I bred to VOF 111 times so you don't have to

[Tim Matthews]

Valley of Fire hypos a full notch better than Dave Matthews Band, the former best-hypoing stud in DR and one of the most talented stallions the game has seen, if not the best. So, I sent him 111 mares.

That total is 37% of his (so far) 300 foals, and it is nearly four times as many mares as the next highest breeder, Gen Ravenwood, who also happens to be his owner. I sent $12,750,000 in stud fees to Gen this year. That is over $3 million more than I've spent on stud fees, total, in any given year ever. And to be honest, I'd much rather give that money to her than almost any other trainer in DR. No offense!

We live in an age were hypos are more important than almost anything. Those mares I sent range from pretty good to pretty bad. They also include one all weather router and one dirt sprinter. Just for fun. So, if his stats tank, it will likely be my fault. (Sorry, Gen!)

Was it worth it? Will VOF live up to the hype? For her sake but mostly for mine, I do hope VOF turns out to be a super sire. Will he be the next DMB? Will he be more like Just Victory or Stay Inside, who hypo'd insane but never really clicked? Or, is he a pretender who will succumb to his relatively weak dam side? I have a sinking feeling that the latter will be the case. Oh well, it was fun. Either way, I'll find out for you and I'll report back.

[Wc Lee]

You are right about Valley of Fire being a Hypo machine.

I hypo'd 6 Formidables and 2 Unpredictable with Valley of Fire and got 2 A's and 6 A-. On two of the Formidables, I had previously hypo'd to ~20 stallions and only got B+ ratings on the match.

I ended up sending 4 Formidables to Valley of Fire. I could not send any more because I am down to SIM$20K. I spent SIM$1.7 million in the past 2 days breeding. That is a lot for a new player.

Thanks for the tip! I hope it pays off.

[Nicole Marie]

I have one mare I am almost definitely sending to him next year - she's a stakes producer off of a B+ nick and he is the only stallion she nicks better than B+ with so I feel I owe her a cover from her standalone nick. But I'm definitely only committing her until I see how the yearlings gallop.

[Xander Zone]

This is another stud that is a perfect example of players putting way way too much on hypos !
I seen another post about a ds stup that “hypo’s” on par with if not better then Storm and I look at these studs and go where is the back class /race record and pedigree and when I see the price being same as say storm or 150k I just laught to myself and say absolutely no way !

Hypos till proven with offspring at top proven stud fees is ridiculous

[Jon Xett]

Tim, thanks for using Valley of Fire and supporting SIM. I used VOF several times (5) as well because of his reputation as a super high hypoing stud. In all the hypoing that I have paid for over all of these years, Valley of Fire hypoed 2 top ratings for 2 of my mares. Significance? I do believe that my mares have only given me a top hypo rating once before. Thanks also for using Dave Matthews Band 2 times this year. Best Wishes for your gallops for your VOF herd. jX

[Danny Derby]

In unrelated news, Tim will be finishing 1-5 in the Year 65 Louisville Derby.

[Lily Wilkins]

He saw 20 mares from me... 4 of those breedings were A+ nicks. It will definitely be interesting to see how things play out with him in the coming years.

[Gwayne's World]

Hope one of those turn out for you Tim

[Tim Matthews]

This is another stud that is a perfect example of players putting way way too much on hypos !
I seen another post about a ds stup that “hypo’s” on par with if not better then Storm and I look at these studs and go where is the back class /race record and pedigree and when I see the price being same as say storm or 150k I just laught to myself and say absolutely no way !

Hypos till proven with offspring at top proven stud fees is ridiculous

Who cares!

[Tim Matthews]

In unrelated news, Tim will be finishing 1-5 in the Year 65 Louisville Derby.

And that’s truth king

Hope one of those turn out for you Tim

Me too pimp

[Lee Cara]

You will get some really nice ones Tim. This is how I do my breeding these days, find the top hypo stud and multi send to him, so far, I have used the following:
Damascus Defender x 25
Hebrew National x 35
Lloyd's Keeping it x 60
Nightwatch x 20
Thor x 25
No point looking at lines etc as it doesn't matter, stallion hypo is all that counts

[Michael Looker]

No point looking at lines etc as it doesn't matter, stallion hypo is all that counts

We live in an age where hypos are more important than almost anything.

I've been out of the loop, but is this really the prevailing wisdom now?

[Nick Gilmore]

While I’m hardly a top dr person, I’m perfectly happy with Cisco’s hypos and he’s a fraction the cost. I’ve always liked you Tim, but on this you’ve driven his price up to ridiculous numbers.

For Gen’s sake, I hope he proves worth it.

[Nick Gilmore]

No point looking at lines etc as it doesn't matter, stallion hypo is all that counts

We live in an age where hypos are more important than almost anything.

I've been out of the loop, but is this really the prevailing wisdom now?

Until you get the numbers from gallops, it’s pretty much all we have to go on.

[Laura Ferguson]

No point looking at lines etc as it doesn't matter, stallion hypo is all that counts

We live in an age where hypos are more important than almost anything.

I've been out of the loop, but is this really the prevailing wisdom now?

I think quite a number of players, especially if you are a volume/numbers type operation, take that approach. I still think pedigree and performance play a role, and so while the hypo can be one factor for me, it isn't the only factor. I mean, Maelstrom sired several Derby winners, and he hypo'd about a half a grade worse than some of the other top hypoing stallions (B+ instead of an A-) at that time. I also think more dirt routers/turf routers recently are hypoing better, so that may start diluting the usefulness of the hypo. But, yes, I think enough players give weight to the hypo that it may make it harder to establish a stallion that hypos A- instead of A. Also, if all the best mares are going to the A hypo-ing stallion, that starts creating a self-fulfilling prophecy - is it because of the hypo? Or is it because of the mare quality?