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Newbies: Finding Broodmares, Breeding to the Right Stallion

Original article written by Belle Gifft posted 12 years 0 weeks ago

To date I have bred 211 foals, which isn’t a lot, especially for a player that has been around for years, and I am in no position to give advice to experienced players. My methods include time-consuming research, which isn’t practical for many. But, I have had good results, so perhaps some new players can benefit from this general system.

When browsing the sales page for new mares, I am pretty much just looking at sires. If the dam sire has been around a while, and hasn’t managed to produce a good broodmare, I’m not generally interested in his daughters. But if I find a mare by a proven broodmare sire, I’ll take a look at her page. Again, this is no hard and fast rule, just my system. If the mare has a) run a speed figure over 62, b) run and unusually good breeze, or c) has a stakes-winning dam, then I will look into her pedigree. If my perspective broodmare has maternal sisters or half-sisters, I look at what they have produced. If I see only sup-par foals, then I am wary of buying into that family. If I see even one good foal though, then I buy the mare. Now comes the hard part; which stallion should I breed her to?

For my example, I will use one of my own mares, “Hot Gold”.

First, I record her information; on what surface and at what distance did she run her best speed figure? This shows me that four furlongs on the dirt is her optimal race. Next I take a look at her sire, Kiln. Pulling up his stud book page quickly shows me that his top earning horse was out of a Super Speed mare. Was this a fluke, or is it a good bloodline cross? I don’t see Super Speed mares showing up in any of his other top foals, so I won’t risk it, and I move on to his next highest earning horse. Now I see a dam sire of Em’s Always Busy. Looking through Kiln’s top foals, a pattern starts to emerge; three of his highest ten foals are out of three different Em’s Always Busy mares. Statistically this can be no coincidence, so I list Hot Gold’s top paternal (sire) cross as Em’s Always Busy.

Next, I run the same basic test for the dam sire, (mother’s father), El Corredor, and find three of his top seven runners are out of Symbol mares. Now I can list Symbol as my best cross for dam sire line.
Now I look at Hot Gold’s dam, Dreaming of Gold, and find her best foal was by Kiln. Since I don’t really like to line breed, that doesn’t do me much good. If it was a different stallion though, I would list him as the top maternal cross.

Finally I look at Hot Gold’s maternal and paternal sisters, and look for the cross that produced the highest earning horse. I prefer looking at maternal sisters/half-sisters, but in this case it isn’t practical, so I’ll look at paternal half-sisters. The easiest way to do this is to go to the search page, then search for horses with your mare's sire as the dam sire. I can then sort the results by earnings, and see that Hand Over Hear, by Hand Me Down stands out. Hand Me Down is pretty young, so I won’t have much luck finding him in the pedigree of any stallions, so I’ll switch to his sire, Standard Grey.

Now I have a good starting spot. If I find a pedigree that contains two out of the four best crosses found in previous steps(three in this case, since the best maternal cross would be too inbred), I can add that stallion to the list of potential studs. The easiest way to find them is to go to the stud book. In this particular case I know I’m looking for a dirt sprinter, so I open that link and sort the results by sire. First I look for a stallion out of the top sister cross, Standard Grey, out of a mare by either the best maternal, best dam sire, or best paternal cross. Not finding any, my next preference will be for a stallion by the top maternal or top dam sire cross (Symbol) out of a mare by the top paternal cross (Em’s always busy). No such luck in this case, so I will look for a stallion by one of Symbol’s top sons, out of an Em’s Always Busy mare. Again no luck. My next option is to look for a stallion by Em’s Always Busy out of a Symbol mare. No luck, Em’s Always Busy, was too long ago to have sons at stud, so I’ll look for stallions by his best sons. I pick Sic Transit Gloria, because I know he has produced some fantastic studs, and bingo! Sky Warrior, by Sic Transit Gloria, out of the Symbol mare Tsuki Senshi, catches my eye. Now I look at his races, and see some good speed figures at four furlongs in the dirt, and I know I have a match made in heaven.

There really is no great basis for this, just instinct, but for new players it is at least a decent place to start.


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