HOT STALLIONS : HOW DO YOU PICK THEM?

 

  

Brave Tin Soldier Foals
(Photos : Leigh Willson)

“Big, Brave, Brilliant… and Bloody nice foals!”

In the 2011/2012 edition of the Summerhill Sires Brochure, we posed the same question. The opening paragraph went something like this “hot stallions are the prime currency of the horse trade. They triumph over Wall Street crashes and lift rough mares. Their very names tempt buyers into abandoning price limits arrived at so carefully, so clinically in the calm of the hotel room the night before. So how do you pick them?”

If you’re looking to identify them early on in their careers, the tell-tale signs lie in the most obvious of places, and that’s with their foals. A good spread of good foals is a strong indicator of good runners, and while its not fail-safe, it’s got to be at least 16/20. That’s about as good as odds get in our game anyway, and the astute student will spend his time scouring the paddocks of farms with freshman sires on their rosters, or engaging in “fireside” chats with people who have their noses and ears close to the ground.

About the best sign is when the management of the farm (or better still, the broodmare manager) starts switching their own mares to the stallion. That’s exactly what Annet Becker, who runs the menagerie of mares at Summerhill, has done in the case of Brave Tin Soldier.

We guess you can change the adage. “Big, Brave, Brilliant… and Bloody nice foals!”.

Enquiries :
Linda Norval 27 (0) 33 263 1081
or email linda@summerhill.co.za
www.summerhill.co.za