It’s difficult enough to choose the right stallion for your mare but it’s even more challenging when you are shooting entirely blindfolded. I’ve always has a strong preference for third or fourth season stallions as by that stage breeders have some idea what a stallion’s progeny look like. In particular, if the horse throws conformational or temperament problems, it’s always nice to know about these before one invests the hard-earned.
Nevertheless, it is one of the mysteries of the universe that yearling buyers seem to have a mystical affinity with the untried and unproven. And, as we all know, it’s nice to be able to get good money for a yearling so the temptation to humour buyers and give them what they want is very hard to resist. We may end up by devaluing our mares but fashion and short-term gain seems to win every time. Beats me.
Anyway, having got that off my chest and admitting that, up to a point, I have no idea what I am commencing to write about, this year’s new stallions don’t seem to be a bad lot at all.
I’ll admit that I have a soft spot for Turn Me Loose. Strength, speed and class are attributes we broodmare owners are always strongly attracted by and the son of Iffraaj had all three qualities in abundance. Sure, you wouldn’t want to risk sending a Danehill- line mare to him but there are no other leading bloodlines that we would have reservations about. His fee also appears very reasonable.
A second horse which really appeals is Wrote. If you win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and are by High Chaparral from a mare descending from Special, you must have a decent chance of making it as a stallion. If you stand at the bargain fee of $5000 you start to look very attractive indeed.
And then there’s Vadamos. Any stallion with an annual Timeform of 126 is a pretty handy animal and you’ve got to be a very high-class racehorse indeed to win the Chantilly Prix du Moulin de Longchamp, often referred to as the mile championship of Europe. As a bonus, he’s bred on the same cross as Melbourne Cup winner Protectionist. $15,000 seems very fair value.
Please do not draw the conclusion that the other seven newcomers have little to recommend them. All in all, they are a highly promising group of stallions and let’s hope they all leave stunning progeny
