So far 4 new stallions to NZ - your views on them.

[emmad]

Gone for Real (Gone West x Intently) Stud fee $3500 NZ
Iffraaj (Zafonic x Pastorale) Stud fee $12000 NZ
Royal Gem (Royal Academy x Tiffany's Gem) Stud Fee $5000 NZ
Perfectly Ready (More Than Ready x Elle Duccio) Stud Fee $12000 NZ

[Intrinsic Worth]

I can't understand why they would think Royal Gem is stallion material? He's 8, raced 21 times with nothing extraordinary in either breeding or performance.

Gone For Real is another head scratcher. I've seen some marketing stuff on him and they are touting Drone in his pedigree. Don't know why.

I loved Zafonic, but as far as a sire of sires, does he have anything out there doing well?

[wallinga]

Perfectly ready's appealing though. Beautiful horse

[Cryptic Ninja]

"Gone For Real is another head scratcher. I've seen some marketing stuff on him and they are touting Drone in his pedigree. Don't know why."

NZ has a lot of Sir Gaylord blood with Sir Tristram/Zabeel etc..........It makes good linebreeding.

[emmad]

Here are some links to the articles (press releases) here.

Gone for West
http://www.nzracingnews.co.nz/news/phar ... est-2.html
http://www.nzthoroughbredfocus.co.nz/To ... spx?c=2123

Iffraaq
http://www.nzracingnews.co.nz/news/worl ... arm-3.html
http://www.nzthoroughbredfocus.co.nz/To ... spx?c=2134

Royal Gem
http://www.nzracingnews.co.nz/news/roya ... aka-4.html
http://www.nzthoroughbredfocus.co.nz/To ... spx?c=2101

Perfectly Ready
http://www.nzracingnews.co.nz/news/nz-m ... ire-2.html
http://www.thoroughbrednews.co.nz/nz/de ... &stud_id=0

[bustedbronk]

I was a big fan of Badger Land and dissappointed when he went to SA.
I got lucky when a few years later I found his only son still a stallion in North America. He is sireing large correct foals for us. His first will hit the track in 2008.

[Pete]

Hi Folks,

I wrote this on another forum:


Just to be upfront, I was involved in the sale of Gone For Real.

Gone For Real stood here in New York for several years but never got many mares and certainly not many of quality, nonetheless he did get some useful winners. He has (ref: Stallion Register 2007) an AEI of 1.36 and a CI of 1.02 so he’s been moving up his mares nicely. With only 47 foals of racing age through 2006 there aren’t any compelling patterns but there are some comments that can be made.

He was bred twice to Many Colored Roses, who won 4 races and $54k and got 2 winners including the stakes-placed Bundle Of Roses ($163,838). Her sire, Great Neck, is an obscure (as a sire) son of the good sire of Tentam who in turn is a half brother to Secrettame (dam of Gone West) and thus these foals are 4x4 to Tamerett. I’d look for her blood if possible.

Both his foals with Olivia’s Whirl, who was unplaced in 2 starts, is a daughter of Island Whirl who is a grandson of the Australian sire, Matrice, were winners including the stakes-placed Gone Goodbye. Olivia’s Whirl is a full sister to several winners including the good sprinter Jess C’s Whirl (G3).

Gone For Real was a talented turf runner with less ability on the dirt but his female tail line, through Nigromante and Ribot has a quotient of Hyperion that’s more compatible with Australia or Japan than North America. It’s clear from his CI that his mares were lacking but many had almost no points of pedigree and performance so any upgrade in these areas could yield a nice surprise. He has multiple winners with Northern Dancer and In Reality line mares and there should be at least some of the former if not the later available. I would look to bring mares to him that have some deeper family quality and that were either respectable performers or siblings to better performers. Many of his runners won at the large NYRA tracks at Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga and I believe he’ll continue to get runners from ordinary mares but I wouldn’t be surprised if he really takes to his new home, especially if given a few mares with better qualities than he’s previously seen.
Regards,

Pete

[wilf]

You could send any old stud to New Zealand and they will do well as those tough Kiwi mares are fabulous and being raised on that limestone will ensure a durable foal. I dealt with plenty of them years ago at Bart Cummings stable and some of those second graders from England with stamina through and through did remarkably well. I handled great horses like Hyperno< Rangong> and Gold and Black< In The Purple>, they could run forever and then Bart and Geoff Murphy would buy yearlings with red hot nicks like Oncidium/Summertime and Sovereign Edition/Le Filou and turn them into champions. Decies got the immortal Dulcify and Battle Wagon sired the dour Battle Heights . Great stallions sire horses better than themselves and it happens time and time again down there............Great country New Zealand!! All you Yanks should take a holiday there!

[Intrinsic Worth]

I did, however, I still prefer Australia

[Topsmeade]

Gone for Real was a good stallion in NY. I sold a few of his babies and really liked them, two of the three were winners on the NYRA circuit the third is just two now.