When do you retire mixer studs?

[Shannon Hunt]

Particularly harness, which seems to often have a bit more longevity than TB divisions. I ask because Rah Rah Rasputin is currently four, and it feels early to retire since he peaked at three and a half, he's been phenomenal for most of the past two seasons and I'm thinking he could be a reasonably profitable runner going forward for a while... but he's also faltered a little in his past couple of races, and I don't know if that's just bad luck or if he's reached his best-before date. I could retire now, maybe he'd make a great stud, or at least reasonable useful for in-house breeding... but he might also hypo like garbage and then if he's still got a lot left in the tank I'll have thrown away potentially several years of good racing. Obviously if he'd had a marked downgrade in gallop/SF I'd pull the racing plug promptly, but right now it's not so clear to me what to do.

I've only had one high-caliber colt retire to stud in the past, and that was a TB and I think I mismanaged that situation a bit, so I figured I'd see if you mixer veterans out there have any nuggets of wisdom for how to decide when it's time for a colt to retire.

[Tom Lin]

Deciding when to retire can certainly be a dilemma especially when you've enjoyed racing the horse with a bunch of success. There are a number of factors to consider for sure and you have outline some of them.
My preference has always been to retire horses to stud when they are finished their 5yo racing year provided they maintain a certain degree of form. RRR's form based on SF's has declined somewhat the last three races, which coincided directly after a time when gallop levels can change. The way he has been losing, giving up the lead in the stretch, may also be the result of tiredness. His whole racing carrier he's averaged a race every two weeks. One three week break, one single week break, everything else two week breaks. He's certainly been a war horse.
The SC could be a deciding factor. Unless he returns to form, maybe he's lost a step and you can't expect the consistency you were used to when he was at his "true peak". Going into next year will he improve, maybe, not likely. Will he be a "reasonably profitable runner" as you said, most likely, but probably at a slightly lesser level. If you enjoy racing him, maybe that's your answer.
Other factors for me to decide to retire are: How excited am I about the pedigree? Does he bring something different to the stud book in terms of bloodlines? Do I have the quantity and quality of broodmares to support him? A first crop can make or break a sire.
RRR is a great racehorse and that maybe enough for him to hypo well. Hypos as everyone knows doesn't mean everything.
I stand two stallions with very similar pedigrees, each from excellent families, both were excellent racehorses. The "better" race horse of the two hypos good or average and the slightly lesser racehorse hypos very well. The one that hypos less has produced a $1.6M winner, the better hypoing one a $400K winner to date. There is only a year difference in their ages.
There is enough variance in the SIM that it isn't an exact science. RRR might be the next great stud next year, maybe he'll return to form on the track and continua to win major stakes. Go with your gut, based on what you feel you know about the SIM, and don't look back. Best of luck Shannon going forward.

[Shannon Hunt]

Much appreciated Tom, as always your advice is so valuable. You've given me a lot to think about. I think I'll wait until I see how he does in the SC, make a game plan then... good excuse to procrastinate this decision until Tuesday.