ROB'S SHOUT - TOUGH GAME THIS BREEDING CAPER

By Robert Heathcote | Thursday, November 25, 2010

Robert Heathcote is the leading racehorse trainer in Brisbane. 'Rob's Shout' - the personal blog of the premiership winning trainer will appear every Thursday on HRO.

This is the time of year when the frenetic activity of most of the breeding studs tends to wind down considerably and is replaced by the tense anticipation of the upcoming sales season.

The first of the country's major sales is just around the corner with the Magic Millions due to kick off in about five or six weeks.

Long term plans are about to come to fruition and from experience I can also tell you it's a time when a lot of 'breeders' will have their expectations shattered as the breeding facet of this industry can be very cruel and uncompromising at times.

It's a part of the industry not for the faint hearted. From my time in the racing industry, it's an aspect of the industry which I have underestimated and I now view the breeders of racehorses with a lot more 'respect'.

The time and costs involved in producing a yearling for offer at the sales can be a financial nightmare, if you are not lucky.

Whilst many only tend to see the high end of the breeding game with the yearlings bringing the big bucks, there are many, many instances each and every year of plans that simply do not come off.

I have not been in breeding long enough to fully outline the many pitfalls that exist, but, in my short time, I have witnessed enough to know that quite often the massive risks involved in breeding your own horses do not match the financial outlay in many cases.

My wife and I are only at best hobby breeders with a few of our retired racehorses and whilst I don't fully understand the intricacies of the commercial breeding scene, I have certainly learned that it's not for the faint hearted and those that think it's an easy way of making a quid, well knock yourself out!

Our involvement in breeding came about simply by breeding from a few mares that have been successful for my wife on the race track and over time it's very easy to become quite 'attached' to them.

It's with experience now that I have learned there is simply no room for any sentiment in the uncompromising world of breeding racehorses.

For example, a decision is made to breed from a potential mare which has won a few Saturday races for us. Which stallion/sire should she be sent to?

There are professionals who do mating analyses to help you correctly match pedigrees or a choice can be made on the previous success of the stallion or it can be made simply on the basis of affordability.

A choice is made and a sire chosen for a fee of say ten grand. The mare is agisted at a well known stud at an approximate cost of about another ten grand for the year with a few vet bills thrown in of about $1500, if all has gone well for the year.

The big day approaches and yes, she is late, but the foal finally arrives. A bit on the small side as a first foal, but it's got the correct number of legs and it can stand on its own.

The decision is then made to send the mare to the next sire and again, another twenty grand (for example) as we have now decided to upgrade … and we have a nice foal now!

The foal is weaned off the mare some time later and the agistment bill is then doubled with two mouths to feed.

Another year goes by and the sales season is approaching and it's that time to start counting the profits we will make from the sale. Sale nomination fees along with the sale preparation of the yearling of maybe another five grand and its fingers crossed!

Into the ring the yearling walks and with a minimum cost of at least thirty grand to get your breeding investment to this stage, and lucky enough to have a yearling that conformationally is ok.

Bidding opens at ten grand and staggers to about twenty grand and you decide to take it home and race it yourself!

It's at this stage that I really wonder if it's worth breeding them yourself?

Why not simply let someone go through all the heartache and the high risk and then attend the sales and choose from anyone of the thousands available for purchase … and you can buy the one you choose, not the one that you are stuck with from breeding where a myriad of things can, and do, go wrong?

Still, like so many aspects of this industry, breeding is still to a degree a lottery and while there are many disaster stories, so too are there many stories of good fortune.

My wife, Vicky, has been lucky enough with our current good broodmare in Cantantes to be part of a good luck story!

Cantantes is now twelve years old now and whilst she was no superstar on the race track, she was a stable favourite and her nickname was 'Countess'!

She won a couple including a Saturday metro race, but a leg injury shortened her race career and then a client brought her cheaply to breed from as he had a few stallion shares.

The first progeny won five including four metro races and the second foal was another winner and had excellent prospects until a walker accident curtailed her career.

The third foal was split up amongst some friends of mare’s owner for an amount which was actually less than what it cost to breed the filly. They did get lucky indeed!

It was at this time that the mare’s owner decided to get out of breeding so Cantantes was sold and Vicky brought her to continue our venture in breeding.

We were lucky, I guess, as the third foal is Funtantes who is already a Group 2 winner with many more wins to come on her present form … bloody stiff not to win the big one last week to be honest?

The next youngster out of 'Countess' to race is Excellantes who also looks to have a very bright future.

He had an issue early as a two-year-old which forced us to give him plenty of time, but that patience looks like now being well rewarded.

This son of Falvelon is a cracker to look at … you may say the 'Brad Pitt' of the stable, but he can run and that's the main thing!

We are very lucky that the full yearling brother to Excellantes is waiting in the wings and the full brother to Funtantes was born this year and they are both good types also.

Not sure what the plans are with those two at this stage. Vicky will probably race them with long term existing stable clients and friends, I imagine.

That's the up side of breeding for us, but any breeder will tell you that there are plenty of downsides to this caper!

The decisions to breed with which stallion sort of just fell into place through a variety of reasons to be honest. Funtantes came about by a stable client offering up his covering to Easy Rocking!

That worked a treat which is why she now has a full brother on the ground!

Brilliantes showed enormous talent until her injury which is why Excellantes came about and his full brother yearling!

No real science at all, Falvelon and Cantantes just make good race horses … so far anyway so it's simple really!

The reality of it though is that breeding successful and commercial racehorses is not simple and I do have a far greater respect for the breeders with in this industry than I did five years ago!

Yes, the global economic crisis of the last few years has certainly trimmed up a lot of the crazy prices that once existed.

Maybe it was an industry correction that the breeding industry needed to have as it did seem like it was getting out of control.

There's always suggestions that there are plenty of rorts that go on at the top end of the market … maybe, maybe not … but I do know that at the lower end of the market there are plenty of breeders that do it a bit tough and this breeding caper can be pretty unforgiving unless you are very lucky.

Walk around the sales and have a look at the expectant faces of all the breeders as they eagerly parade their stock to prospective buyers.

For many it's their grand final for the year. I sincerely hope they have a good game!

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