Entries Tagged 'Thoroughbred Broodmares' ↓
May 15th, 2016 — News, Thoroughbred Broodmares
Who would have thought it? The May sale has traditionally been an event used by breeders to unload stock deemed to be unworthy of the expense of being taken through the winter. Now we have a sale in which the median price has increased by 188% and the average price over all lots sold doubled compared to last year’s figures.
Do these prices indicate a new dawn for the breeding industry or are there factors which make these stellar results a mere flash in the pan? There seem to have been three factors which boosted the prices of weanlings. Many had strong pedigrees, a significant proportion were well conformed and well presented and there was a strong Chinese and Australian interest in the catalogue.
However, what was of more significance, in my opinion, was that the prices of broodmares also improved dramatically. The average rose from $6148 to $17,507, the median from $2000 to $4500 and the clearance rate was a stunning 91%. You can understand people wanting to invest in great looking weanlings with strong pedigrees, but with broodmares it’s all about what you can’t see in front of you. If a mare has already left unsuccessful progeny, are they slow-maturing, the victims of poor handling or accidents, or are they just plain slow? If the mare is in foal to an average sire, is her pedigree going to dominate that of the stallion? If she’s in foal to a successful sire, is he going to be able to produce a foal which is an improvement on the mare’s previous produce?
My view is that the broodmare results are very encouraging indeed. The clearance rate was unparalleled in my memory. Buyers, several of whom appear to be new to the industry, seemed to be determined to buy a mare in spite of the fact that she cost them twice what they would have expected to pay 12 months ago. Moreover, unlike the weanling portion of the catalogue, the broodmare section didn’t seem overly strong on paper: it wasn’t difficult to figure out why most mares were being put up for sale.
Let’s hope that this positive trend continues.
July 27th, 2008 — Choosing A Stallion, How To, Thoroughbred Broodmares, Value For Money
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.
July 13th, 2008 — How To, Thoroughbred Broodmares
One question I’m often asked is what guidelines are there for people getting involved in breeding thoroughbreds for the first time. In particular, how can one select a mare which has a reasonable chance of becoming a successful broodmare.
For the purposes of this article I’m assuming that there is a sale coming up in which a significant number of mares are being offered for sale. I suggest that newcomers focus on mares which have won at least one race; sometimes racehorses, no matter how impressive their pedigrees, just don’t want to be racehorses – in other words, they don’t try. These mares are to be avoided because they tend to leave foals which demonstrate exactly the same fault. There’s nothing more soul-destroying for a breeder to produce a stunning foal, spend vast sums of money raising it – maybe even put it into training themselves – only to discover that the horse just doesn’t have the competitive spirit. Being a race-winner doesn’t automatically guarantee that a mare is courageous – she may have won a weak maiden race early in her career and then decided that enough is enough – but it is certainly a positive indicator. Needless to say, finding a mare which has won, even in modest company, in each of two or three seasons, is a great way to start your selection process.
The second thing to look for is a consistent family. If a mare is a winner and is from a winning dam which has produced a series of winners, then the conclusion is obvious: if one chooses a suitable stallion, the resulting foal should have a good chance of following the family tradition. Conversely, the sort of mare to avoid is one whose dam has had several foals, few of which have either been to the races or been successful. A significant percentage of non-runners may indicate conformational or temperament problems; a significant percentage of non-winners implies strongly that the mare is not passing on desirable genes.
Finally, and this is where some degree of expert help is required, an assessment needs to be made as to the quality of stallions which have served the mares in the family under consideration. If a family has a record of producing useful winners by average, or worse, stallions then this is a family with room for improvement. If one can find a winning mare from such a family and the mare herself is by a decent stallion, then this the sort of mare one ought to consider buying.
Next week: some further pitfalls to avoid.
