I Wonder How the Books are Doing?

reenci · Postby **reenci** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 1:44 pm

time will tell ....wait till the 2009 mares bred report....got to believe that over all there will be alot less mares bred in 2009.

Fair Play · Postby **Fair Play** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:26 am

AscotStud wrote:
Call me a dummy, but what are the Chinese using all our shavings for?

Making the base for instant mashed potatos

hmmm I thought it was baby formula, or is that something else?

Your incentives on Clifton Park are intriguing. How about for Aljabr? Any bonuses for spelling it right or rebates if the foal isn't grey? Just kidding, he is lovely. I think some of my Regal Classic mares would like a date.

springboro · Postby **springboro** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:20 am

Well, I bit the bullet and ended up breeding TWO mares this year. I'm sticking to Indiana stallions and paying a fraction of the amount I paid out in Kentucky last year.

Discounted stud fees, breeding incentives, and $12 a day boarding for the mares while they're at the studs. After that I can bring them home and board them with my friend for $6 daily.

Both mares are covered (lord, January foals next year!) and we'll be ultrasounding soon.

So, not a huge change for me this year - I will leave one mare empty and probably sell her after she weans her foal.

Numbers wise, I've gone from 3 to 2. Is that a 33% reduction?

springboro · Postby **springboro** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:26 am

Fair Play wrote: How about for Aljabr? Any bonuses for spelling it right or rebates if the foal isn't grey? Just kidding, he is lovely. I think some of my Regal Classic mares would like a date.

I have a very well bred daughter of Aljabr who was just covered by Hap. She's a little girl, but well put together and chestnut. We know this baby is going to be small with those two as parents, but it is intentional for her first foal.

I see that Northern Kraze is having some good works at the Fair Grounds. Go Aljabr!!

BargainBlueblood · Postby **BargainBlueblood** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:28 am

Just curious: Who did you send your other mare to?

springboro · Postby **springboro** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:03 am

Seaven Teares, by Aljabr was sent to Hap and her last cover was 2/19.

Cunningly, by Lit de Justice, was sent to Kilenaule with a last cover of 2/17.

Catalog-wise, the Seaven Teares mare is my best mare.

Physically, Cunningly is awesome and her first filly was a real looker as a weanling. Unfortunately when I sold her as a short yearling she was going through some uglies and I wasn't as pleased with her looks then.

My empty mare this year is going to be Helen O. Her dam was the champion 2-year-old in Argentina in 1980 and has a stakes foal, but there isn't much else going on her catalog. She's currently in foal to Indy Mood and due in early March.

clh · Postby **clh** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:58 am

Sysonby wrote:
AscotStud wrote:
Keeneland September was only down 10% after years of increases, where stud fees were fairly stable. To cut stud fees by 50% now makes absolutely no sense. Maybe if Keeneland September 2009 is down by 50% I will change my stance. But I will not base the value of all mares, foals and stallions out there on the Keeneland January Sale, one of the most fluctuating sales out there, depending on what dispersal boosts it year by year.

Keeneland September was before the October financial meltdown and the US economy has worsened considerably since then. It's a whole new universe since October and Google News daily carries headlines of 1000s of jobs lost, stock market downturns, and big companies and banks going under. Horse racing and breeding is a dispensable luxury for the vast majority of participants and it was fueled in part by real estate profits, fat bonuses, equity money and stock market profits especially at the lower end. None of that exists any more in a meaningful way and probably won't for awhile. Horse buying as a completely speculative enterprise may have ended for awhile. The juvenile sales will probably tell the tale on that.

I don't get the them against us stuff between stallion owners and mare owners. They need each other to make their world go round. Very very few mare owners breed horses for a living. That mare can stay empty for a season or two because the alternative is damned expensive and the stud fee is the least of it generally. I know I haven't booked my mares yet and I'm getting some increasingly cajoling letters from farms I patronized in the past about off the record deals they may be persuaded to give me. In all honesty, given the state of the market, they haven't persuaded me yet and I suspect I am not alone.

I think the first juvenile sale was down 29% or something like that? I talked with the folks breaking my Toccet filly for the Maryland sale and he said they would have been thrilled if it only dropped 20% so a 29% decline wasn't too hard to live with (unless of course you were a seller

I too have not booked my mares yet. One lost her foal in January so she's open and ready to be bred if I chose to breed her back. The other two aren't due to foal until mid and late March so I've got a little more time yet :roll:

Plan on going to KY next week or the week after to look at a few stallions. Decisions will then be made.....

AscotStud · Postby **AscotStud** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:07 pm

Springboro,

Good luck with your mare. My brother has always liked Hap, I remember him when I was working on The Works Breeders Cup show for TVG, you couldn't miss him with his flaxen mane and tail.

Aljabr is having a nice season so far. He has a G1 placed horse in Argentina, a winner of a stakes prep in Italy, and a horse who has won and run 2nd in a couple of Handicaps in Dubai. Not to mention You Got Me Rocking is running in a couple days at Santa Anita. A promising Maiden is running at Fair Grounds for Cody Autry and Al Basha and Northern Kraze are getting ready to start back up again. We are hoping for another big year, with limited starters (compared to the top stallions in Ontario). He had almost 20% Stakes horses from starters last year which is pretty good for a sire you can get to for $2,500 (multiple booking rate).

tinners way · Postby **tinners way** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:49 pm

No way anyone can feed a mare properly for $6 per day. Good luck.

foxtale · Postby **foxtale** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 11:38 pm

Maybe she just means self care? Owner provides hay ,grain and labor???
If not, I agree with Tinners Way.

foxtale · Postby **foxtale** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 11:40 pm

Maybe she just means self care? Owner provides hay ,grain and labor???
If not, I agree with Tinners Way.

springboro · Postby **springboro** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 6:53 am

The woman who keeps my horses for $6 a day keeps them nice and well fed. Now, that doesn't mean supplements or special feeds, and if I have one that isn't as good a keeper I do have to pay for additional grain or alfalfa cubes. They're on pasture most of the time and are in great health.