Iffraaj

And Kodiac, anyone?

And whilst on the subject of 1st season sires - this years this time. Congratulations to the breeders of the 1st Moss Vale winners. A nice double for him sweetens things up niceley. I am sure connections of the stallion must be delighted.
I note that Echo of Light had an encouraging 3rd in the one race, let's hope he can improve for connections too.

Give it time, this time last year people where thinking Holy Roman Emperor was a shoe in for champion first season sire and look what happened.  I'd only be worried come the end of August.  We've barely started.

Having said that if I had just got my mare covered by either Kodiac (who I know has been popular and would have used myself if they weren't playing such hardball with his fee) or Iffraaj I would be biting my nails a bit.

Hasn't quite taken off yet but tomorrow is a different day and things can change. He had some nice types last year who seemed tough and genuine so i'm sure they'll be out again. I do think they might be hurting his chances at stud by the price of him this year i had used him a bit in the last few years but couldnt touch him this year at that price.

Ofcourse you're right Ripvan and P P., it's early days.

Incidentally I didn't really think 15k was too obscene a price hike for him. It was a pretty impressive 1st crop slightly out of the blue too and his sales figures were pretty amazing accordingly. I can't remember when they closed his book but he was probably the most popular horse at stud this year. (relatively ofcourse)

I'm not sure exactly what price the 20k Fasliyev was gettable for before he took his 1st crop hike to 75k!
Ifraaj looks a positive steal compared to that
Mind you I think that Fasliyev taught the world how not to play that game, I just hope Coolmore took note

I think it is too much because i got him very cheap the last few season's so i'm sure you can see where i'm coming from. He will be getting different breeders using him this year and i hope he gets the mares he deserves. The mares we sent him where good but i'm sure this years book will be his best by far. I know PD is not his biggest fan because he's by Zafonic but as it goes i quite like Zafonic which was the main reason for using Iffraaj.

Many people got their fingers burnt by Fasliyev but in some ways they nearly deserved it because using him at that price was never going to pay

As is often said here and elsewhere Rip Van, it doesn't always do to pile into the 'next' or current big thing, searching for the value should always be top priority.
Did you manage to ride the commercial good thing with your cheaply conceived Iffraaj's ?

It went well with the Iffraaj's sold two mares in foal last to him which was very good as it was the best cover you could have at a cheap price. I had people coming to see them as i had an agent working with me trying to sell them. I had a few nice foals by him who couldn't be faulted although one became well known at a stud for being quite the brat.

Well done for going in strong with an unproven sire. Brave and in this case, shrewd!

Hope things work out for Echo of Light, a very handsome looking horse from what I remember of him.