Entries Tagged 'Value For Money' ↓

In these tough economic times there’s one conundrum that all breeders face: to breed that mare of limited commercial appeal or leave her in the back paddock in the hope that one of her relatives will sort the problem for us. The problem is that even if this does happen, we can’t sell foals that don’t exist and we can’t boost our mare’s breeding record unless her offspring are out there running for us.

It’s well known that some studs will do deals on service fees – and all power to them! Only those operations with significant broodmare bands can afford to ignore this technique of getting their stallions’ progeny out there on the racetrack. However, at the end of the day all breeders have to pay something in the way of a service fee. This article aims to identify five stallions standing at $3000 or less which seem to offer significant value at their advertised fee. They are, in alphabetical order, Colombia, D’Cash, Howbaddouwantit, Mettre En Jeu and Tobique.

Colombia has the virtue of giving you what you want. I’ve used him myself to introduce some quality into a a huge, raw-boned mare and the foal, now a 4YO mare, has turned out just as I’d imagined. His progeny throw much more to his female line than to Zabeel but since his dam is Eight Carat, who cares?

D’Cash comes very much into the same category. I’ve done some recommendations for him and also bred to him myself with some success. His foals aren’t always pretty but he is quite predictable in that the mares you’d hope would work with him do just that.

Howbaddouwantit must be the most under-rated sire in the country. His wins:winners ratio is very respectable as are his winners:runners figures. He throws size and does well with speedy mares.

Mettre En Jeu. Readers of this site will be well aware of my respect for this son of super sire Montjeu, himself far and away the most successful son of Sadler’s Wells in these parts. His yearlings at Karaka looked very impressive and his female line is inbred to the legendary Cinna.

Tobique was a classy galloper whose career was blighted by injury. Some sons of Redoute’s Choice can be very top-heavy but he isn’t and I really liked the way he finished off his races. I think he’s a real sleeper and will be especially suited by mares strong in Grey Sovereign.

Please feel free to contact me about these stallons if you’d like me to develop my thoughts in more depth.

I mentioned in my last article that there were 12 lots with a Cloughmore connection in the 2012 catalogues and promised to give readers some details about them. So here we go.

The Premier Sale includes two recommended matings, both colts. One is by Darci Brahma ex Showileo and the other a son of O’Reilly out of the Group 2 winner Star Affair. The Darci Brahma colt is a standout in terms of athleticism and I’m thrilled by the recent progress of the Danehill – Sadler’s Wells cross, Frankel being the star. The O’Reilly comes from another rock-solid family; he is a good type with an outstanding temperament. Star Way mares are always something of a challenge to mate but this one has already produced a colt and a filly by O’Reilly which have been well received in the sale ring and are showing promise in the early stages of their careers.

The Select Sale features colts by Falkirk – Baci, Bachelor Duke – Lady Cherokee, Magic Albert – Quiet Please, Strategic – Sotela and Iffraaj – Straight Lake.

The Falkirk mating had a significant conformation aspect to it; Baci is a chunky mare and Falkirk was suggested as a stallion which should provide more scope whilst retaining the mare’s speed.

Lady Cherokee is by Cherokee Run from a superb family. Cherokee Run has had mixed success as a broodmare sire but he crosses well with two stallions in particular – Seattle Slew and Mr.Prospector; Bachelor Duke has both these influences close up.

The Magic Albert and Strategic colts were in utero when their dams were purchased by clients; in both cases I felt that the unborn foals contributed significantly to the value of the packages.

As regards Iffraaj, there seems to be a very strong likelihood that his stock will represent good value. Last year his yearlings brought ridiculous prices; now that his second NH crop has not done as well as his first, the market will no doubt over-react. Buyers should remember that Iffraaj was a much better racehorse as a 4YO and a 5YO than he was in his younger days.

The Select fillies are by Pentire ex Eyes Light Up, Thorn Park – Lady Cavalier and Pins – Sheza Gem.

The Pentire is bred on the highly successful Tudor Minstrel – Star Kingdom nick with some strong Djebel influences thrown in. This is a consistent family which has produced some smart fillies over the years.

Consistency is also a major attraction of the Thorn Park filly’s family. The dam was only narrowly beaten at Group 1 level and the sire was selected to inject just a little more class into the pedigree.

The Pins mating for Sheza Gem was an obvious way of reinforcing the key Star Kingdom and Northern Dancer elements of her pedigree. It never pays to ignore the obvious.

Finally, in the Festival catalogue there are the Don Eduardo – Prangelica and the Perfectly Ready – Superbly Bred colts, both very strong matings. The former pedigree imitates that of the classy stayer All In Black; the latter is a mirror pedigree featuring some of the leading stallions and female families of thoroughbred breeding.

Incidentally, photos of the Magic Albert, Don Eduardo, Perfectly Ready and Pins yearlings can be viewed on the Totara Park Stud website.

Please feel free to contact me if you’d like further information on the above yearlings.

Our total of races won may be approaching 500 but never before have three of our representatives been successful on the same day.

Yesterday’s Whangarei meeting featured the Whangarei Cup and the $30,000 final of the Aussie Butcher fillies and mares series. Both were won by brave front-running performances: Ace High – a recommended purchase as a yearling – won the Cup and Highlight – the result of a recommended mating for Northland breeder Terry Archer – narrowly defeated the hot favourite Cap Eden Roc in the latter event. Incidentally, Highlight is a grand-daughter of another Cloughmore recommended yearling purchase, the SW Jetball filly, Superjet.

However, there’s nothing like one of your own horses winning at a metropolitan track. Late in the day, our homebred Shinko King gelding Rising Tide lined up in the Rating 80 1600 event at Trentham. The half-brother to Auckland Cup winner Bodie had won his previous start, a Rating 70 2100 at Awapuni but had little trouble adjusting to the rise in class and reduction in distance. Aided by an excellent ride by Buddy Lammas, Rising Tide threaded his way though the field and accelerated impressively in the last 200 metres.

Shinko King is certainly one of our most consistent sires; if you’re looking to upgrade your mare and – like most of us – are operating on a restricted budget, he’s a horse that really ought to be on your short-list, especially if you’re breeding to race. It’s especially encouraging that he’s also making a promising start as a broodmare sire: the classy 3YO filly Shez Sinsational is out of one of his mares.

As we approach the breeding season, do feel free to get in touch to discuss your plans. For once, mare owners do appear to have the tactical high ground when negotiating stud fees.

There’s no doubt that both the racing and breeding industries are in a significant recession. Costs are going up and returns are travelling in the opposite direction.

Michelle Saba’s excellent article in the most recent edition of the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Bulletin includes some graphic evidence of the financial disaster that Karaka 2011 was for many breeders. If you’re not a member of the NZTBA, it might well be worth your while to email nztba@nzthoroughbred.co.nz to see if they will forward you a copy.

However, I can’t help but think that amidst all the gloom exists a ray of hope. Whenever yearling prices decline, the perceived value of most broodmares follows suit and as the thoroughbred market always over-reacts there could well some buying opportunities in the forthcoming weanling and broodmare sale at Karaka. There’s never any point buying rubbish just because it’s cheap but if the sort of mare that would normally cost $25,000 can be purchased for half that amount – or less – then one should surely entertain the possibility of an investment.

I have some clients keen to form a partnership to buy this sort of mare; if you are also interested, please give me a call. There’s no minimum investment; the plan is to target a young mare with a strong pedigree and a respectable race record so that she will retain her value in the medium term.

On the subject of sales, the deplenishing event hosted by Grangewilliam Stud at Waitotara on Sunday was a revelation. Some 50 weanlings were offered and most found new homes but it was the quality of the stock of Thano that really took the eye. The son of Southern Halo stamps his offspring as regards type: correct, strong hindquarters, great walkers. The appearance of a stallion’s weanlings doesn’t guarantee his ultimate success but it has to be a positive indication that he’s doing something right. Incidentally, there was a stunning colt out of the Oregon mare Oioio passed in (reserve – $3000+GST): I’d really like to buy him in a partnership arrangement so do get in touch if you’d like to be involved.

Thano

Given the outstanding success of More Than Ready, any Group 1 winning son of Southern Halo must be highly rated as a stallion prospect. From a pedigree point of view, however, Thano is rather more than your run of the mill Southern Halo sire.

The affinity between Southern Halo and Danehill is well documented and most breeders with a Danehill line mare will give serious consideration to any son of Southern Halo within their price range. Thano has at least two other strings to his bow apart from his likely affinity with daughters of Danasinga, D’Cash, Cullen….

The first is that he should suit grand-daughters of Mr Prospector particularly well. More than Ready is out of a Woodman mare and Edenwold is out of a daughter of Mining – just two examples of the Southern Halo – Mr Prospector cross. But wait, there’s more. Thano also has Seattle Slew close up in his pedigree and Seattle Slew x Mr Prospector is one of the great nicks of thoroughbred breeding.

The second genetic strength of Thano’s pedigree lies in the similarity of Southern Halo and Seattle Slew: both are bred on a Hail to Reason – Nearctic – Mahmoud – Bold Ruler – Blue Larkspur cross. In other words, we can reasonably expect these major influences to be significant factors in the genes passed on by Thano. All these lines can stand further reinforcement so that mares strong in these influences should suit Thano well. Another approach would be to look for complementary influences for these stallions: Native Dancer, Princequillo and Ribot are three which come to mind.

One of the factors which help a stallion succeed is a broodmare population which suits his pedigree. On the evidence outlined above, Thano would seem to have an excellent chance of becoming a significant stallion.

Handsome Ransom – Great Value!

Last week I outlined some suggestions about how newcomers to the industry could choose a potentially successful broodmare without it costing them a small fortune.

This week’s posting outlines another procedure which I recommend. There are two main ways one can make a profit out of breeding thoroughbreds. One is by the mare increasing in value as a result of her progeny succeeding on the track; the other is by breeding a foal whose sire becomes much more sought after in the time between the conception and eventual marketing of that foal. Identifying such stallions is an exercise to which breeders devote much time.

A stallion whose foals are about to race when you breed your mare to him is your best chance of making a significant capital gain via this approach to breeding. To give an example, I would recommend the Red Ransom sire Handsome Ransom as a case in point. A blazingly fast juvenile himself, he is likely to leave good 2yos; yearling buyers at the last round of sales were clearly of this opinion as Handsome Ransom yearlings fetched excellent prices as compared to his $4000 service fee. This season his fee remains at $4000; if his progeny win good races next year’s fee could well be considerably in excess of this figure.

The next step in the plan should be to buy or lease a mare with a pedigree which is complementary to that of Handsome Ransom. If you are not confident in your knowledge of pedigrees, then there are a number of pedigree advisors such as myself who will be happy to help you. Certainly, I would be looking for a mare with a reasonable amount of speed in her pedigree and I have a strong preference for mares which have won at least one race. It’s one thing to breed a foal by a stallion which is doing well; it’s quite another to breed a foal which buyers can see is likely to have the necessary qualities to win good races.

When you’re advising clients as to the best stallion for their mares, all sorts of factors need to be kept in mind. Obviously the key concern is finding the horse with the pedigree which best matches that of the particular mare, given her conformational and temperamental make-up. However, this is an inexact science and getting it wrong is an occupational hazard. From everybody’s point of view, therefore, it is some consolation if the stallion recommended has done well in general and if he has provided good value for money at the time when the service fee has been paid.

Danroad has already produced a Group 1 winner in his first crop, stands at a bargain fee of $6000 +GST and has a pedigree which suits a wide range of broodmares. He is a horse which has appealed to me since he first retired to
stud. I’ve bred to him and have an impressive 2yo gelding out of a very ordinary little Manntari mare; his placed gelding Outtalimitz was my top colt selection in the 2007 Carnival Sale and I’ve also made several mating recommendations for him.

From a pedigree point of view Danroad has a lot to offer. The bloodlines which have affinity with Danehill are well documented but Rockdale’s pedigree suggests a number of exciting possibilities. Firstly, he’s out of a Danzig – line mare. To date inbreeding to Danzig, especially via male lines, has not been very successful – is this the beginning of a new phenomenon? Secondly, we have the Nijinsky – The Minstrel cross, another genetic combination not normally sought out by breeders. These two close relatives can certainly work well on occasion, Falkirk being an example which quickly comes to mind, but the overall picture is not compelling. Finally, there’s the plodding Vienna lurking back on Rockdale’s female line; is this a suggestion that all our Vaguely Noble blood has finally found a means of recovering its former glory?

I realise that using one horse’s pedigree to draw global conclusions has logical drawbacks, but it may well pay breeders to analyse the pedigrees of Danroad’s best performers in case he is the breed-shaper we all try to find before it becomes obvious to everybody.

Hawkeye is a stallion I rate highly. A five times Group 1 placed horse by one of our planet’s great sires from a mare which has also produced two other Group 1 performers by the same stallion must have serious appeal on this qualification alone. This cross works!

However, what New Zealand breeders are particularly concerned with is whether this successful cross is going to nick with some of our most common bloodlines. In my opinion, this may well happen.

To begin with, most Danehill horses do well with mares with strong Sir Tristram and Star Kingdom lines. Moreover, although the Danehill – Vaguely Noble cross has done particularly well north of the equator, there seems no reason why this shouldn’t happen down here as well. Mr Prospector is now quite common in our boodmare population as are Northern Dancer lines other than Danehill. There are certainly enough mares with complementary bloodlines to give Hawkeye a real chance to succeed.

The potency of these genetic combinations is well known to most breeders, as is the fact the Hawkeye comes from a successful sire-producing family. What particularly interests me is that his female family offers us a chance to reinforce some of the bloodlines that have contributed significantly to the success of the New Zealand thoroughbred. I refer to the Hurry On – Son In Law cross, the cornerstone of many of our most effective staying families. Sires such as Beau Pere, Foxbridge, Summertime and Agricola are justly
respected names in our pedigrees.

Hawkeye’s race record indicates that he has inherited the toughness typical of these bloodlines. How many 3YOs have we seen which have competed successfully in four countries during their classic year – and come back to be competitive at Group 1 level in the following season?

Correctly mated, Hawkeye could be one of the most successful stallions of his generation.

There are three factors I look for when recommending a first-season sire to clients: racing class, toughness and a pedigree that is complementary to that of the relevant mare. Any Suggestion passes the first two tests with flying colours and his pedigree seems to suit a significant cross-section of our broodmare population.

Any Question had blazing speed, running quick times when winning nine times from 900m to 1200m in his home state of Queensland, including one event at Listed level. What impresses me about this is that he wasn’t just a one-paced sprinter, a stallion type which I have learned to avoid. Instead, he showed the ability to quicken off a fast pace; this was particularly evident in his second placing to Miss Andretti in the Group 1 MVRC Australia Stakes. Certainly the great mare went past him to win convincingly, but he too was drawing away from a top class field.

Secondly, I have a strong preference for stallions which have shown their resilience by competing in more than a handful of races. True, some of our most successful stallions of the past have had extremely limited careers, but now that the breed seems to be losing some of that traditional hardiness, it seems logical to prefer a sire whose racetrack performance extended over a number of seasons.

Finally, it makes it a lot easier for a stallion to succeed if he has a pedigree which is complementary with a significant number of mares. For example, Cinna is a name which occurs frequently in New Zealand pedigrees for the simple reason that her descendants have been phenomenally succesful. Not only does Any Suggestion trace directly in tail female to this great mare, but one of the key sires in his pedigree, Vice Regal, is inbred to Cinna via Illustrious and Whistling Wind. Breeding back to such a dominant influence is worth serious consideration. Another pedigree feature of note is Any Suggestion’s inbreeding to Ribot. New Zealand breeders are sometimes unduly suspicious of this great sire, largely because some of his worst-performed and worst-looking offspring found their way to our stud farms. However, there is no doubt that he is one of the planet’s greatest stallions; inbreeding to him can be spectacularly successful.

I have already recommended Any Suggestion to several of my clients; if you would like to discuss him with me, please feel free to get in touch.

To a considerable extent, thoroughbred breeding is all about getting the stallion choice right and at this time of the year breeders are busily attempting to foretell the future. For my first few posts I thought I would focus on a few stallions deserving, in my opinion, of serious consideration.

One such horse is Edenwold. To my way of thinking, any 2YO capable of winning four races on end (including three stakes events) out of eight starts and being elected Champion Canadian Colt of his 2YO generation must be a serious horse. His victory in the prestigious Queen’s Plate over 2000m as a 3YO proved that he could train on and stretch his considerable speed to a middle distance. Prior to this event, the Canadian racing media were skeptical as to whether such a brilliant horse would have sufficient stamina to succeed in one of the major races on their calendar; his performance left no doubt about his courage and tenacity.

Edenwold’s pedigree also looks well suited to New Zealand and Australian racing. The deeds of Southern Halo, especially via More Than Ready, are well documented. Southern Halo x Mr Prospector x Buckpasser is a proven cross and any stallion inbred to such a prepotent mare as Your Hostess must appeal strongly to breeders in this part of the world.

If one adds in his impressive physique and excellent temperament, he does seem to constitute good value at his advertised fee.