Any chance I could market these mares as broodmare prospects

[Joie]

Illinois bred fillies:

Real Little Nita, by Unreal Zeal (by Mr. Prospector), out of Senorita Nita, by Spanish Drummer.

Spanish Candy, by Spanish Drummer. Supposedly out Baltic Candy by Lightning Leap. Baltic Candy is a winner of over $100,000, and ran second in a stakes race in '96. I have no idea how to get moregood information, though, other than what I can get off equineline.

Neither filly did anything at the track. The latter would have been a nice runner as per trainer, but she had a shadow of a hairline fracture, was rested, and came back sound but uncompetitive. The first filly is just smaller and immature yet. She is the same age as the second, but TEENY, and slightly built, and she can only handle about 30 minutes or so of mental work before she gets frustrated. Both fillies are in retraining, and doing well (we are keeping sessions short and sweet with the little filly.) We are currently marketing them as riding horses, but from what I was told, they are really well bred.

Is there anyone who'd be willing to offer an opinion? We are really just looking for nice homes for them both. The trainer will not release Spanish Candy's papers until we get her a non-race home. She is his baby, and he wants her to go into a riding or breeding home. He doesn't care if the black filly goes back to the track, but he just didn't click with her personality. I think it is because of her immaturity and stubbornness. She can be a bit lazy, as well

[europatb]

Well Joie, since no one else has spoken up yet, I will give you my two cents worth on your mares.

It would appear to me that their catalog page is a little light to breed for the sales except regional ones. However there is some ability in the families which could be used very well by someone who breeds to race and has pedigree knowledge.

Nita actually has the more commercially viable pedigree in my opinion. She is from the same female family as the CA sire Cari Jill Hajji, SW and Stakes sire(albeit a ways back). Nita's dam is a full sister to the $101,635 earner Spanish Nita, their dam Little Nita is Stakes Placed and a half to Illinois multiple SW Sword King, earner of $296,09 and another Stakes Placed sibling. Additionally I like the X factor that Unreal Zeal gave her which could be the Dr. Fager X , the Cohoes X which goes to La Troienne or the Track Medal X who was Broodmare of the year in 1962 and full sister to Swaps. (please feel free to ask me about this if you just said HUH?) LOL


What color is Spanish Candy? She does have a SP dam and earner of 100K but other than that, she has a pretty light tail female as far as I can tell. She does have some interesting horses in her pedigree that someone very clever could play off of. Her sire seems to throw more good fillies so her family could be further improved with good breeding. Since your trainer loves her so much why doesn't he give her to a small breeder with a stallion that fits her and see if he can't race the foal in partners??

In all honesty if you were wondering on value I think you could ask more as a trained riding horse than you would get as a BM prospect. Maybe Nita would get a little more $$ in the general market.

Good luck,
Karen in Iowa

[Crystal]

if neither of them did anything at the track, please tell me you don't plan to breed to race?

karen was right on when she stated they would be more valuable as a riding horse then a broodmare.

[Joie]

I am not breeding either of them for ANYTHING. So, no, I will not be breeding to race. I am not very knowledgeable about racing bloodlines, which is why I asked about the possibility of broodmare marketability.
I appreciate Karen's honest and in-depth evaluation. Thanks very much!

A quick note, we were given the horses by the trainer, to retrain and re-home them. We are not looking to "make" money on them, so high-value marketability is not an issue. He is no longer breeding, or he would have kept Spanish Candy for himself. He loves that filly (she is grey, BTW). We are marketing them as riding horses, and they are in retraining...
Currently, we have Real Little Nita priced at $500, and Spanish Candy is at $2500, negotiable (due to her size, temperment, and how far along she is going in retraining, and the trainers wishes.)

I just wasn't sure how nice the breeding was, as I think the trainer IS considering a regional market, and he has had some success with racing (not these fillies, but in general.) HIS opinion is that they were worth breeding, but I like to have other input.

Thanks again,
Joie