Will Beholder Be a Successful Dam?

[Blacktypepedigree]

Article about BC Distaff winners at stud
http://www.blacktypepedigree.com/articl ... essful-dam

[middleground]

It's almost impossible to pick out a successful broodmare--harder, I think, than selecting which horse is going to be a great sire or which yearling will be able to run. (Obviously, Beholder goes to the farm with the very high qualifications in terms of career and family.)

[Treve]

Interesting article. I do wish her the best! And I think she has a lot of interesting mate options so I do hope they rotate her breedings

[Insane Crazy]

It's almost impossible to pick out a successful broodmare--harder, I think, than selecting which horse is going to be a great sire or which yearling will be able to run. (Obviously, Beholder goes to the farm with the very high qualifications in terms of career and family.)

Plus, sires get a zillion chances to get it right. Tapit, the king of current sires, has 287 runners this year and 7% of them are black type stakes winners. That's a great stat for a sire...but still, a lot more "misses" than "hits" if you're looking at BT wins (which I chose because it seems to be what draws fan attention to a dam as a 'good' one). When a mare may only produce at max 10-15 foals in their lifetime, you're really looking for lightning in a bottle when it comes down to it. Plus, there's a lot more room for error. You know some of those 287 runners may not be especially healthy, have had external factors that reduce their abilities (injuries, handling growing up, etc), are being mismanaged, are in the wrong market, or anything else you can think of that may produce a non-winning animal. If just one of a broodmare's ten foals falls victim to that, the impact is felt a lot more aggressively.

Not to say that a good broodmare is all luck, as obviously blue hens and quality producers are worth their weight in gold. It's just such an interesting juxtaposition and makes pinpointing a good mare so difficult!

[middleground]

Plus, sires get a zillion chances to get it right. Tapit, the king of current sires, has 287 runners this year and 7% of them are black type stakes winners. That's a great stat for a sire...but still, a lot more "misses" than "hits" if you're looking at BT wins (which I chose because it seems to be what draws fan attention to a dam as a 'good' one). When a mare may only produce at max 10-15 foals in their lifetime, you're really looking for lightning in a bottle when it comes down to it. Plus, there's a lot more room for error. You know some of those 287 runners may not be especially healthy, have had external factors that reduce their abilities (injuries, handling growing up, etc), are being mismanaged, are in the wrong market, or anything else you can think of that may produce a non-winning animal. If just one of a broodmare's ten foals falls victim to that, the impact is felt a lot more aggressively.

Not to say that a good broodmare is all luck, as obviously blue hens and quality producers are worth their weight in gold. It's just such an interesting juxtaposition and makes pinpointing a good mare so difficult!

Interesting points, IC. As always at this time of year, I'm following the bloodstock sales. Years ago, I stopped trying to figure out some overarching logical connection between the hammer prices and the catalog pages. (The most important factor, I've decided, is how many people in the room want the horse, which may or may not be related to how much the horse is worth.) But, in conjunction with your thoughts, it's entertaining--if not particularly useful--to note that mares with 20, 30, or 40 % SW winners often go for relatively insignificant amounts of money. Imagine the fee on a stallion with those stats!