Bargain “Breed to Race” and “Make Your Mare” Stallions for 2023
Mucho Macho Man, Lookin at Lucky, and Paynter are at the top of my list in the categories above. Below are explanations why for MMM and L at L. Contact me for preferred pricing for the right mare.
Mucho Macho Man
He raced (an unusually long) 5 years for two reasons. 1) He was so good that he averaged winning over $225,000 a start for his owners over his 25 starts, 2) With Macho Uno the sire and Ponche the grandsire, his pedigree was initially considered mediocre when he retired to stud. Those two facts meant that the $1million+ he made each racing year was more than the owners could expect from a year in the breeding shed, so why retire him?
But those supposed negatives have been disproved by what MMM’s runners have done on the track. From the start this handsome, correct, 17-hand colt with the amazing stride had a physical that would help more mares than many other top stallions. And within three years after he went to stud the pedigree improved significantly: He had two new sibling SWS, including G2 SW Marconi.
Most importantly, runners by MMM reflect MMM’s own stellar race record. He’s generated an AEI of 1.62 from mares with comparable indexes (CIs) of 1.08, and has an impressive 4.8% SWs from runners 3 yo and up as of the end of 2022 from those 1.08 CI mares. And, he throws the big horse, as G1 winners Mucho Gusto and Mucho Unusual, and recent G2 winner City Man prove.
Lookin At Lucky is slightly more complicated to evaluate than Mucho Macho Man and Paynter because he throws average lookers and he himself isn’t as straight as you’d like up front. But his front end has not hurt his statistics, as he has produced an above-average 15% 2yo winners, an above-average percentage of overall winners, and a very good 4.4% SWs from 3yos and up through year-end 2022.
Surprisingly, given his good percentage of 2yo winners, his runners’ average win distance is a classic 7.5 furlongs. Where L at L has excelled is in producing 2.3% GSWs from 3yos and up. Compare this to top stallions Flatter (2.0%), Liam’s Map (2.2%), Nyquist (2.3%), and Twirling Candy (2.4%).
I’ll be surprised if you can beat the prices I can get for MMM and L at L seasons. Email me at rllosey@gmail.com or call at 502 780-9934.
2023 is likely to be a tougher market for accessing foal and mare shares than 2022. That’s because when equine markets are stronger, farms don’t have to “deal” as much. We had good luck and bad in the 2022 market. An older stallion didn’t stop two mares (bad luck) but the farm let us switch off to a an unproven (always risky) stallion that turned out to have (good luck) 5 SWs (3 graded) by the end of Nov. 2023 with his first crop. A nice young mare that I arranged to claim for $8,000 sold a weanling foal share for $60,000 in Nov. 2023 after selling a Maclean’s Music the previous year for $35,000. These two helped with finances and also helped start the mare off with a good track record. Other recent foal share stallions I brokered that I won’t name in print* included 1) the leading turf sire, and 2) a young stallion that now has the 2nd highest percentage of graded stakes winners from runners in North America. I also arranged below-market prices on a variety of LF seasons. *Stallion managers often prefer not to see their stallions’ names mentioned in connection with “deals.”
Foal share deals typically become more accessible in late December as farms figure out which stallions won’t fill at the advertised stud fee. (As of late-November 2023 I’m starting to seriously pursue foal share candidates.)
I facilitate foal/mare share deals and lfsn contracts at all levels. I specialize in arranging foal or mare-share contracts that get you to mid and upper-tier stallions that move your mare up the quality ladder. Over 30+ years I have arranged hundreds of foal and mare share deals, including foal/mare share deals to Speightstown, Tiznow, Scat Daddy, Hard Spun, Mineshaft (see story below), Ghostzapper, Super Saver, Kitten’s Joy, Indian Charlie, Street Cry, Unbridled, Mt. Livermore, Harlan’s Holiday, El Gran Senor, and many more. If you’re interested, I can help: I have contacts at farms and with owners, and I shoot straight with everyone.
Foal/Mare share advantages:
- Typically you can breed to a substantially better-quality stallion than you would consider paying a lfsn fee for.
- You lower risk because you pay only when you sell and the “standard” contract has you paying ½ or less of the foal’s sales price to the stallion season owner.
- No sales tax is typically paid on the payment to the stallion owner.
- You don’t need to insure to cover a stud fee, as no money is due to the stallion owner if the foal dies.
- In most cases, sales expenses are shared with the season provider.
Giveups: You normally have to share breeder awards, and yes, if your mare produces a knockout foal, you might have been better off paying the stud fee. But in that case, you might be in the same position I was when the hammer went down at $165,000 on the Joel’s Last Laugh colt from the foal share deal (described below).– I was thrilled, as I would have considered contracting for a Mineshaft stud fee a bridge too far for her first breeding.
Timing: Though a few deals appear early, most farms wait until they have gauged demand for their stallions and that typically means that this market gets serious after the November sales. It continues throughthe breeding season, though most deals are done late November through early February.
Mare Qualifications: Mare qualifications increase with the quality of the stallion. For example, for stallions whose seasons legitimately sell for $25,000 or better, you’ll need a quality mare (which in most cases means significant black type in the first two dams, usually with some graded black-type). To get to better stallions, some farms do, others don’t require that you breed a second mare and pay a stud fee (fee typically in the $5,000-$15,000 range for a farm stallion on the make or that is having a slow year. These fees are sometimes at, sometimes below the advertised price. Amd, there are foal shares done at the highest levels of the market. (Secretariat was the product of a foal share deal involving two mares. Bold Ruler with Somethingroyal produced Secretariat, but the season owner chose the other foal, leaving Penny Tweedy to make do with Secretariat.)
If you have a nice mare and want to explore possibilities, email or call to discuss stallions (proven or unproven) that are interesting foal-share prospects.
In most cases you pay nothing to me because the season owner pays me a percentage of your foal’s sales price. In the few cases when the season owner will not pay agents, my fee is 1-2% of the hammer price.
Call Bob Losey at 502 708 1931 or email at rllosey@gmail.com for information.
(A Super-Successful Foal-Share as advertised pre-sale Sept. 2017)
Hip 2903 at Keeneland0 Sept. 2017 is a very nice colt that is a foal share with Mineshaft out of Bob Losey’s mare Joels Last Laugh. This colt is correct and has good size, notwithstanding that he’s a May 2 first foal. He is a bit short-coupled at this stage, though the mare herself “stands over a lot of ground” as Europeans are wont to describe a lengthy, long-striding individual. No vices, has had no surgeries, and will sell with a modest reserve to dissolve the foal share partnership. Joels Last Laugh is a half-sis to three top-notch SWs. Here is the link to the pedigree page http://apps.keeneland.com/sales/Sep17/pdfs/2903.pdf
Lane’s End and I were quite pleased with the reception of this colt — 8 scopes, 6 X-ray repository reads, 3 heart scans. And he did his part – showing well through 80+ viewings and bringing $165,000. Thanks to Lane’s End for the foal share deal and a great job in presenting him. Thanks to Sean Curtin for a marvelous job raising and prepping him. Best of luck to the buyer (Ben Glass, agent for the Wests). (2020 update — This colt, named Breaking News, ran 2nd at OP in his first start, then won a MSW ($100,000 purse) at OP and now has winnings of over $295,000, averaging $10,000+ per start.)
Joels Last Laugh, dam of Breaking News, has a foal share 2022 Ghostzapper filly colt and is open for 2023. Call if you have a season that fits her to foal share or sell at the right price.
If you are interested in claiming partnerships, I can help. I claimed Joels Last Laugh (see above foal share deal) for $5,000.
Call Bob Losey at 502 708 1931 or email at rllosey@gmail.com for information.