Bloodstock News 2010

I love that you've announced the new baby on the bloodstock section, Helen! Most apt. Very best wishes to all concerned - but I'm not sure that at 9lb 12oz Jacob was a bouncing baby, or just landed with a thud! That's got to feel more comfortable out than in now! I imagine you'll have him aboard the foal in the next week? :D

He arrived two weeks late & sis certainly sounded relieved this morning!
 
I've read before that only 3 stallions have sired group 1 winners over both 6 furlongs and 2 and a half miles. One is Machiavellian, another is Danehill and I can't remember the third. I think that Rite of Passage's win last week should also put Giant's Causeway on the list. Is that right?
 
I've read before that only 3 stallions have sired group 1 winners over both 6 furlongs and 2 and a half miles. One is Machiavellian, another is Danehill and I can't remember the third. I think that Rite of Passage's win last week should also put Giant's Causeway on the list. Is that right?

Yeah, he's had a couple of 6f Group 1 winners in Australia.
 
When evaluating the first season sires I look at the % runners to winners.

HRE is on 38%.Majestic Missile 33%,Librettist is on 44%. Obviously it's early days but they are good figures. HRE looks like a stallion of 2yr olds only.No opinion on the other two yet. Others further down this list progeny will show their worth with 3yr olds.
 
It's possible also a good idea to factor in the ground these 2yos have been experiencing. It's been an exceptionally dry spring/early summer and I might be wrong but I would guess an awful lot more than usual 2yos are 'on hold' than might otherwise have been the case had we had more good, good to soft ground for them.


 
If Librettist can sustain that percentage when he's had the same number of runners as HRE it will be impressive.
 
I've seen one or two HREs and in the main, they've been on the small side. I would expect Sheikh and Gal will have seen more than me and that might give you the suspicion they may not be as competitive next year against their bigger, stronger peers.
 
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The ones I have seen have been on the small side, but I would expect that for this time of year. Reserve judgement until later in the season when the next batch come out.
 
I don't think HRE was going to make a 3yr old himself and his stock look the same however perhaps if his mares where selected carefully he may have a chance with his three year olds. Just don't see that happening.
 
I don't think HRE was going to make a 3yr old himself and his stock look the same however perhaps if his mares where selected carefully he may have a chance with his three year olds. Just don't see that happening.

They of course do not need to be big to go on and do well at three. Rock Of Gibraltar was a for all appearances just a very good two year old but he trained on well despite his size.

HRE is from a tremendous family - I wouldn't be ruling him out yet.
 
The current edition of TB Owner & Breeder mag has a key bloodstock article titled British two-year-old market in decline as supply exceeds demand. (I know, I didn't think it was too snappy, either.) The essence is that while marginally more horses sold than in 2009, the domestic 2 y.o. market declined to its lowest level since 2005, when there were only two, rather than the current four, auctions.

The Guineas and Goffs Kempton auctions were added to the breeze-up calendar in 2007, alongside the longer-established Doncaster and Tattersalls Craven sales, but this year's £14.4m turnover was smaller at the four 2010 events than the £15.7m spent in 2005, when there were two auctions.

There were 124 more juveniles offered this year than in 2006 but only 18 extra sold, as the clearance rate slumped from 87% to 69%. The average price this year was £40,583 compared to £46,525 in 2006. (Just before anyone thinks that's not too bad, remember that all associated costs such as petrol for transport fees, which include vets billing by the mile, too, have risen hugely since '06.)

It begs the question whether there is a need for the additional sales, although with competition between the two big Anglo-Irish sales companies as heated as ever, neither is likely to want to give ground by abandoning one of its new secondary events.

Five lots made 200,000 gns or above this year, compared to 18 in 2008. 36 juveniles made 100,000 gns or over, which compares to 47 two years ago, 32 of which were sold by Irish vendors. One to enjoy notable success was Brendan Holland of Co. Cork-bsed Grove Stud, who sold four 6-figure lots. He would like to see the breeze-up calendar reduced in size. "I thought the Craven and Doncaster held their own, and were stronger than last year, while the Guineas Sale dramatically illustrated the situation of demand not equalling supply," said Holland. "There was a high percentage of horses in the Guineas catalogue which had not been pinhooked and I know the professional guys who breeze full-time would rather see fewer horses overall catalogued to give us a tighter, more vibrant market. In the space of four years we've had Kempton, Dundalk, the Guineas sale and Goresbridge added to the calendar in the same period that demand has decreased. Dundalk has now gone and I could easily see another sale going, although I don't know which one. They've put on the sales to cater for supply, rather than the other way around. Everything went okay for me - there was no real logic to the Craven sale, when the second day was much stronger than the first, but we had three nice horses and benefitted. I was surprised at how competitive it was for the better lots, although there's no doubt that further down, supply way outstrips demand.

But my plan is to pinhook the same number of yearlings and spend the same sort of money to last year. I'm also a fan of the two bonus schemes - that has made a difference to the lower-end breeze-up market. I'd dread to see the clearance rate without it."

There was a sense of deja vu at Doncaster as Malih al-Basti, a leading figure in the Emirates Racing Association, topped trade when buying from Con Marnane's Bansha House Stables. Bidding through vet Adam Driver, al-Basti paid £140,000 for a DUBAWI colt who had cost Marnane just £25,000 at the St Leger sale. A year earlier, the Dubai owner had paid £190,000 for the Doncaster sales topper ANGEL'S PURSUIT, also sold by Marnane.

Sheikh Mohamed has dominated the Guineas sale since it began in 2007 and this year was no exception. He bought the dearest two lots, both sons of INVINCIBLE SPIRIT, for 220,000 gns and 100,000 gns through agent Dick O'Gorman.

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They of course do not need to be big to go on and do well at three. Rock Of Gibraltar was a for all appearances just a very good two year old but he trained on well despite his size.

HRE is from a tremendous family - I wouldn't be ruling him out yet.

Sure, some great horses where 'vertically challenged', size helps though.
 
Haven't been able to compare the two horses together but from memory, I didn't get the impression the HRE was a stocky as ROG ? ROG always reminds me of SONGSHEET - very plain, strong, not overly big and neither horses that initially impress but both have (at different ability levels, obviously!) that innate need to get their heads in front. It would be great if it were easier to be able to breed that quality in - GIANT'S CAUSEWAY was another that had it in spades too and I know there ar eplenty of others too. Most of them are only Class 4 or 5 but when you know they will do their very best for you when they run, it makes a reald difference.
 
A member of Talking Horses sent me a message encouraging me to post on the forum again and I really had no intention of doing so until I read a comment of Songsheets about Rock Of Gibraltar. Songsheet said that Rock Of Gibraltar was very plain, strong, not overly big. Songsheet more or less said that I was a fake in previous posts but Songsheet have you ever saw Rock Of Gibraltar cause I dont think you have because he is as tall as any other stallion at Coolmore, He is one of the lightest boned stallions there is at stud which results in some of his progeny suffering leg injuries and he does not have the nicest head but not many Danehills do but his progeny are very classy so your view on Rock Of Gibraltar is way of the mark maybe you should get out more and look at stallions instead of putting down people on the forum who have experience and see stallions and mares nearly everyday of the week. I have always wished to remain anonymous and that is not going to change.
 
I don't think HRE was going to make a 3yr old himself and his stock look the same however perhaps if his mares where selected carefully he may have a chance with his three year olds. Just don't see that happening.

It's unlikely that the vast majority of his mares were selected carefully given the reasons he went to stud as early as he did.
 
I haven't seen Rock of Gibraltar in the flesh, never will and have no desire to, but to put across another view to his size, he was given the physical by Timeform of 'rather leggy, close-coupled, quite attractive' when winning the Gimcrack at York. This was changed to 'close-coupled, medium-sized' when he won the 2000 Guineas. It wasn't changed again during his 3-y-o season.
 
Here is a pic of him.

http://www.coolmore.com/stallions-view.php?list=ireland&id=18

Standing 16hh he is IMO "not overly big" - he is strong. He this pic he isn't very plain but neither is he stunningly pretty. Good quarters and shoulders which is to be expected. He has a good strong second thigh (desirable) - if I was being picky I'd say he is a fraction tied in below the knee and a bit heavy topped but then he has let down into stallion-mode.
 
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