Article here:
Quote from article:
“Golden Pal had the highest number of mares bred in 2023 with 293, followed by Epicenter (262), Practical Joke (252), Jack Christopher (247), and Uncle Mo (234).”
Good lord.
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It’s always interesting to see the report. One stallion that popped out to me was Always Dreaming breeding only seven mares this year. Will Saudi Crown save him from exile?
Golden Pal obviously was brilliantly fast but on grass-any thoughts if this reflects an expected shift in racing surfaces-or just that breeders figure he can sire multi-surface successful racehorses?
It has nothing whatsoever to do with racehorses. It s all about producing yearlings to sell. Period. They might as well be selling cattle. Can you imagine having bred a mare to Golden Pal and then finding out he bred nearly 300 mares?
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Breeding that many mares increases the strike rate of possible Stake Winners, so I am not sure breeders consider it a negative but I really would not know myself. I suspect a breeder would be more upset if he bred only 20 mares.
So in the context of a commercial market. If it is all about producing yearlings to sell, does that mean yearlings by a grass horse will be considered commercially viable or is he some outlier or due to his sire he will likely sire horses for any type of racing surface?
Just wondering, as changing racing surfaces would/will have a huge impact on the “commercial” breeding market as they have been primarily focused on breeding for dirt racing success, and I was just wondering if he might be an indicator that breeders are hedging their bets so to speak .
The problem with breeding that many mares is when you take the yearling to the Keeneland September sale and find out that there are 100 plus Golden Pals and yours is only the 70th best. All things being equal, I would much rather have an outstanding foal by a stallion with a reasonable sized book than a so so Golden Pal lost in a sea of Golden Pals.
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I really was not focused on the book size from that aspect – and I have no idea what the impact is on a commercial breeder, I was curious if it means anything to have a grass horse having such a large book.
I was curious if it means anything to have a grass horse having such a large book.
I guess it depends on things that haven’t been made clear. For example, how many shares are in the syndicate and how are the shares structured? How many breeders have how many shares? How many of them are European breeders or people aiming for Euro markets? How many mares are Coolmore mares to be bred and then brought to Europe to foal?
I’m more familiar with California lately and some of the most popular stallions of the last few years have been turfy. I’m thinking stallions like Unusual Heat, Grazen, Vronsky and Sir Prancealot. Those stallions are/were popular because they tend to sire high quality. Maybe people saw a fast son of Uncle Mo and that is what made him popular…
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I won’t comment on Golden Pal, but one thing I always find interesting is that when we go to look at stallions, as breeders who breed to race, we are shown very different horses from our friends who breed for the sales. It’s wildly consistent, no matter the farm and is an interesting component to the conversation.
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