Buying quality mares

This is only ever going to sound like a negative response but you would do well to buy one let alone a few black type mares (probably older or foreign / modest) for 70k.  If I knew how to do as you suggest I'd have done it but fact is buying black type mares is a short cut of the rich or the very ballsy.  For 70k you might be able to buy 3 or 4 decent unproven (or old) mares or maiden fillies with some potential.  An excel printout and some research of the last two tatts / goffs mares sales results will confirm all of this.  December past Lots 1790, 1496, 1696 are examples of where the market is at and these were good buys imo.  GL

Thanks, I will go through the Goffs results.

Can I ask, in the scenario you mentioned where you suggest buying unproven mares/maiden fillies, what sort of restriction would this place on you, for an extreme example if you wanted to cover something like this with Frankel. On this subject how many of the top sires in the UK have "quality" filters on which mares they will cover? And how does this system of criteria work?

I suggest if you are intending to get into broodmares / breeding you should do a lot of research and/or consult a bloodstock adviser (I don't have any recommendations).  If you buy well then a £20-30k mare or race filly will get into virtually all stallions under 20k.  Stallions 20-40k and/or those very popular first season ones you might struggle to get covered even with some help for an agent (although many will take you due to lack of demand).  Whether you should be covering at this level is highly questionable.  The elite stallions (clearly Frankel but anything over 50k) you will need a group level mare or sibiling or producer and that'll potentially be telephone numbers to buy.  Inclusion / Exclusion criteria differs wildly between studs...who you know is high up there, how many you are sending and of what quality, good producers are valued higher than great racehorses in general.   Its a very big subject.

Thanks.

Obviously I have a lot to learn, just reading a lot at the moment and asking a lot of questions.

Can I ask what views anyone may have about breeding advice in that I know some advertise in that they will offer the best advice on the right stallions available for your mare at a price of course. My daughter has worked at one of the biggest studs in the world and they rarely used this avenue, seemingly just using their in house knowledge and using fashionable stallions! Have these companies proven themselves in general or with a basic understanding of breeding lines are you as likely to produce a winner?

Yer Ma is right, you need plenty of good advice to go down the road you envisage. May I suggest you start by approaching some of the larger studs with the request to lease a mare for the coming season so that you can experience for real the planning of a mating, the production of a foal and the getting it to the correct sale without the continuing commitment of a particular mare. A lot of studs will lease a maiden or unproven mare for one season, particularly if you wish to use a stallion at that stud. You will then benefit from all the experience of that stud to learn from. If you succeed in getting two or three mares at different studs for a single season you will end up with a broad spectrum of advice and experience. There is a lot to learn, not the least how to deal with heartache and disasters, so make sure you take out the right insurances along the way. I think you will then understand that if you really want to play in the premiership, you need to add a nought to your purchasing figure, and that even then there is no guarantee of live, correct, foals or someone willing to buy them at a profit to you. Lower leagues can be rewarding too, just know your market and what you seek to produce.