Entries Tagged 'Value For Money' ↓
May 9th, 2020 — Choosing A Stallion, Horse Racing, Value For Money
Readers of this page will be well aware that I’m a fan of Pure Champion. In an era where young stallion prospects are hustled off to stud after a few starts, the son of Footstepsinthesand and the Danehill mare Castara Beach is in another league.
Starting 50 times over seven seasons and winning eight times in four different countries and amassing well over NZ$1 million is a combined achievement that few horses can match. Throw in a range of black type wins and placings, culminating in a Group 1 victory in the Windsor Park Plate (1600) as a 7YO and you’ve got a very special thoroughbred.
Unfortunately, our breeders haven’t seen Pure Champion in anything like the same light. He has 15 3YOs 26 2YOs and just 11 yearlings so it’s going to be a challenge for him to make his mark as a stallion. There’s also no doubt that his progeny are imposing types who are taking their time to mature.
However, today was break-through day with the stallion recording his first winner. The interestingly-named Manhattan Spector (ex Red Opal by Red Clubs) sat outside the leader in a well-contested $31,500 maiden at Ballarat, hit the front at the 300 and fought gamely to gradually ease away from the opposition.
Having run second at his previous start, today’s victory was no surprise. Whilst not seeming entirely at home on the Heavy 8 surface, this tough performance was strongly reminiscent of his sire’s will to win. You’d also have to think that Manhattan Spector would be well suited by distances beyond 1500.
The other surprising thing about the comparative lack of patronage Pure Champion has received is that he has an excellent pedigree which complements several of our most significant bloodlines.
Last Spring I supported him with a couple of my own mares: Chambon (Jimmy Choux – Glam Girl by Galileo) and Zayzay (Fast ‘n’ Famous – Cielo by Stravinsky).
If you’re thinking of using this stallion, do feel free to get in touch. This season’s mating advice is entirely free of charge.
February 2nd, 2020 — Horse Racing, Value For Money
Well, that’s never happened before. It’s rare enough to have two representatives in a black type event but a one-two finish is pretty much the stuff of dreams.
El Gladiador has looked like a good horse in the making since his 2YO days but until yesterday appeared to be indicating that more time and more distance would be required for him to show his best form. The long-striding Ghibellines – Querella gelding cruised over the 1500 metres of the Listed event for a dominant victory and there appears to be plenty more in store for him if he continues to be ridden in such a positive style.
I’ve always liked Querella’s pedigree as she has three lines of Cinna. (Her grand-dam Quorn Vale is 2 x 5 to that great mare). She was a speedy racemare and, although her sire Haafiz was of little account (69 foals in 10 seasons), he had two significant pedigree advantages. He was by that excellent source of speed, Green Desert, and his dam was inbred to Ribot via Alleged and His Majesty.
When considering Ghibellines, it was his Danehill line which really appealed. The inbreeding to His Majesty had already worked well (Keeper being a case in point) and I reasoned that yet another line of Cinna would be no bad thing. Another factor in his favour was that he appeared to be an exceptionally well-made horse who would suit Querella very well from a conformational point of view.
Runner-up Tears of an Angel is by the under-rated Echoes of Heaven out of the Storm Creek mare Trickle. She is yet to finish out of the money and will hopefully pick up some bold black type in the remaining events in the South Island Filly of the Year series.
November 10th, 2018 — News, Value For Money, Winners
Those of you who read these posts regularly will no doubt recall the bitter-sweet nature of our connection with yesterday’s Riccarton stakeswinner, Dee and Gee.
A yearling purchase by Shaune Ritchie, the daughter of Darci Brahma and the Jungle Pocket mare Gabana was highly rated in my Karaka Sales Analysis of 2015. Our Cloughmore Racing Partnership happily bought into the filly, who looked exceptional value at her $16,000 purchase price.
Dee and Gee raced four times as a 3YO. Although she showed some promise she didn’t meet the requirements of a majority of her owners and was accordingly leased to the South Island. I’ve written before about the wisdom of not unloading a staying bred thoroughbred too quickly, especially if it’s a late foal, but there’s no point in re-opening old wounds.
Anyway, yesterday was her day. Masterfully ridden by Cameron Lammas, Dee and Gee led for the last 2000 metres of that time-honoured contest, the Canterbury Jockey Club’s Metropolitan Handicap, and was simply too good on the day. She will no doubt take her place in the field for next Saturday’s New Zealand Cup and here’s hoping that she does herself proud.
The untarnished bright side of all this is that Dee and Gee has given credence to the concept behind the Cloughmore Racing Partnership. Buying small shares in nicely-bred and competitively-priced yearlings certainly seems to be working. Apart from our two current 3YOs, my partners and I have bought into seven yearlings. One broke down as soon as it went into work, another wasn’t much good and two others were placed, both having leg problems which shortened moderately promising careers.
The other three yearlings developed into Candle In The Wind (G2 placed, $208,805), Rikki Tikki Tavi (Listed placed, $112,187) and now Dee and Gee (SW, $109,485).
The total purchase price of all seven yearlings came to $93,000. To date our purchases have returned $430,477, with hopefully more to come. We have minority shareholdings in all our horses, so none of us have become rich, but winning 16 races and making a profit on our initial investment has been a blast.
Incidentally, the two 3YOs are Sir Ralph (Iffraaj) and Super Gee (Super Easy). Together they cost $24,000; both have won two trials.
July 10th, 2016 — Choosing A Stallion, Value For Money
I’ve written articles on this theme before and they always get a strong reaction, mainly from the owners of stallions which don’t make the list. So I’d better start of by emphasising the fact that not making the list doesn’t mean that I think that your stallion has no chance of success; all I’m giving is one person’s opinion as to which stallions offer good value for breeders as at July 2016.
Let’s deal with the proven horses to start with. DARCI BRAHMA is currently second on the sires table and at $15,000 constitutes amazing value. He hasn’t set Australia on fire but he’s done very well in Singapore and he has the priceless asset of leaving horses which have that magic extra gear. On a personal note, I own a small share in the courageous mare Candle in the Wind who typifies her sire’s virtues and the Cloughmore Racing Partnership also has a holding in the 2YO Darci filly ex Gabana.
Last night’s Singapore Derby was a triumph for FALKIRK – if you didn’t see it live, do check a replay of Well Done’s freakish victory. The son of Tale of the Cat has a winners to starters ratio of 60% and just about all his best progeny have similar influences in their pedigrees. His sons have outperformed his daughters, but at $4000 he’s a steal.
On the subject of yesterday’s Asian racing, a son of SHOCKING was hugely impressive in winning a Class 3 1200 event in very quick time at Sha Tin. I have little doubt that this Melbourne Cup winning son of Street Cry is the next big thing. At $8500 he has to be huge value.
SHOWCASING and SWISS ACE have both made strong starts to their careers, and readers of this page will already be aware of the respect I have for SUPER EASY, PURE CHAMPION and KEANO. Of the newbies, IL CAVALLO offers very strong value as well.
To conclude, I’m going to give another mention to two stallions I have a significant regard for. Many breeders like to gamble on stallions with rising 2YOs as the stud fee can appear great value two and a half years later when the yearling sales come around.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and HE’S REMARKABLE both stand at $4000 and both continue to appeal very strongly indeed. HE’S REMARKABLE had superior ability and his pedigree has been franked by the deeds of his top class brother Xtravagant. His progeny may well not make 2YOs but you’d have to be very confident that he will be a star on the rise in 18 months’ time.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED is quite simply my number one stallion prospect amongst those sires with progeny which have yet to race. Very unusually for me, I’ve spent the hard-earned on sending three mares to him to date and will be fronting up with another this season. In the front paddock are two of the nicest yearlings I’ve ever bred: strong, sensible and well conformed. I’ve been wrong before, but I’m going to be very surprised if I’m wrong about this horse.
October 3rd, 2015 — Choosing A Stallion, News, Value For Money
Any relative of super sire O’Reilly has immediate appeal as a stallion prospect. If he’s by a stallion which won two championships in Hong Kong and if he was a more than handy racehorse himself, then the attraction grows stronger. Add in a bargain basement fee of $2000 and you’ve got to start doing your homework to see if he suits any of your mares.
As the headline suggests, the stallion I’m talking about is Keano. An expensive yearling, he raced in very strong company over the Tasman and his best win as a 3YO in the QTC Lightning Handicap is easily accessible on Youtube.
He’s already stood in Australia and only became available because his owner decided to sell all his thoroughbred holdings. As www.arion.co.nz shows us, he’s an attractive type; his purchase by Taranaki breeder Jeff Bliss may well prove to be an inspired decision.
Apart from his pedigree, what I really like about Keano is that he was obviously rock-solid sound. There are not many stallions currently available which have had 27 starts over three seasons. Readers of this site will be well aware of how highly I rate soundness in a stallion: whatever a horse’s level of ability, it’s all irrelevant if he can’t be relied on to stay in one piece.
Keano is likely to leave speed and his pedigree has been highly successful in both our and a variety of Asian racing environments. Without giving away too many trade secrets, I expect him to be well suited to mares by Howbaddouwantit, the Rahy and Nijinsky lines holding particular appeal.
Let’s hope Keano gets the opportunity he deserves.
May 2nd, 2014 — Choosing A Stallion, News, Value For Money
Breeders are always looking for that stallion – the horse they can use for a bargain basement price and then participate in the ride to stardom that the stallion enjoys. Volksraad started at $2500, Sir Tristram began at $6000 and at one stage Pentire stood at a modest $6500. It can happen, it does happen and I’m thinking that perhaps it is going to happen again.
I must admit that when Battle Paint was first announced, I wasn’t much taken with his photo. Although he was a highly talented 2YO who placed second to Holy Roman Emperor in the Group 1 Grand Criterium at Longchamps and although he was by a stallion that I’ve had significant success with and although his dam had produced 50% SWs to foals, I just wasn’t convinced. I am now beginning to suspect that I was 100% wrong.
To date Battle Paint has had no less than seven individual trial winners, four of which have raced. They include the Singapore winner Affleck, successful at his only start, a S$90,000 juvenile event. Jet Trac ran third in the Listed ARC Champagne Stakes and The Real Deal ran second at his Ellerslie debut. Sure, there are 52 Battle Paint 2YOs out there but there’s a remarkable consistency in the performances of those of his offspring which have appeared at trials.
Oddly enough, what really alerted me to this stallion’s potential was a phone call from a Taranaki breeder who had come across this site. He told me that he had been breeding horses for quite some time, that he had two Battle Paint youngsters and that he had never bred horses with such outstanding temperaments.
However, I do have to say that the class of 2010 could well turn out to be a stellar group of stallions. Thewayyouare has made an outstanding start and is highly likely to go on with it, Road to Rock has impressed me so much that I’ve actually spent my own money on a service to him, my enthusiasm for Roc de Cambes is undimmed, Buffalo Man has made a great start and Sufficient is also showing significant promise. Nonetheless, given Battle Paint’s likely affinity with some of our most successful bloodlines, he also has every chance of building on his impressive record to date.
August 12th, 2012 — Breeding Theory, Choosing A Stallion, 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.
January 9th, 2012 — Breeding Theory, News, Value For Money
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.
July 17th, 2011 — Value For Money, Winners
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.
April 13th, 2011 — News, Value For Money
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.
