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Breeding | Pinhooking | Stallions

Racing with Dapple Stable in 2012 | Archive

We have just completed the major northern hemisphere breeding stock sales in the U.S. and Western Europe.   I attended the sales in Kentucky and England and saw many of the same faces sorting through the stock in search of a mare or foal to fit someone’s needs.  The major dispersals in the U.S. pumped up the Keeneland numbers, if one takes those out of the mix it was still up about 14% which mirrors Europe.  Mares from decent families were in demand again and the market for quality foals never really weakens.
We have witnessed quite a change over the last four years, in 2008 and 2009 breeding stock was hard to find a buyer for at any price.  In 2010 some competitiveness returned to the markets with small increases surfacing in certain sales.  In the spring of this year the two year old sales showed some signs of life with the “middle market” demand returning in the open sales in Ocala and Maryland.  The really select stock had sold well enough all along.  This carried over to the yearling sales during July thru October.  The return of some stability to the yearling and two year-old sales lead to the demand for breeding stock that we have seen in these recent sales.  The value of mare portfolios was cut in half during the post financial collapse sales in 2008 and 2009.  Values stabilized in 2010 and we can see a solid 12-15% increase during 2011.  I suspect we will continue this growth path barring any great economic upheavals. Historically bloodstock markets do not enjoy “v” shaped recovery. Our growth is seldom dramatic and relies on some confidence in the financial markets, as we are really dealing in a discretionary product. 
The media keeps telling us how bad things are in Europe but the demand for bloodstock does not seem to be affected.  Fillies from good families brought top dollar at the recent Tattersalls December Sale in Newmarket; I must have bid on 25 horses and only got 2 of them bought.  Other American agents were active there as well, I think the quality of their pattern races provide longevity and depth to the value of their pedigrees.  The number of graded races does not change greatly from year to year.  Major races usually have 14 – 20 horses running on wide sweeping turf courses that may not even have a turn in them.  If you hit the board in one of those it means something, and owners are rewarded down the road in the breeding stock sales.  In America it seems we have overlapping stakes at different tracks for the same age group and sex.  This dilutes the quality of the field.  We see races here that are graded races with 6 or 7 horse fields and a couple of the horses don’t really belong in there to start with.  Other parts of the world are starting to question this along with the medication issue. 
Both mares that I purchased were for American breeders that will ship the mares back here to diversify and compliment their broodmare band.  Anyone can log on to Tallersalls.com and look up hips 1673 and 2009 from their December Mares catalog. I suspect we will see more of this in the coming years. 
Looking back, Americans purchased the best breeding stock in Europe during the post WW II years and our produce thrived in races worldwide without much change until the decade of the 1980’s.  The Irish and English syndicates bought a lot of our best stock to race in Europe, some eventually retired there as well as here.  The Maktoum family started playing big in the 80’s as well and eventually started farms in England and Ireland.  Many of our best producing mares were purchased by these same groups along with the Japanese during the 80’sand 90’s.  I feel this has led to a “rebalancing” of the location of the top bloodstock. 
Daniel Cunniffe, one of our key guys from Dapple Stud, arrived in Singapore today to meet with a long time Indonesian client of mine that is developing a breeding operation near Surabaya.  We are shipping him a racing prospect we purchased in Kentucky to his trainer in Singapore so he can enjoy organized racing there. We also bought a stallion prospect for his farm in Indonesia. 
Technology has certainly played a roll.  The TDN or similar trades keep us all posted on instant racing results the world over.  Currently we are witnessing additional expansion to Eastern Europe and Asia.    There have been a handful of stallion prospects bought and sent to Turkey over the last 5-10 years.  Racing in Dubai is now a winter vacation for many Western Europeans.  The Koreans have been very active in recent yearling markets supplying a government run racing product that is seeing good results.
It has always been an international market for the top 15% quality wise of racing or breeding stock.  But we are now seeing mid-market stock being used to fill a void and speed up a breeding population that can sustain racing in Asian countries.  China is about to open up and there are lots of speculation about the logistics and timing around a nation this size with a population where gambling is a part of their culture.

We are raising capital for a one-year broodmare strategy, offering 5% shares for $25,000 each. The capital will be used for buying six to eight in-foal mares from the November and January Kentucky auctions.  They will board and foal out at Dapple Stud, and we will sell the resulting foals and mares (back in-foal) in the same Kentucky auction markets the next year. 

The enjoyment of owning Thoroughbred broodmares in immense.  Imagine making a few trips each year to Kentucky to see your new foals play, grow and change.  Why not learn the realities of Thoroughbred pregnancy, foaling, foal care, and breeding from your own ownership experience, yet in the safety of a small Kentucky partnership.  Feel free to request additional information about this partnership.  
 

Alternatively, I have decided to syndicate the top third of our yearling crop into a racing partnership.  These colts and fillies come from a primary set of young Thoroughbred mares at Dapple Stud, culled from many years of market study, and representing certain Thoroughbred families believed to be slated for success. 
Raising foals to race is a luxury few can know, but it is very manageable with this format.  The partners are encouraged to watch the development of the foals and become familiar with each one, while they are in Kentucky and in Florida preparing for their race careers.
At this stage of our journey we are able to raise quality stock through Dapple Bloodstock and Dapple Stud.  Our 900 acre nursery in Bourbon County provides a platform for Dapple clients to raise horses that can compete on the racetrack and in the sales ring. 
These are interesting times, stay in touch with us.