EVERYONE WANTS GROUP 1 SUCCESS, BUT ARE YOU ON THE RIGHT PATH?
Whether you’re an Owner, Breeder or Trainer, Group One success is what all strive for yet few experience. G1’s are the pinnacle of the Thoroughbred Industry because only the best of the best win them.
With the big money spent at sale today and the advanced selection process, you would think finding a Group One winner is only available to those with very deep pockets. In fact there is a very different reality.
Finding a G1 winner at Auction:
In the past 6 racing seasons (2012 to early May 2018) 48% of all the individual Australian Group One winners through the MM or Inglis yearling sales sold for 100k or less, with an average of$54,500.00. The overall average for all Australian G1 winners sold at auction for that period was $170,854.
With the enormous amounts of money spent at sale and the rigorous inspections that take place prior to bidding it is clear that the selection process isn’t hitting the target for Australian G1 winners, otherwise that average would be so much higher!
In addition, buyers are often failing to understand the difference between what has been bred to be commercial rather than bred to create quality. Great opportunities await those able to distinguish the difference.
Reality V’s Buyer Perception
Past auction sales history tells us that there are plenty of Bloodstock Agents & Trainers who have similar ideals on what creates greatness, which is reflected in their bidding wars. The average for the top 1000 lots from the 2010 – 2016 sales was just over $510,000 with the average price for the top 123 lots $1,108,862. As stated previously the average price for all 123 individual G1 winners sold at auction was only $170,854, with almost half selling for an average of $54,500!
These numbers tell us that there are many buyers with the wrong perception on what actually creates a Group One winner. The REALITY is all 123 individual G1 winners from the past 6 seasons sold for a total of 21 million yet BUYER PERCEPTION paid more than 136 million for the 123 top lots, which produced 3 Australian G1 winners.
The Importance of the Right Stallion Match:
If you look at our current top three stallions whom are all outstanding quality, Snitzel stands for $220,000, I Am Invincible $192,500 and Fastnet Rock Big $$$ (last advertised price in 2013 was $275,000).
Snitzel currently produces a G1 winner every 80 foals, I Am Invincible a G1 winner every 131 foals, and Fastnet Rock a G1 winner every 57 foals. (figures to early May 2018)
In comparison, Danehill produced a G1 winner every 14.4 foals from his first Australian crop and finished his career with a G1 winner every 27 foals, yet was still behind his sire Danzig who produced one every 21 foals. In Danehill’s first season there were over 40,000 mare returns in Australia and 3000 stallion returns. Today we have around 20,000 mare returns and 700 stallions.
These figures highlight the importance of the right stallion match where the pedigrees of sire and dam fit well and give capacity to produce greatness. This was the main reason Danehill was such a success, he was matched extremely well to his mares and due to his own ability and lineage had capacity to produce elite quality, which he did repeatedly.
He and many of the elite stallions in our recent past had far superior G1 to Foal statistics when compared to the stallions of today. The breeders of yesterday didn’t have a reliance on computers or software systems and focused on creating quality through their in-depth understanding of pedigrees.
Today breeding to sell is often more about giving the market what they want in order to maximise price rather than giving each mare the best possible chance of producing elite quality. Plenty of buyers and breeders alike use the Quality to Quality cross method of selection without paying the due attention to their affinity. Another common mistake is breeding to a Nick without understanding what created the Nick success in the first place.