DDT wrote:horsenuts
Again, I do not wish to argue with you, however, you point out in your last post that New York has a great program and that is my point as to misleading statistics when using AEI/CEI and average/median earnings per runner as a guide to success. Raffie's runners perform very well against New York breds and earn good checks. His AEI would put him in the top 100 sires ranked by AEI if he had 150 foals of racing age.
Without doing a lot of research I would say that Concerto, Northern Afleet, Benchmark, Slew City Slew and Alphabet Soup have numbers that are as good as Raffie without the benefit of state bred boosted purses and racing in open company, and all of these sires have better stakes winner percentages and stakes winner production.
When you look at his average starts per runner, even though this statistic is also a bit misleading because his foals have little commercial value and their breeders must race them to try to recoup their investment, it indicates to me that he could be a source for stamina as does his pedigree.
DDT
NY today is a very tough state bred program and why it takes a good horse to compete which makes Raffie's Majesty an outstanding value at $3,000. NY has produced two Eclipse champions in recent time in Funny Cide and Fleet Indian and other top horses like Commentator. What other state programs does one have to compete against sires like Distorted Humor, Indian Charlie and More Then Ready along with other nationally ranked and leading sires? NY breds have to earn their money far moreso then say an Illinois bred as even the sires standing in NY are representable. Add to that the number of top bred horses foaled out in NY and racing in that state bred program is about as competitive as any in the country.
And from a statistical standpoint Raffie's Majesty beats every horse you listed despite 3 of the 5 standing for over 3 times as much. RM leads in Average earnings per Starter at $67,505. Next is Alphabet Soup at $64,576 and Concerto at $64,238. RM leads in the median category and quite considerably at that with a $35,375 average(truly outstanding) in comparison to Concerto who comes in at #2 at $28,338. RM is tied in the AEI category at 1.65 along with Concerto yet has been bred to the poorest quality mares with a CI of 1.14, Concerto has CI of 1.33 with Benchmark at 1.26 CI. RM is tied with his % of SWs with Concerto at 6%.
And remember Concerto is a 'state bred program' sire as well standing in Florida as is Benchmark in California. Alphabet Soup has fallen out of favor and now resides in Florida as well and needs his fee cut in half to have real value and appeal(currently stands at $10,000). Northern Afleet threw one great horse in Afleet Alex but at $10,000 is also a tad over priced and Slew City Slew has been a very solid sire over the years but I'd take RM at $3,000 over SCS at $6,000. Benchmark also needs his fee halved from his current $10,000 fee.
But what RM also offers over these other sires is his hybrid vigor and what this thread was founded on. For an American sire he has very little Phalaris in his blood and why he crosses so well and has been such a good value over the years. If one is committed to 'building a better beast' and improving his herd RM is worthy of breeding some of one's top mares with Mr P and ND blood. He brings an outcross rarely found and is a proven sire of very nice runners despite being bred to low quality mares. He truly improves a mare unlike SO MANY commercial appealing stallions that offer little to one's herd other then a so called fashionable pedigree which from my perspective are finally being called into question and why I have no interest in pursuing what I regard as a fools errand.