I’ve always thought that breeders are incredibly brave, if not extremely optimistic, and most likely both. Even if both their chosen mare and stallion ‘tick all the boxes’, the resulting foal may tick none – it’s a real gamble, no matter how many guidelines you follow.
Conformation, movement, pedigree and race record are the four pillars when choosing any horse, be it to breed from or race itself. Different people have different preferences and biases, some they’ve inherited from popular opinion or a mentor, others they may have learnt themselves from trial and error.
Certain folk employ statistics but, in my opinion, they should be treated with caution. A quote that makes me smile comes from the baseball player Lou Piniella: “Statistics are like bikinis – they show a lot but not everything.”
It’s not that long ago that when I considered a pinhooking prospect, someone informed me that Dubawi was a bad broodmare sire, and they weren’t the only ones I’d heard quoting his poor statistics. Ten Group 1 winners as a damsire later, he’s disproved his critics and, if they want more figures, he is currently second in the damsire standings by blacktype winners. Invincible Spirit, whose daughters were also shunned at one time, holds the same position by winners.
The breeding stock sales are a great place to disprove theories. Not brave (or rich) enough to buy a broodmare myself, I’ve enjoyed tagging along with more knowledgeable folk at the sales to educate myself and particularly delighted in seeing talented race fillies with plenty of conformational ‘defects.’
Just by browsing the catalogue, you’ll find proof that talent isn’t always inherited. Jack Naylor was a case in point at the recent Tattersalls December Mare Sale. Bought by Jessica Harrington for €10,500 at the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale, the daughter of unfashionable sire Champs Elysees beat Group 1 fillies when winning the Group 3 Silver Flash Stakes and had Legatissimo and Together Forever behind her in the Flame Of Tara Stakes.
Jack Naylor proved herself in a vintage year of three-year-old fillies \ Healy Racing
She finished third to Found in the Prix Marcel Boussac, fourth to Pleascach in the Irish 1000 Guineas and runner-up to Covert Love in the Irish Oaks. After concluding her career with a Group 3 win, the Gerard Byrne-owned bay sold for 800,000gns at the Tattersalls December Mare Sale of 2016.
Her race record and classy pedigree earned dates with Galileo in her first three seasons as a broodmare, then Sea The Stars, followed by Saxon Warrior and Camelot. Those are the sires of her six foals of racing age, yet she has produced only one winner. Nine years on from commanding the fifth highest price of the sale, she failed to find a buyer last month at 25,000gns.
On that basis, you would think that a mare that has proven herself as a top-class producer would prove hugely popular in the ring, but that is seemingly not always the case.
Sandra Russell brought Moment Of Truth back home after her star mare failed to sell at 250,000gns at the same sale. Tally-Ho Stud got 10,000gns more than that for her yearling colt by Starman last year, so you can understand Russell’s valuation of her mare, whose daughter, Excellent Truth, has since landed a Grade 1.
Moment Of Truth, the dam of Grade 1 winner Excellent Truth \ De Burgh Productions
The Diana Stakes heroine also placed at the highest level on three occasions – twice in the US and once in France – and sold to Katsumi Yoshida for $2,500,000 at Fasig-Tipton last month. All that, and by a sire that the Irish market has deemed surplus to requirement – Cotai Glory has been exported to Turkey.
Not only that, but Moment Of Truth produced a Group 3 performer (albeit in Italy) on her first attempt. One imagines that if Russell managed to buy her for just €14,000 as a lowly-rated three-year-old, there must be some negatives to her profile, despite being a half-sister to Zafisio and by Teofilo, now responsible for 10 Group 1 winners as a damsire.
She wouldn’t be the first mare to be a better producer than racehorse, just like Jack Naylor isn’t the only talented filly to have disappointed at stud, and the same applies to stallions. Horses defy logic, just as humans often do. Here’s hoping Sandra Russell’s mare goes on to prove the market wrong with her future stock.