I don’t understand WinStar’s model? Yoshida only has 2 crops on the ground and they’ve already given up on him (per usual) after heavily marketing him on their social medias. Unless they plan on buying Yoshida back (if he does well overseas)?
Palace Malice (from Three Chimneys) I get.
Looks like Yoshida only bred 34 mares 2023. Perhaps they got an offer that was too good to turn down in light of that and that he is from the Sunday Silence sire line so successful there. It seems his dam line also does look a little light of graded SWs (?) if the Sunday Silence (and his performance) was not a draw for mare owners.
I suspect the farms calculate if a stallion is only getting xx number of mares of xx quality what the chances of success are (unless they are a freak sire).
I also wonder if they get antidotal feedback on the first ones getting to the tracks?
I actually hadn’t thought of that (the feedback part on progeny), that might make it make more sense, for the stud farms, I guess. I wish KY/American breeders were more into diversifying the lines, I guess. Especially considering Yoshida’s pedigree was so successful in Japan?
https://www.jockeyclub.com/default.asp?section=Resources&area=16
The report of mares bred is a real eye-opener–not just because of the big books, but those name recognition stallions that got under 5 mares. (e.g., Palace Malice, Mastery-who is also being moved.)
I cannot imagine it is cheap to stand a stallion in KY.
I read that when it first came out, Accelerate only bred 9 mares. I’m surprised he was moved to the park vs being shipped overseas.
The JC report is great for playing the guessing game (on who is being moved, ha!)
Unless I’m really missing something, Army Mule has got to be a typo… 199 mares?
I read that too - yikes. A+ for the diversity in his pedigree (different from other KY sires), but only 3 races and I’m not sure his pedigree is all too great to begin with.
Maybe they are like me and thought GREAT NAME! 
If only he was one! Or maybe he has the temperament of one, heh
Army Mule is a 2nd crop sire who stands at Hill 'n Dale, a farm that always gets good support for their stallions. He’s the sire of G1 winner One in Vermillion, and he’s producing 6% stakes winners from foals of racing age.
Hill n Dale has a good variety of studs, that’s for sure (and I love that they’re at Xalapa where part of Seabiscuit was filmed).
6% explains a lot. I for one look forward to creative offspring names!
I honestly wonder how farms like Winstar can make a profit and stay in business with the stallion turnover they are known for and their high overhead and expense to maintain. I understand they have a successful training business and are backed by deep pockets but they stand A LOT of stallions in stark comparison to other farms = high and expensive overhead.
Not just in feed , farrier, vet work for the stallion in the stall but the expense to maintain and build the stall in which the stallion stands. Then add in the insurance, advertising, grooms, and the actual Price paid for such a stallion. Only to have these new freshman sires of theirs only breed a handful of mares at mediocre/moderate fees.
Looking at stallions like Exaggerator who were sold domestically to stand in regional markets; can’t convince me that they made money back on that relocation for a horse like exaggerator who was probably pricey at his retirement timeframe.
Now I am sure a stallion barn like Darley Japan paid rather handsomely for Yoshida in our peasant world of funds. But these Japanese and foreign markets are capitalizing on America’s sale-focused narrow-minded breeding philosophies and they have gotten some good stallions in recent years. It will be interesting to see how they shape up for them. Yoshida I think is more geared towards what Japan is striving to breed
I just can’t wrap my head around where the profit margin is when you look at the big picture and the stallion fees.
Four of their stallions are seeing their first 2 year olds in 2024. All 4 stand for under $15k, 2 below $7500. Either they will be successes by the end of the year or deemed failures by their early runners.
1 stallion is seeing his first yearlings in 2024. Standing for 10k.
2 are seeing first foals in 2024. One stands for 85k and the other for 15k.
2 stallions are brand new for 2024.
Out of 15 stallions, 9 of them are unproven with a lot riding on demand and success of early runners
What is even more crazy to me is how fast they ship one out and how quickly that stall is re-filled.
I remember 15 years ago when the Winstar barn was half empty and the handful of sires standing in the barn were household, proven and successful names that helped build/shape their business.
The business model (for all the stallion farms) is purchase-to-profit in 3 years. So the farms are “out” on the price of a stallion before he ever has offspring running. It’s basic math, and not really that hard to understand.
I honestly was more than a little bit surprised when WinStar sold its majority interest in Justify to Coolmore rather than standing him themselves. Would love to know the reasoning behind that decision.
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