The breeding season is still over three months away but there certainly seems to be considerable confidence out there as to the health and well-being of the thoroughbred industry.
In particular, the importation of some highly-credentialled stallion prospects – all of which will be standing at very reasonable fees – is a great boost for breeders looking to improve the quality of their stock and their profitability. Four stallions which have caught my eye are Eagle Mountain, Red Giant, Swiss Ace and TheWayYouAre. All were top class on the track and all have rock-solid pedigrees. Moreover, it’s not difficult to see that compatibility with the local broodmare band is unlikely to be an issue.
Another indicator of confidence is the May Weanling and Broodmare Sale. Traditionally, it has been very much a bargain basement sale but this year seems to have been quite different. For example, I had a client with some $30,000 to spend and together we identified two mares that appeared to be buyable for around $8000 and $15-20,000 respectively. They sold for slightly under $50,000 in total. We did manage to find a passed-in lot with some minor question marks but it certainly wasn’t a simple process since this mare was also being sought after by other interests.
On the home front, results from horses Cloughmore has been involved with are most encouraging. Our flag-bearer to date this year is Race Ahead (4g Al Akbar – Mertie Love by Spectacular Love). Unbeaten in his current four-start campaign in Singapore, he was recently successful in the Group 2 Queen Elizabeth II Cup and plans are for him to contest the Four Year Old Triple Crown which culminates in the Singapore Derby (Group 1). Other black type performers include Galileo’s Galaxy, four times Group placed in South Africa, Tinseltown, All In Tempo and Professional Man. In total we have been associated with 15 individual winners of 23 races worldwide since the beginning of January.
