Horse breeding isn’t an easy business at the best of times, but this year has been tougher than most. Auctions were cancelled in March and April. Mares were stranded at breeding farms for months after the closure of the U.S.-Canada border. Fall yearling sales numbers showed on average a 15 per cent decrease over last year, and the number of stallions and live foals in 2020 declined by approximately five per cent.
Then, on Oct. 28, one of the most celebrated and successful thoroughbred operations in North America, Sam-Son Farm, announced that it will be dispersing its breeding and racing stock over the upcoming 12 to 18 months.
All of this turmoil has left breeders from small-scale mare owners to commercial operations wondering what to do next. As they look ahead to the spring of 2021 are there strategies that can help breeders navigate through the uncertainty brought on by COVID?
According to five renown Canadian thoroughbred breeders, the answer is a qualified ‘yes’. Although there is no definitive path to success there are some specific approaches to breeding that have helped them achieve success despite industry downturns and economic uncertainty.
Adrian Munro
“It isn’t business as usual this year. We are in a COVID environment,” said Munro. “We tend to get stuck in our ways in this industry, but we have to adjust to current challenges if we want our business and the industry to have a future.”
Adrian Munro started Highfield Stock Farm 15 years ago during a boom in Alberta horse racing and grew his business to prominence in just over a decade. In 2017, Highfield earned Alberta Breeder of the Year and Canadian Breeder of the Year awards. However, as a third-generation horseman, Munro has also ridden through some tough times.
“It isn’t business as usual this year. We are in a COVID environment,” said Munro. “We tend to get stuck in our ways in this industry, but we have to adjust to current challenges if we want our business and the industry to have a future.
“First, there are logistics and costs with shipping horses. Then there are the costs getting to sales and housing mares stranded across the border that was unexpected this year.
“We have to factor all of this in and adjust and breed even if 2021 is up in the air.”
Part of those adjustments may mean retiring some older broodmares and adding new bloodlines sooner than expected. Much like buying into the stock market when share prices are low, there are opportunities to judiciously purchase young mares or stallion shares at fall and winter auctions. This is especially the case if, like Sam-Son, there are farms that are dispersing their stock.
“If you are a contrarian, breeding for 2021 has opportunities,” Munro said.
For his part, Munro plans on replenishing five to seven per cent of his broodmares – a rate that is typical for his operation. His reasoning is based on his location and the fact that Highfield is standing three stallions: Cape Canaveral (Mr. Prospector—Seaside Attraction by Seattle Slew), War Correspondent (War Front—Tempo West by Rahy) and Destin (Giant’s Causeway—Dream Of Summer by Siberian Summer).
“Alberta is not Ontario. In Alberta we traditionally hold off breeding until later than in Ontario. Many breeders will postpone until the last minute watching for plans and timing of opening casinos and racetracks – hedging their bets. Fortunately, we have the space and mare base to support our stallions and produce for the [foreseeable] future.”
In essence, Munro said, breeding horses requires both long-term goals and short-term planning. Successful breeders are those who are willing and able to alter their short-term plans while sticking to their long-term goals.
David Anderson
“It’s like farming. There are some things that are out of our control, and it is an industry that is constantly changing. I have to follow the trends but as a broodmare owner, all broodmare owners, we make trends too.”
David Anderson said breeding is all about dreaming big, but planning practically. As a commercial breeder he aims for the U.S. market and sells all of his yearlings at public auction. Year over year, whatever profits he makes from auction sales he reinvests in mares of the type and quality that improves his mare herd. Although he tries to maintain production numbers of 20 to 25 foals each season, some years are better than others depending on overhead costs.
In all, Anderson said breeding is a slow, cumulative process that simultaneously relies on the industry at present and directs the industry’s trajectory into the future.
“The dwell time for breeding production is three years,” said Anderson. “You don’t know if the plans you make now will work until at least three years down the road.
“It’s like farming. There are some things that are out of our control, and it is an industry that is constantly changing. I have to follow the trends but as a broodmare owner, all broodmare owners, we make trends too.”
This is why, in Anderson’s experience, the number one strategy for breeders is discipline. By discipline Anderson means being informed, well-researched and mindful of your budget. Research bloodlines and pedigree, but be brutally honest about the quality of the mares you own. Watch sire trends and stallion production numbers, but avoid crosses that don’t suit your mares. Equally important, don’t settle for breeding to a stallion that doesn’t have the kind of quality you need just to get a pregnancy.
“I can’t afford Grade 1 stakes producers, so I have to work to create Grade 1 stakes producers. I’m a builder, not a trader, so I build the broodmare I would love to be able to buy. We up the quality every year, including this year, as best as we can afford because the mare side is fundamental.”
Anderson said much of his success has come from young mares that have shown precious speed in training, regardless of whether or not the mare went on to race. If a stallion has one dimensional speed there has to be speed underneath in the mare line.
This strategy proved successful recently when Anderson’s yearling filly by Medaglia D’Oro out of mare Orchard Beach (Tapit—Song And Danz by Unbridled’s Song) sold for $1.6 million at Fasig-Tipton.
However, counting on big sales prices is not a viable business model. For a breeder, steady mid-range sale prices are crucial to keep the cash-flow going year over year. This means, that going into 2021, Anderson said he will be as cautiously conservative as he has been in the past.
“I have always had to buy the daughters of great producers, but that means I’m taking a risk on young mares. A bad mating is any mating that does not complement the mare’s strengths and shores-up the mare’s weaknesses. It is important to eliminate unknown variables.
“Research pedigrees and never breed unproven to unproven.”
Ivan Dalos
“If you breed to sell you have to do what is necessary so you can sell. I am breeding to make a broodmare band. I can’t afford to buy blue hen mares from the sales so, most of the time, my aim is to create broodmare stock if the horse turns out to be a good racing filly.”
Ivan Dalos is also in the business of breeding a high-quality broodmare band – which means the aim of his breeding program is not the same as that of a commercial breeder.
“If you breed to sell you have to do what is necessary so you can sell,” said Dalos. “I am breeding to make a broodmare band. I can’t afford to buy blue hen mares from the sales so, most of the time, my aim is to create broodmare stock if the horse turns out to be a good racing filly.”
At present, approximately 90 per cent of the mares Dalos breeds are the ones he has produced. To get to this point, the Ontario-based horseman has had to be both honest and stringent.
“I had to be honest with what I had, what I produced. I bred over years, breeding back good ones and selling the ones I didn’t like. If the mare worked out for someone else — so be it. I followed the standards I set for myself, the quality of the mares.”
Whether marketing a stallion or producing foals, Dalos said breeding always comes down to the talent and quality of the mare. Always aim for an improvement in quality with each breeding and don’t keep rebreeding a mare or nick that fails to produce the quality you want.
As Dalos puts it, breed the mare that’s there in front of you and not to what you want the mare to be.
“Know what she is in her pedigree, know what her conformation is like, know what she’s produced good or bad and go from there. If there’s a stallion you want to breed to make sure you have the mare that suit that stallion. Don’t choose a stallion and then look in the barn for a mare that might work.
“You can spend $200,000, $300,000 to get a donkey so you must enjoy breeding and be able to live with disappointment.”
In many ways, it is just like buying a racehorse, but with a racehorse you can get rid of your mistakes faster.
“With breeding you are carrying your mistakes for years. You can’t put them back in once their born so you might have one or two foals with a leg on backwards out in pasture. That’s the way breeding goes so you have to be prepared for things that don’t work.”
Dalos has had his share of breeding failures over his four decades in thoroughbred racing. However, patience, perseverance, and discipline have garnered his Tall Oaks Farm numerous successes such as award-winning broodmare Ami’s Mesa (Sky Mesa—Victorious Amy by Victory Gallop) and homebred champions such as 1998 Belmont winner Victory Gallop (Cryptoclearance—Victorious Lil by Vice Regent).
“You can generate money through racing and breeding, but you can lose a lot of money as well. You can take big gambles with unproven stallions and young mares, so financials are always a factor for every breeder.”
Mark Krembil
“We watch the female family and where the strength lies and breed to the most successful stallions of the day.”
“I’m not sure there is strategy,” said Mark Krembil, “but we have a business plan and a market aim that is the [framework] we operate by.”
Mark, together with his father Robert, wife Stacey and a team of professionals, operate the family’s thoroughbred racing farm Chiefswood Stables, perennial leading owners by purse money at Woodbine Racetrack. Chiefswood, which earned the Sovereign Award as Canada’s outstanding owner in 2017 and 2018, has many notables on its stable roster including Queen’s Plate winner Niigon (Unbridled—Savethelastdance by Nureyev) and 2018 Breeders’ Stakes champ Neepawa (Scat Daddy—Niigon’s Touch by Niigon). Chiefswood Stables is also represented by multiple graded-stakes winners Tiz a Slam (Tiznow—Flaming Rose by Grand Slam) and Yorkton (Speightstown—Sunday Affair by A. P. Indy).
In its breeding fundamentals, Krembil’s program follows the classic model of breeding the best to the best with an emphasis on strong female lines.
“We tend to look for reins and blue hens – the best filly families,” explained Krembil. “We watch the female family and where the strength lies and breed to the most successful stallions of the day.”
Krembil points to Chiefswood’s investment in Rose of Tara as an example of this philosophy. While Rose of Tara (IRE) herself did not have a good race career ($7,212 in lifetime earnings from six starts), she is out of Flame of Tara (IRE) who has produced many great race horses, and was in foal to Storm Cat when they bought her.
Rose of Tara produced some great horses for Chiefswood including graded stakes winner Essential Edge ($462,415 lifetime earnings) and Flaming Rose who produced multiple graded stakes winning Tiz A Slam.
“The best stallions have about 15% stakes winners yet a great mare can produce much more,” rationalized Krembil.
He also acknowledged despite all the best planning, mistakes can be made.
“We had two daughter of Rose of Tara: Kincardine and Vulcan Rose and both were by Fusaichi Pegasus. We decided to keep Kincardine and sold Vulcan Rose who has gone on to produce multiple stakes horses, but so far Kincardine has not,” lamented Krembil. “When we looked at the two horses, Kincardine had breezed better and had better conformation while Vulcan Rose was rather plain looking and had run a number of races and hadn’t done anything, but in this case she’s the better broodmare.”
Cheifswood’s homebred stallion, Yorkton, is another example of their belief in the female line. “Yorkton is by one of those blue hen families, his mother (Sunday Affair) never raced much but produced lots of runners, including Yorkton.”
Chiefswood foals about 20 mares a year and typically keeps them all. Although they do occasionally breed to Ontario sires to take advantage of Woodbine’s lucrative purses and the Canadian Triple Crown, their underlying goal is to breed for American graded races.
“We want to breed for the Kentucky Derby, the Belmont as well as the Queen’s Plate. That’s everybody’s aim and dream, but as far as a strategy it means aiming for as high as you can while expecting that even your top prospects might not make it.”
“Everything that we foal we race because this our passion and we want to win races,” concluded Krembil.
R. J. Bennett
“Getting speed, stamina, temperament and conformation all in one go is going to confuse your stallion selection and it’s like trying to do too much at once. You can’t improve all of those in one breeding. Breeding takes patience and a clear idea of what you want to produce.”
British Columbia is a hard jurisdiction to operate in this year due to some of the strictest pandemic quarantine protocols in Canada, but R. J. Bennett is still going to stand stallions Sungold (A. P. Indy—Queen’s Word by Kingmabo) and Not Bourbon (Not Impossible—Bourbon Belle by Storm Boot). The E. P. Taylor Award of Merit Award winner may even breed around 10 broodmares in 2021 regardless of economic uncertainty.
“Look,” said the veteran horseman, “thoroughbred racing is full of woulda, coulda, shoulda. It is what keeps us coming back to the track, to the breeding barn, to the yearling auctions.
“It’s like an auctioneer at Fasig-Tipton told me once
‘Ask yourself three things: Are you making money? Are you saving on taxes? Are you enjoying it? If you can’t answer yes to one of those three, what are you doing here?”
Over the course of his long career in horse racing Bennett said breeding success is based on a few fundamentals. Race record is a factor, as is conformation, speed and endurance. However, temperament is also important. After all, a horse can have all the talent in the world but will not amount to anything if it won’t go to the gate.
However, Bennett makes one qualification: do not try to breed for all those qualities in one crossing.
“Getting speed, stamina, temperament and conformation all in one go is going to confuse your stallion selection and it’s like trying to do too much at once. You can’t improve all of those in one breeding. Breeding takes patience and a clear idea of what you want to produce.”
Bennett recommends that small breeders and limited budgets aim for producing horses for local tracks. That way, if it ends up being necessary, a breeder can always race their product close to home without incurring huge costs. Moreover, Bennett advises being prepared for disappointment more than anticipating big success.
“‘Breed the best to the best and hope for the best’ should be ‘hope for the best and breed the best to the best.’ Ask yourself if you are emotionally equipped to take the phone call telling you your horse broke down or the foal died and it’s over.
“If you can’t take it, you shouldn’t do it. Breeding isn’t going to give you instant gratification – it might not even give you delayed gratification. It is a process and a test of patience as well as knowledge and research.”
Oh, and one more thing, said Bennett, matching your breeding program results to others won’t necessarily help you develop and adjust your own strategies.
“Appreciate genius when it happens, but never mistake luck for genius.”
