Bloodstock News 2010

That's lovely news for them, Isi. I've not met either Ciara or Jim (yet), but it'd be great to be able to do so one day. Maybe when 'the little man' (the MAJESTIC MISSILE colt) is raced for Ms Richardson! They are all hands on deck, it seems, with their teenage boys learning the ropes, one doing showjumping, Dad buzzing round the sales, and Mum rearing everything at home when he's not. Hectic and fraught at times, but very worthwhile when there are good returns and results in their progeny's races.
 
I recently found a Horse and Hound stallion edition from Dec 1982. Some of the fees were very interesting.

Golden Fleece 100k
Shergar 35k plus 35k live foal
Mill Reef 20k plus 20k live foal
Kings Lake 50k
Be My Guest 75k
Troy 20k plus 20k live foal
Shirley Heights 10k
Kalaglow 12k plus 12k live foal
Ela Mana Mou 15k
Kris 12k plus 12k live foal


Habitat was the only stallion with his fee private.

Considering was almost thirty years ago fees haven't risen that much.
 
Saw Michael Channon at Brighton today, following his win with INTERAKT for the highly enthusiastic Heart of the South club, and the MAJESTIC MISSILE colt landed at the yard today. Jill Richardson did indeed buy him - for Jaber Abdullah. They say he's quite a big horse already, so I can only hope that he is also strong and won't disappoint.
 
Just read that the lovely grey sire in Germany, Sternkonig has been put down following a leg fracture at Gestut Gorlsdorf. :(

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He won the Group One Preis der Privatbankiers Merck, Finck & Co at Dusseldorf in 1994, Sternkonig had also been third behind Lando and Monsun in the 1993 Deutsches Derby and Europa Preis.

Sternkonig was standing at a fee of €2,500; his best progeny were Grade One Canadian International second Simonas and Group One Derby Italiano winner Kallisto.
 
Nice piece about Sea The Stars at stud on the BBC at the moment. 90 of the 130 mares he's covered are Group 1 winners or dams of Group 1 winners.
 
King's Best sired the winner of the Japanese Derby last weekend as well apparently.

King's Best's career at stud has been relatively modest so far hasn't it? Off the top of my head Proclamation is the only Group 1 horse of his I can think of. He has a bit of a reputation for getting tempermental types as well.
 
Gareth Flynn said:
Nice piece about Sea The Stars at stud on the BBC at the moment. 90 of the 130 mares he's covered are Group 1 winners or dams of Group 1 winners.
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Lovely to see him looking so well and happy. He has matured into a lovely looking horse - shame he wasn't kept in training as I think he would have been even better (if that is possible) at 4.
 
He had a full covering season in 1983 and I think that he died early in the next season. He didn't sire anything of note as far as I can remember. He was a fabulous horse though.
 
What do people make of Best trying to find a place at stud for Mullionmileanhour? I'm no expert, but should this horse really be going to stud?
 
I can't see any point at all - he's placed in three Listeds, flopped in a G2, and ran just five times. A filly, yes, for sure. But the market's got plenty enough in the bargain basement ranks of sires already.
 
krizon said:
I can't see any point at all - he's placed in three Listeds, flopped in a G2, and ran just five times. A filly, yes, for sure. But the market's got plenty enough in the bargain basement ranks of sires already.
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It's the poorly conformed, slow mares that damage the breed, rather than defects in the stallion population.

Mullionmileanhour may not be the most obvious choice as a possible successful sire but worse horses than him have done well at stud. I'm not suggesting that he ought to be given three-figure books for the next five years, but you never know, he might turn out all right, although it's long odds against, as it is for all potential stallions.

Off the top of my head, here a few outstanding sires whose race records were poor/non-existent, or severely curtailed through unsoundness: Beau Pere, Ultimus and his son High Time, Alibhai, Noble Bijou, Vain, Gallinule. I'm not sure that today those animals would be given any chances at all.

The main problem, IMO, about unsuitable stallions poisoning the breed is the too-well-marketed horse who leaves hundreds of duff offspring after a few years at stud before it's realised he's no good.
 
G-G - I don't follow the logic that another one should be added to the pot! I thought we were overpopulated with poor animals, there was far too much racing, 60% reductions at sales, world without end. Why on earth would we wish to add to more low-performing sires when there are HUNDREDS of good ones to choose from? It's not as if we're short of decent Group winners, not placers in Listed races.

Ven, you know far more about pedigrees than I will ever know, but I'd say it's poorly-conformed, unsound sires who do far more damage, simply because they can bonk 100 and more mares in one season, while however crap she may be, a mare's likely to inflict her rubbish on the world only once a year for a few years, before turning up barren. The damage that can be done by lousy males is infinitely more likely to affect negatively on the breed than the odd wonky mare - having said that, would you have NOT bred from ATTRACTION, then?
 
In fairness, Ven did say 'slow' in addition to poorly conformed but you're right Kri, it's illogical to say that some sires who performed badly but made good sires should be lauded, while you can point to many mares who either had poor race records or maybe didn't even race who also were good producers. Where do you think the slow, poorly conformed mares usually come from, anyway ? Far more likely to be from lower quality stallions than from those good-looking horses with decent pedigrees and race records!

You should remember the stockmen's adage that the sire is half your herd - and that applies to horses in the same way it does for sheep, cattle, pigs etc. One male will, on average, produce many more offspring than the average female, so it makes sense to try and preserve only the best males as potential producers. Of course there are examples of 'poor' stallions producing the goods but again, the horses you are referring to, Ven would have had very limited books. It might seem logical to assume that they were breeding above their level but, if they were being used today with books several times larger, would they then have sunk out of sight with more uselss racehorses appearing for them ? Who knows, but you can't rule it out. If they hadn't been allowed to breed, something else would have taken their place and who's to also say the progeny of those mares wouldn't have been even better ?

We'll never know because equine genetics is still pretty much of a lottery and that's what makes the whole process so interesting - ecstatically exciting one minute and then utterly depressing for the next ten years. As I've said before, racing attracts gamblers in all sorts of guises - I may not bet more than half a dozen times a year on horses in races but my gambles are just as big every time I send a mare to a stallion.
 
I didn't think I was implying that this horse should be covering large books of mares - of course he shouldn't, but there's no reason why he couldn't cover some mares. A dozen or so a year for a while isn't going to damage the breed. That's how most if not all of the stallions in my list started out.

Songsheet, I'm afraid that your assertion that lesser stallions are the culprits mainly responsible for slow, badly conformed horses is just plain wrong.

It's the mares that are the problem - look, Mullionmileanhour was at least a black type performer and less than 5% of racehorses have that on their CVs. How many broodmares can claim that? Virtually all (flat) stallions can.

Don't forget that each parent contributes 1/2 of their offspring's genetic inheritance, and I'd like to see more marginal stallion prospects like Mullionmileanhour given some sort of chance, if at all possible. As I posted before, it's the over-marketed stallions who are barely better or tougher than him who are the problem from the male side of the equation, with their vast books of mares right from the outset of their careers.
 
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