously opened her account at Catterick.As for Blackbeard, he has had one more winner than Minzaal from six fewer runners, resulting in a strike-rate of 28% (9/32). He too has had a Listed-placed runner in Italy, namely the Premio Giuseppe de Montel third Crazy Beard, while his Edward Thatch (101p) is the top-rated runner produced by any freshman sire so far, based on Timeform ratings. That colt was an impressive five-and-a-half-length winner of a Cork maiden in early-May, running to a level which suggests he has the ability to mix it in black-type races. He holds Group 1 entries including the Phoenix Stakes and the National Stakes.Salisbury debut winner Sonny Parvenue (89p) falls into a similar bracket, albeit not so highly rated, while don't forget that there could be as many as 84 juveniles by Blackbeard still to appear on a racecourse, and 77 for Minzaal. Certainly, those in the Persian Force camp won't be sleeping easy just yet.Best of the restOnly five other stallions were priced below 100-1 when Paddy Power opened this market, with the Darley pair of Naval Crown (3/19, 16%) and Perfect Power (3/17, 17%) both available to back at 50/1 at that stage. They have each been represented by three winners from a similar number of runners, with Naval Crown's Newmarket's scorer Napa (90) emerging as the best horse produced by either stallion thus far.Space Traveller (2/27, 7%) and Overbury Stud's Caturra (2/23, 9%) then feature in the group on two winners, having been priced up at 20/1 and 50/1, respectively, while 300/1 chance Dubawi Legend (2/9, 22%) also deserves a mention. Based alongside Space Traveller at Starfield Stud, he too is the sire of two winners to date, as well as being the only other European-based first-season stallion to have been represented by a black-type performer. His Harlequin Sky (94) went into the Windsor Castle as a two-race maiden and was sent off at 125/1, but she outdid herself by finishing a close-up third for the Jane Chapple-Hyam stable.In France, the Haras de Castillon residents Thunder Moon (3/7, 43%) and Texas (2/6, 33%) have made promising starts from fairly limited numbers, likewise Marianafoot (2/5, 40%) at Haras des Faunes. However, with 83 juveniles to go to war with, Sealiway will surely take some stopping in the race to be crowned the leading French-based first-season sire in Europe. The Haras de Beaumont stallion has a running tally of three winners from 15 runners at a respectable 20% clip.Last but not least, a word for the racing legends that are Baaeed (0/2, 0%) and Stradivarius (0/2, 0%), both of whom were always going to take a bit of time to get going. It's hopefully just a matter of time before we start to see their progeny appear on Europe's racecourses in larger numbers, with Baaeed having 118 juveniles waiting in the wings and Stradivarius 76.*Statistics up to date following racing on Wednesday, July 15.The post Advantage Persian Force, But All To Play For In First-Season Sire Battle appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.