Calumet is selling Behesht (FR), Lentenor, and Snapy Halo (Arg) in the January Keeneland sale.
Also, just noticed that Mizzen Mast and Include are not listed at stud anymore. I guess retirements are announced anymore or else I’m asleep at the wheel!
EDIT: Oooops, my bad. Include is listed at $5K
On paper, Behesht would be quite interesting for sport horse breeding purposes. I hope he ends up in a good spot.
Weren’t Snapy Halo and Lentenor entered and withdrawn last January? What’s the deal that they keep doing this?
I have a very soft spot in my heart for stallions. They can be so misunderstood. And if people aren’t getting what they want from them, well, that’s not good. I hope these guys do OK. Let’s face it, with a thoroughbred market being down the way but it is it would probably be better for these guys welfare to get them and find them a home that way if they are of an age and temperament where they could make somebody a riding horse.
Medal Count is currently listed with New Vocations for $500. He started at Spendthrift for his first 4 years, stood one year in OH, then was gelded and sent to New Vocations. They don’t even have him as a high dollar “fundraiser” horse like they have done with some other big names. I’m curious what the story is; I didn’t do any digging into his offspring to see just how bad they’ve done or just how unpopular he has been. Only trying with him one year in OH is a little surprising.
I read about him. Nicely bred horse. Still worried about “the boys”.
Yes… if you are using the name search make sure you first choose “All Sessions” from the drop down menu. It defaults to only Session 1.
they were entered and withdrawn this past year. I do not believe Behesht was part of the group though; Lentenor and Snapy Halo were. I am surprised Lentenor’s prior connections haven’t stepped in and paid a measly sum of money to take him in and retire him and/or find him a suitable second career. but he is 14 already (time flies) . Snapy Halo is approaching 18.
Selling them through these sales is a cheap way for some foreign interest to scoop them up, export them, see if they pan out and if they don’t, no money lost and they disappear.
I agree; Behesht is a great opportunity for a sport horse person for breeding. Maybe even second career if he is sound enough (he’s only 10)
Snappy Halo is adorable!
I will be incredibly disappointed if Lentenor doesn’t wind upback here in PA, rather than some far off land…
Any guesses as to what they would sell for?
Mizzen Mast is pensioned.
Do you know the reserve price for Lentenor? Why do you assume it is a “measly sum of money?”
Here’s a link to a photo of him when he was younger and racing fit. Beautiful beautiful horse. Beautifully bred. I wish a motivated sport horse breeder would snap him up, and make him available to people here in North America.
It’s really hard to say. For awhile, when these boys were active on their roster, Calumet had their fees super over inflated. They didn’t get a lot of outside mares, probably because of that. Their progeny have done pretty poorly, but is that because they didn’t get the mares or because they are truly lousy sires?
Not a lot of cataloged stallions ever make it to the sale ring. Cataloging them is almost like taking out a classified ad, and actually going to the sale is often a “plan b” if no private sale works out.
If they sell publicly, mid-four figures wouldn’t surprise me. Lentenor is a bit of a wild card being Lentenor. Does anyone care about that anymore? Probably.
But then again, a few years ago I tried to buy a stallion who I thought would sell for mid-four figures and he sold for $30K. 
He was a bit more successful both on the track and in the shed, though.
Nice pedigree. Good looking horse. Raced in France. Raced in the U.S. through 2017 without distinction.
He’s been at stud for three years and has 7 foals. It would be interesting to see them.
Maybe he’ll find a home in Europe or Japan. It’s rather a big ask to put an unsuccessful turf horse to stud in the U.S. and expect him to get mares. It seems as if Calumet either didn’t breed him to many of their own mares or if they did, they didn’t take?
Heck if I know.
His pedigree is super nice for sport, and not super common in the states. I hope whoever buys him keeps him here.
Exactly this. Their stallions were not very commercial, yet priced above what unproven “breed to race” sires were worth. Some pedigrees were largely unfamiliar to US buyers and less desirable to market, and thus quite a risk to recover a breeder’s investment. Then for the past couple seasons, they have been dumping mares in the sales in foal to their stallions, sold with NG seasons to their stallions for the next year. It was a desperate (and very public) attempt to get more foals on the ground, but no one wants the unmarketable castoffs so those mares/resulting yearlings didn’t end up in the most successful hands, thus perpetuating the declining books. It’s a snowball in the wrong direction.
Successful stud farms unfortunately do rehome their unsuccessful stallions…maybe they will get bigger books in a different region. I HATE the Winstar model of dumping stallions in barely 3 years, but you can’t expect a farm to stay in business profitably with a “stale” roster of proven non-winning stallions after 5-7 years of support. However, most of the big successful stud farms will work deals (pay with proceeds, multiple mare discounts, etc) to sell their seasons to the best mares available in their price range. Calumet’s fees were so unreasonably high and unjustifiable, breeders voted with wallets and booked elsewhere.
The thing about Lentenor is he already was a regional stallion. Calumet had him standing in Indiana for several years. He went from getting 2 mares in KY to getting 30 outside mares a season. Results on the track were still disappointing. Of the 3, he’s easiest to peg as a stallion who probably needs a new job. The other two are big question marks.
A few years ago a long time MD stallion was cataloged in the Timonium sale. Someone connected to him had the good sense to realize he had more value as a sport horse sire than a race horse sire, and they posted him on a local sport horse FB group. He sold in minutes. I wonder why no one from Calumet has done that with these boys. All three are so unconventional I don’t see them selling beyond sport horse prices. But I’ve been (really) wrong about these things.
A) A “Measly” sum of money can be taken in multiple different contexts. $5-25k is pocket change for most of the big spenders at the sales and does anyone honestly see Lentenor bringing much more than that?
B) He has minimal progeny
C) Those progeny have little to no success; not even enough earnings to cover their expense bills.
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