Ashado!

[KAL]

If all entered into the same sale... and pregnancy status considered... Ashado still tops them all. I also think she would top Azeri.

I'll be a little more aggressive than LSB and say a couple might reach a little higher than those figures she lists... but, overall, her numbers wouldn't be a big surprise.

Age 12 is usually considered the magical number...

Actually, the market penalizes an older mare on both sides. If she has had a significant foal, there are thoughts that she cannot do it again. If she has had a couple foals and nothing grand happens, then questions arise whether she can produce a big one.

Some others... from the Fasig-Tipton sale
Riskaverse (broodmare prospect) - $5 million
Contrive (1 foal of racing age) - $3 million
Cloudbreak (13 yr. old dam of Lost in the Fog) - $600,000
and a mare very close to LSB... Satin Sunrise (15 yr. old dam of Lion Heart) - $800,000

[HenriettaVIII]

Helsinki, a 93 model brought 3.9 mil.

All good mares and good producers, but no where near the class (at least as of yet) as the mares I mentioned yet none of them are exactly spring chickens but still brought million plus bids.

Didn't Helsinki drop Shamardal, a 4-time Group 1 winner from 7 starts?

That's got to be tons better than anything Serena's Song has ever produced.

If a broodmare is judged by the price its foals fetch (versus what they do on the track), then Clear Mandate has to be the most valuable right now. She's produced at least 3 multimillion dollar foals (and none have done squat racingwise).

[Sysonby]

Age 12 is usually considered the magical number...

Actually, the market penalizes an older mare on both sides. If she has had a significant foal, there are thoughts that she cannot do it again. If she has had a couple foals and nothing grand happens, then questions arise whether she can produce a big one.

There's some incredible stat out there that says that more than 70 % of the graded SWs are produced in the first three foals. That's another reason why younger mares command a premium.

Cloudbreak (13 yr. old dam of Lost in the Fog) - $600,000

Did you see the production record of this one? Her name should have been Heartbreak. They needed LITF just to get even.

[roving boy]

LSB is right to mention Toussaud's health - the mare has fought laminitis for 4 or 5 years now. She is chronically "day-to-day" as every day could suddenly be her last. Knowing this I agree with LSB's appraisal - even if you wanted to take the chance you could not insure Toussaud.

How fitting that a great mare like Ashado had great owners. The Wolfe's and Paul Saylor are good people - Laurie is completely devoted to Ashado. She was a basket case all Monday and blinked back tears again today when talking about the mare. They fully recognize how blessed they have been to be associated with Ashado.

[FOS]

hi Coquinerie

You wrote "Although (LSB) make(s) a very valid point with the "young is vogue" I in no way believe that if Toussaud, Serena's Song or My Flag were in the sale this afternoon they wouldnt have taken the title as sales topper from Ashado."

Strictly speculation...but I offer that Toussaud selling for $9mil at public auction (even in foal to any living stallion of your choice) would be an extremely slim possibility.

What I do suggest though is that an exceptional yearling colt out of her might very well bring in the $9mil range...why not...Toussaud is one of the extremely elite producers on the planet earth. At her age...I suggest that $9mil could be possible if she had already produced a breed-shaping offspring (example a highly successful son at stud). In the absence of that, I submit that despite her exceptional production...buying an in-foal 16-year-old mare (soon to be seventeen) for that kind of money is not exactly what the biggest players are looking for. I suggest that often...those big-players seem to be willing to shell out the big cash for the yearlings of those somewhat-aged superstar producers, before they show a willingness to pay what might be considered a ransom for what might be considered a highly risky mare.

There seems to be a cap on the age at which the biggest players will shell out the super-serious cash to purchase the mare herself. At age sixteen there is still a possibility to attract many millions for the right mares...but I sense that at $9mil even the biggest players will walk away from those superstar aged-producers...unless maybe one (or more) of the mare's produce have proven to be breed shaping. Toussaud has not yet proven that.

Deliver a broodmare that has produced the breed shaping offspring (not simply Top racehorses)...and I expect that the industry's biggest players would open the coffers for that one...and the age concerns (however artificial) would probably be lifted (at least to some extent). I might see $9mil for the right aged-mare if she met or surpassed all the physical, veterinary and reproductive obstacles...was in foal to a superstar sire...and had produced a breed-shaping offspring.

Respectfully

[louis finochio]

Toussaud is a golden PROVEN producer and I would pay 9 mil over an unproven producer of GR SW wins on the racetrack.

Ashado will be given every chance to be a prolific producer of GR SW.

Years from now we will have our answer if Ashado will be that prolific producer of GR SW.