Warning signs out for some stallions

Harness racing breeders are never slow to pick up the trends about new sires and these days are pretty quick to abandon any stallion who they think is not delivering on the track.

The numbers of mares served by some of our newer sires this year are way down on what they served just twelve months ago and are due no doubt to the lack of winners these stallions are producing.

The first one we are going to review is Art Official who dropped this season to just 17 mares after covering 72 last season.

His oldest crop are three year olds and numbers 49 horses of which nineteen have qualified but just five have won a race.

His second crop are two year olds this year and that crop numbers 80 horses and have produced one smart horse in Salty Robyn 1:53.9 ($ 44,600) who has been burning up Menagle in the last two months.

His Australian offspring are doing a good job with small numbers which makes the New Zealand situation harder to understand. 

Overall Art Official has been a little disappointing and unless his stock have a big next six months it is hard to see him coming back to Australasia next season.

Tintin In America is another sire whose numbers fell away this year even though his oldest crop are only two year olds.

That first crop numbers only 32 horses but to date has only had three qualifiers which is disappointing.

It is way to early to make any decision about him as a sire but he only served 13 mares this year which means the breeders have taken a wait and see approach.

Tintin In America badly needs four or five of those two year olds to salute the judge and create some momentum before the next breeding season or his days as a sire might be numbered.

The former champion pacer Elsu is another stallion to get the cold shoulder from breeders.

This is a stallion who has produced over 250 winners of over $12,733,000 to date in Australasia alone yet breeders have deserted him.

This year he served just six mares in New Zealand and his future may lie in Australia where his stock have won over $8,424,000 and where he has left most of his winners.

Gotta Go Cullect is another stallion to get the cold shoulder from breeders after being given every chance in his initial seasons at stud.

In his first four years he served over 100 mares every year but this fell away bigtime this season with him attracting just 18 mares.

At present he has 222 three year olds and older in New Zealand and to date he has sired just 30 winners so his days may be numbered in New Zealand.

Lis Mara was an interesting one for us in that his numbers are not that bad overall.

He has 175 horses three year old or older and so far has produced 49 winners and a further 37 that have qualified.

Their main problem is like their sire they are better with a bit of age and people are not prepared to wait these days.

From a high of 90 mares, Lis Mara dropped to just 7 mares this season and there would have to be real doubts that he would shuttle next year.

Finally the trotting sire The Pres is another stallion to suffer a big drop off in demand from breeders after a slow start to his siring career.

His oldest crop are just three year olds and number 38 horses and to date he has had just two winners as well as a further four qualifiers.

From a high of 80 mares bred in 2013, The Pres slipped to just 13 mares this season and like all the others here badly needs a few flagbearers.

It is very early for a trotting sire to be condemned but the breeders patience these days seems to wear out very quickly with any sire not performing immediately.

What the above list shows is how hard it is to get a foot on the stallion ladder and once there how difficult it is to stay there.

Harnesslink Media