I wonder how they feel over at Juddmonte?Originally Posted by halo
I wonder how they feel over at Juddmonte?
Certainly not as good as Japan. ;-)
Perhaps they finally found Sunday's replacement?
Say the same thing every time one wins.....
He was probably putting himself out of the price range of American breeders now. I've always thought that was one extremely appropriate name. It's very good to have a stallion that was producing so well, but American breeders have taken a huge hit in the bankroll with the present economy.
The horse had a full book when he left at around 60K. I have no doubt breeders who pay to play at the level he would stand at now would line up down the two lane roads of Lexington to breed to him now.
I think he could have stood for 100,000k next year and possibly up to 150k depending on how the rest of the racing season goes. Bode becomes a more impressive stud prospect with each passing success of his sire, too.
I totally agree.
They already found Sunday Silence's replacement in Deep Impact. Empire Maker is going to have to go some to equal Deep Impact right now.
What a big mistake it was selling him. We may never know how badly that hurt our breeding stock.
Makes me a little sick, halo. Seemed to me like in all the races I watched today, Empire Makers did VERY well.
As I have said for many years now, greed and impatience on the part of American breeders will be the downfall of this sport.
Yes, I know, it's their horse, they can do what they want. Yes, he could die tomorrow so selling him at a profit is what the industry is all about. Yada, yada, yada.
Like most things here, all about a buck. Sometimes it's about doing what's right. Don't bemoan the sorry state of the racing industry when you will ship its hero's off to other shores never to be seen again or their offspring. I could care less if he does super in Japan, I don't live in Japan. My concern is racing in the States. Him being a fantastic sire in Japan has little bearing on racing in the US. You won't see those offspring race here. He was a very good stallion here. He should have stayed here.
Everyone talks about how fantastic globalization is in business. Yeah, for everyone but the US. Manufacturing here has tanked because of it, as has racing. I don't see Japan selling their top bloodstock to anybody but Japanese, with a very few exceptions. They aren't stupid, it's the greedy folks here, who unfortunately don't think long term, just short term.
You know of course that he was owned by an Arabian prince who mostly races in Europe....
EM was standing HERE.
Hmm I wonder what Europeans (and European racing fans) felt like when Americans exploited their war torn continent and came up with Blenheim, Royal Charger, Nasrullah, Nearctic (in utero), Princequillo (also in utero), Sir Gallahad etc etc. You could make the argument that there wouldn't be an American TB to fuss over except for a couple of world wars that knocked Europe on its backside. Not to mention that most of the European stars of the 60s and 70s came here to stand (including Le Fabuleux, grandsire of Unbridled). The globalization of TBs sure seemed fine to Americans then.
Personally I think Sunday Silence is probably a bigger loss all the way since he was more of an outcross. It took a while but Deep Impact is giving us a taste of what we missed out on and you can thank home grown Kentuckians for that decision not a Saudi prince who after all is said and done does business everywhere and probably doesn't owe any country a particular allegiance.
Though Sunday Silence was more of an outcross, I doubt he'd have made the impact here as no one was interested in breeding to him. He'd not have been given the opportunity and class of mares he saw in Japan. He'd also have been working off a different mare base, and who's to say he'd have hit with the mares here?
I personally think Forty Niner was a bigger loss, and just as questionable as Empire Maker as far as sales go. He led freshman sires in 1992 and by the time he was gone was the #3 leading sire in 1996.
~We have enough youth. How about a fountain of smart??~
Those are good points. I admit I find all of the hand wringing amusing from fans in the same country that imported Sea Bird, Ribot, Nijinsky, The Minstrel, Forli, Sir Ivor, Blushing Groom etc just a human generation or so ago. It was a really big deal when anglophile Paul Mellon used his economic might to keep Mill Reef in England instead of the usual send him to Kentucky MO that everyone else was doing.
The Minstrel, Nijinsky II and Sir Ivor were foaled here, they just raced overseas.
I'm flipping through the stud material in my 1952 racing manual. None of the sire lines represented by the 20 leading sires--with the exceptions of Menow and War Relic--have much/any influence today.
The American breeders went on a spending spree in Europe after WW2. The Europeans got ... Hill Gail and Coaltown.
American breeders supported Empire Maker with a full book of quality mares every year he stood here. What more would you have had them do?
But with the exception of Sir Ivor, they were owned by foreign interests and they certainly didn't have to come back here. Mill Reef after all was born here too and Paul Mellon openly expressed his dismay that no one was leaving European champions in Europe for their stud careers and he took it in the shorts financially to do just that. The fact that he was a billionaire and good friends with the Queen probably didn't hurt and certainly bought him good will in those circles. Otherwise the stallions in Great Britain that stayed like Blakeney, Brigadier Gerard, and Wollow generally had zero appeal here and it took Sangster to right the balance. But Americans were certainly willing to sell their best stock as yearlings to foreign interests for decades. Now the same foreign interests chase international money.
I am not talking about those who support these stallions but the owners, I guess I should have been more specific. That's the problem, breeders here support the stallions and then they are gone. The fans support the horses at the track and then they are gone. How can you build a fan base when the animals go to far flung countries. Watching a race on the computer is not the same as seeing that horse at the track.
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