What struck me about this article was his “in foal” percentages. They mention that he has had his best percentage this year but they don’t give the number. His fee is down from $40,000 to $35,000. https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/234525/california-chrome-will-not-shuttle-to-chile-for-2019
skydy, the official “in foal” percentages for 2019 won’t be available until late next year, although I’m sure the farm probably has an estimated number. The JC only reports how many mares were bred (in Oct. of the breeding year) and then % of live foals born (in Oct. of the following year.)
Fwiw, CC’s 68% live foals born in his first crop is about average for TBs (though many do much better). Don’t forget, the mare has an equal chance of being to blame for whatever goes wrong between breeding and delivery.
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Interesting. I didn’t know that 68% was average, it seemed low to me. With modern equine reproduction I’d have expected a higher rate.
How are those babies of yours?
I’ve been looking at the FTK July Yearling sale catalog. It will be fun to see Runhappy and C.C.'s yearlings.
Our “kids” are doing well, thanks for asking. 
I just wish this stupendous heat would go away. Right now, all the mares and foals do is stand in the shade and swat flies.
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For comparison here are the live foal percentages for some other stallions who started at stud in 2017 with CC:
Brody’s Cause 68%
Exaggerator 77%
Firing Line 44%
Frosted 81%
Hit It A Bomb 69%
Ironicus 77%
Nyquist 67%
Outwork 73%
Runhappy 76%
Speightster 73%
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Thanks Laurie. That is interesting. I’d have guessed that the norm would be around 75%, though I have worked for breeders they were not breeding racehorses. Do most stallion’s percentages trend upwards after their first year at stud or do they tend to stay the same? Do you consider the percentages when you choose a stallion for your mares?
I’m glad to hear your weaners are doing well.
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Most stallions’ percentages stay around the same unless the farm changes something. There was one we bred to who was struggling a bit (not CC). The farm stopped shuttling him and his percentage jumped back up. Some stallions need a reduced (northern hemisphere) book. Some prefer to breed at a particular time of day
I’ll mention again that stallion managers are also at the mercy of the mare owners. The mare has to be presented when she’s optimally ready to be bred, she needs to be “clean” (free of any bacteria that might effect her ability to conceive) and she needs to live in a disease-free environment after she’s bred (you’d think that’s a no-brainer, but apparently it’s not.) So there are lots of things beyond the stallion or the stallion manager’s control.
I look at percentages, and if I see something I don’t like, I ask about it. But since we don’t usually breed to stallions who are breeding 200+ mares a year, it’s usually not a problem.
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That is very interesting. I’d have thought that mare owners would be front and center, doing everything necessary to ensure conception and gestation so as not to miss a season. As you said, it would seem to be a “no-brainer”.
There were five California Chrome yearlings offered yesterday at the FT July sale. Two sold. One brought 20k, the other brought 80k.
Three were bought back: (195k) (80k) (90k)
Four are entered at the FT Saratoga Sale. It will be interesting to see how they do there.
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I didn’t look at the photos of any of the CC’s but I would agree it will be interesting to see how the CC’s fare at FT Saratoga.
Might be interesting to see how the Saratoga offerings compared to the CA/July sale.
I think I saw the 80K buyback go through the ring on the live stream. She was super cute.
(Which means nothing, just making conversation… :p)
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Three of the four by C.C.at Saratoga are out of Unbridled’s Song mares, and one from a Grand Slam mare. It will be interesting to see if the Unbridled’s Song cross produces a better look. Only one of the dams in the July sale had Unbridled’s song and that was through Rockport Harbor,her colt sold for 20k.
Taylor was right about the get being “all over the place”. All of C.C’s July sale yearlings were dissimilar. The reserves seemed high, but if you want to keep your baby, that is your prerogative.
Most of the first crop sire’s yearlings (Frosted, Upstart, Exaggerator, Nyquist), seemed to be of better quality than C.C.'s, but C.C. was definitely a doer, not a blue blooded looker, so I don’t think anyone really had great expectations in that respect. Of course it doesn’t matter what their conformation, if his get can run that will help.Only time will tell.
Frosted has thirteen in the Saratoga sale? His get in the July sale were lovely. Thirteen at Saratoga is impressive.
I continue to be surprised by the fanatic reaction, especially by non-horsey people, to C.C… I hope for their sake that his get do well and that their fandom emotions, so heavily invested, are rewarded. Racing can use the “fans” :yes:.
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The Martin’s posted a photo of another CC baby, a bay, from the recent sale in Kentucky. He looked really lovely as well. I cant recall his hip number but I believe it was 350 a CC colt out of Our Fantene but he was very mature, plenty of substance and a real beauty, very balanced. He RNA’s at 90k. I know that people liked CC’s sire, Lucky pulpit for sport, and it looks like CC’s offspring could do very well for those interested in TB sport horses as well. CC himself was a very good mover too. I was surprised to see The California Chrome-Beholden colt go RNA for $145,000. That seemed like an amazing price for that colt but perhaps he will show up in the Sept Sales and look even better.
I expected there to be more Exaggerator’s in both sales. So far; not a tremendous amount. About the same as CC in the July sale, I think 5? But they didn’t get nearly as much interest. Only one got interest about 50k and it was an RNA at 110k. I was very surprised by that.,
Nice to see the Firing Line’s do relatively well for a more small town operation that stands him. He was always such a lovely looking horse and the photos I saw of the ones in the sale looked very much the part also. They had a lot of size to them, maybe a bit lanky because of their size. Once they fill out a bit more they look very exciting
I always liked Frosted. Yes hes a blue blood but he was always such a hard trier. When half the time he was chasing American Pharoah’s tail, there was Frosted, all out trying his best.
The Jess’s Dream colt did sell for 25k post sale.
Quite a few Outwork offspring in the sale. Interested to see how they turn out.
So far my pick of the Saratoga Sale is Hip 191 American Pharoah - Bon Jovi Girl.
BUt i’d love to see what the lone Galileo consignment looks like
She was my favorite of the CC consignments. Knew she was pretty!
CC is a genetic freak, so it’s not surprising his get are all over the map. Horses that are well-bred have genes that consistently combine to produce good runners. It’s rare that a freak like him turns into a good producer. Some will get lucky, most will not. He’s such a cool horse, I doubt he’ll reporduce anything like himself, but I do hope he does well enough to have a good career.
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That’s why I wrote that I didn’t think anyone had great expectations in that respect. He was a doer, not a blue blooded looker. There are more than a few breeders turned off by the pedigree and those front legs. If his get can run then he’ll do okay, and people will have had a bargain for his 25k fee.
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Actually his stud fee was 40k first year. It’s 35k now.
CC bred 278 mares in his first two years at stud, so plenty of breeders were willing to take the chance. Like all new stallions, he only has about a 10% chance of succeeding at stud. He’s not one I would have bet my money on, but I’ll be watching to see how his offspring do.
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I stand corrected. I think Taylor Made supported him with many of their own mares which I suppose is common for freshman stallions. Are there stats on how many he bred in Chile?
It will be interesting to see what he has at Keeneland.
I think he offers a very different pedigree for breeders. Especially in Kentucky. Something that, I personally think, the breed needs more of; although you get back a few generations and it becomes the who’s who of their era’s: Danzig, Sir Ivor, AP Indy, Seattle Slew, Northern Dancer, and even Secretariat at Gen 5. And Chrome ran both well on turf and dirt., his female line tends to hint a bit at turf. I personally love to see Cozzene and Caro so close up on his sire.
He’s a different option and a horse who proved that genetics is just that, a lottery game. He was never bred or thought to go as far as he did and he proved to be one of the most successful colt of his generation. His siblings didn’t turn out quite as well.
Sam goes for American Pharoah I suppose. Bred and raced by his breeders who bred and raced his sire with pretty good success. I don’t think the Zayats ever expected him to turn into the freak that he was and now his earliest foals are proving to be rather exciting on the track!
I hope Chrome is successful and he earns his right to stand in Kentucky and not fall by the wayside. Time will tell. But I don’t blame buyers for proceeding with caution and bidding modestly. I think some of the yearling owners have high expectations and too high reserves on what they have. That proved itself in the recent Fasig Tipton Sale.
Will be interesting to see how is group sells at Saratoga. But like AP, buyers should still consider his offspring for Turf, they could be an exciting bunch.
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There are so many statements in this post that make no sense to me, I won’t even begin to ask where your ideas originate.
Anyway, C.C. has 59 at Keeneland. It will be interesting to see what they look like.
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