Bertolini

Compton Place has a stunning record with Night Shift (sire of Deportivo) mares and he too is a very good 'get you a winner' sire. Without looking too deeply, that's perhaps another thought?

Thanks for the reply.  His nomination fee is twice that of Bertolini, though.  Is the extra money worth it compared to Bertolini?

No! In short,3k sterling not too bad when you look at what's around.

Probably not! I would like the mating a lot though and I imagine he would deal a bit so you pays your money. . .

Bertolini doesn't seem to have much of an affinity with Mr Prospector (I'm on Cryptoclearance here!) and his fabulous damline (Courtly Dee) must have had a regular crack at Mr P stallions with not much success.
Also Deportivo hasn't much to recommend him as a good cross for Danzig line mares but then these are all theories of the cross in reverse so there's any number of reasons why it might be rubbish!

Pot M is right about the C.Place / Night shift nick, think Ive counted 5 stakes winners bred on this cross.

Bertolini foal average 2010 was 9k, while CPlace was 25k, so would be worth seeing what you can get a nomination for. But you say your not looking for commercial value. Is that coz your are going to race it?

Yes, we're a small racing syndicate and fancied breeding one of our own rather than buying one.

I like the olive oil and the pesto but the spread is too watery.

E G G,

Stick with butter.

Must be Feet Of Fury ?

No disrespect but why are you looking to be breed from this filly ?

She's earned £4,229 from three seasons racing. I bet that figure barely covers three months worth of training fees ?

Why when anybody says 'no disrespect' you know full well that the statement will contain quite the opposite.

I am sure there are better prospects going to stud Black Sam Bellamy and why would Warnie not know that?

They have a mare that they love and they want to breed from her for their own pleasure. Enjoy the ride lads!

Hi Black Sam

What we've always known is that she has a lot of ability.  Unfortunately, she has largely been prevented from showing that ability on the track.  Her run last week showed a glimpse of that ability but she's probably never going to have the opportunity to fulfil her potential on the racecourse.  As a result she has no value to anyone but us as a broodmare and as a syndicate we would like her to have the opportunity to show her ability through her offspring instead.  She really is a lovely mare with a fantastic attitude and plenty of size about her.

If you take the merit of breeding from her at all as a given, who would you put her with?

I'd say Strategic Prince he is cheap the cross with Dansili worked with the sires dam and has worked with Night Shift Depotivos sire. As for the dams side not to much going on there until the mare Green Rosy who was a good producer by the looks of it but no cross stands out there. He comes from the Danehill-Sharpen Up cross. You will be able to deal on him very easy this year.

Warnie - having spent the past ten years breeding from low grade mares, I am just offering my opinion, without attempting to insult you. I wouldn't breed from her. The only winners at the level you are operating at are the stud owners/trainers. Keep fees are the same for platers as they are for Group winners. You end up spending £15k a year serving/keeping a mare that won't deliver anything to get your money back...and then £15k a year keeping a horse in training that will probably end up running for £2k a time. There has to be a point where the hobby ends and a realisation of how much you've spent, starts. My suggestion to you would be to invest a little more in a retiring filly who has shown more ability on the track. There has never been a better time for a buyer to upgrade the quality of their bloodstock as far as I'm concerned. That, or a young mare in foal who has left a winner or two at a level higher than Feet of Fury has been operating at.

Just my opinion. Leaving the romanticism aside for a moment, you get what you pay for.

Warnie, I say go for it, live the dream, that's what I'm doing.  My mare is old and did her winning in class 6 company, didn't stop her breeding winners with ratings greater than she ever achieved.  I got an opportunity to save her from the factory 2 years ago and I took it, I'm poorer in pocket but richer in life for it.

I agree with the Danehill route (Dandy Man who I'm considering as using for my mare this year is by Mozart out of a Night Shift mare).

My suggestion would be Baltic King, I used him and have a lovely colt yearling.  He's a fourth season sire and so will get bugger all mares this year, they will bite your hand off and you would get him very cheap.

Thanks all for the range of opinions.  Black Sam - I hear what you say but we've owned her since she was a yearling and it's not about hard-headed commercial decisions at the end of the day.  If we were making hard-headed commercial decisions we would never have become racehorse owners in the first place.

I'll have a good look at all the suggested sires.

On a general admin point, should we be getting her covered soon to avoid having a late foal or does it not matter as we are not looking to sell the foal?

Well we've definitely decided to have her covered.  Compton Place is the one we are looking at but I was playing around with the Stallion Match on Juddmonte's website and it threw up Champs Elysees as a good match.  Any views on the G1 Goldmine Stallion Match software and also on either of those two for our mare?

Warnie, of the freebie (sort of) matching or nicking sites, Alan Porter & co. at True Nicks is the best as it takes account of opportunity which the others don't. Have a look at the stallions it covers (paid for by the stallion stud) and see if you can glean anything from similarly bred stallions to those you are considering perhaps.