Indiana breeder looking for cross with a Marias Mon daughter

[Athletic Horseman]

Looking for a good stallion to cross with a winning daughter of Marias Mon. She is out of a Colonial Affair mare by Pleasant Colony on the top and a grandaughter of Secretariat on the bottom. New to the industry. Any help on stallions that cross well with this mare would be appreciated. Thanks!

[CA Michael]

A sound racehorse from the Northern Dancer line, preferably with 6-8 furlong speed. I'd shy away from the staying types, but insist on toughness. The entire Marias MOn sire line--Raise a Native on down--isn't known for soundness so you need to compensate as much as possible. But because of the Pleasant Colony and Secretariat on the bottom side, you don't want to compensate using 10-12 furlong horses. Balance is the goal.

[springboro]

I need more information, like her registered name. I refuse to do analysis on just stallions... gimme the dams and I'm happy!

And I'm in Indiana too.

[hpkingjr]

Would your mare be Bellini Gal? Did she foal this year? Is Best Jest still alive? He may be the last tail male Hyperion stallion around these parts.

I like Hunting Hard best of the stallions in IN but not for this mare. Indy Mood would make an interesting pedigree. Secretariat 4x4 with his full sister Syrian Sea thrown in for boot. Four crosses of Somethingroyal, plus Buckpasser 5x5. Indy Mood adds some speed with In Reality. He may be more stamina than you want but the dosage is above 4.0.

[CA Michael]

If you bred her in KY and dropped in Indiana, wouldn't the foal be eligible for the Indiana breeders program? If she is a maiden mare, that is exactly what I would do---breed her in KY in 2007 and hope your choices in Indiana improve next year.

[Roguelet]

If you bred her in KY and dropped in Indiana, wouldn't the foal be eligible for the Indiana breeders program? If she is a maiden mare, that is exactly what I would do---breed her in KY in 2007 and hope your choices in Indiana improve next year.

As it stands now, yes, as long as the mare was in Indiana with paperwork filed no later than December 1 and remained in Indiana until foaling. OR the mare could enter the state after December 1 and as long as the paperwork is completed and the mare foals in Indiana, then is bred back to a registered Indiana stallion, that foal is eligible for the Indiana bred program. Of course, in these scenarios, that foal would be Indiana bred but NOT Indiana sired. The only way to get an Indiana sired foal is to breed to a registered Indiana stallion. If slots pass, the entire Indiana state program will be revisited and the borders will most likely tighten up quite a bit.

[CA Michael]

Rog,

When you say the borders will be tightened up a bit, what does that mean? That foals by out of state stallions won't be eligible for Indiana-bred status?

I sure hope not. That is a very narrow minded approach to growing an industry, as any number of similar state programs have shown. In New Mexico, for example, this exclusion has created a severe shortage of quality mares. Although the stallion quality has greatly improved, there aren't enough good mares around which merit the higher stud fees. Thus, over time you'll see fewer good stallions taking up residence there.

Competition is what drives excellence. Any restraint of that competition is counter-productive to producing better racehorses, which is what long-sighted Indiana breeders should be concerned with.

[Roguelet]

Nobody knows for certain. The program will all be discussed and decisions won't be made until after the discussions take place... so this is all speculation.

BUT, I can tell you what some people are wanting (which does not mean that this is what will happen, of course.) The drive behind any of these ideas are, of course, to make decisions which will ultimately support the Indiana horsemen and constantly improve the overall quality of mares, stallions, and foals in the state. It is also geared toward keeping the horses/business/money IN the state instead of rewarding those who spend all of their money elsewhere. When Indiana racing was very young, the program was, out of necessity, developed to attract and allow outside blood as much as possible because there was no real Indiana blood to speak of. If we don't tighten down on things, there will never be any incentive to bring any better blood in. Why bother when you can take your KY mare, breed to your KY stallion, keep her on your KY farm, and still get the Indiana money?

Some are advocates of a mare being in Indiana for the entire duration of her pregnancy, or at least by a much earlier date, than the current date of December 1. Some are in favor of closing the borders to Indiana stallions only, but I don't personally see that happening, at least not now. What I DO hope to see, though, are more stringent regulations regarding breeding to out of state stallions. Perhaps an "every other year" breeding clause of some sort, but with more strict control of the years that a mare is supposed to be bred in State. I would be an advocate of something along the lines of... a mare must either become in foal to a registered Indiana stallion or go barren on those years, period. As it is now, as long as a mare is covered by an Indiana stallion (or appears on the stallion's report at least) it doesn't matter if she "doesn't take" or "aborts" or whatever and goes off to be bred to some other stallion elsewhere. I disagree with that, and feel that it does absolutely nothing to help Indiana.

I feel that we need to encourage the best possible mares, stallions, and foals here, but I am NOT in favor of those who send their mares to Indiana for a couple of weeks to drop a foal, get their mare on some stallion's bred list, and leave again to breed back to whoever they want, effectively showing no real support to the State or the program, being eligible to come take money from those who do actively support the program. I feel that Indiana can both attract the best outside horses AND take care of it's own simultaneously, if a little thought is used. And for those who simply don't want any part of keeping a mare here or breeding to a stallion here, at least every other year, in my opinion they are MORE THAN WELCOME to come race in our OPEN COMPANY races.

Of course, as I mentioned, this is all just speculation at this point, and it certainly isn't up to me what they will decide to do. The only thing I can say with some level of certainty (although even this is not 100%) is that the current program will change.