And there is a wide range of dates within which birth can occur normally Oddy. Much depends on the mare, and/or whether it's a first time foaling. Just have to keep an eye on the mare for when she gives signs. It's a pig when she gives some signs and then reverts to normal. The most reliable we've found is the opening of the mare's vulva and wax on the teats. However, the mare will foal when she is ready. At 2am this morning, if you could have bet on the exchanges, one of our mares would have gone to 1/10 to foal before morning and by 3.30am I had adjusted that to odds against. If she doesn't produce tonight, it's call the vet time me thinks.
I can recommend linseed oil and Goldschläger Schnaps Ron - that mixture certainly aided the arrival of our fist child who was 2 weeks overdue ............... and before you ask, yes my wife was the one drinking it, not me
Have you ever seen any hilarious matings Princess? Amanda once attended the servicing of a mare by a young stallion. "Now just bear in mind that this is his first time" she was told. He didn't have a clue, trying to mate the mare from the side. They had to guide him to it, then had to put it in for him. Then suddenly, after a couple of seconds, his legs went completely rigid, his eyes rolled and a couple of gasps and he collapsed doing a brilliant Del boy impression. Poor sod had feinted with excitement.
I've seen some sights that's for sure - the teaser that almost managed to cover the mare he was bouncing - he thought it was his lucky day! (All maiden mares are "bounced" by a teaser, that is he is allowed to get onto her back so that she knows what to expect and doesn't lash out at the stallion in fright). Then there was the time that dear old Emarati got over excited as he walked into the covering shed - he reared up and fell over backwards. He got to his feet with a very sheepish look on his face. I've been in for extremes of time as well - Dubai Destination had the unfortunate nickname of "the rapist" because he was in the shed, on the mare and done in the blink of an eye. His stallion man had to be totally on the ball. But then I was once in the shed with Silver Patriarch, he just wasn't interested and it took us alf an hour of parading the mare up and down in front of him before he decided to have a go. He was a lazy horse, I remember him grazing in his paddock lying down!
Great stories reminiscent of some of my own amateur fumblings. Dubai Destination nicknamed The Rapist oh there's some dark humour in the breeding sheds.
Can one buy a stallion nomination as a future. Can I, for example, buy a nomination for Exceed and Excel (or whoever) now for 35k for say 4 years time in the hope he's standing for 60k then and I can trade it to someone for that price (or a bit less). I only ask because I heard someone talking about 'trading stallion nominations'.
You can trade nominations if you are a shareholder in the stallion. When you buy a share it s effectively a breeding right to the horse. You can either use it to send one of your mares to the stallion, or you can sell the nomination for that year on to someone else. However, most stallions are not syndicated these days - The most recent syndications would be Nathaniel and Motivator - so the opportunities are limited. It used to be that the trainer was given a lifetime breeding right to the stallion as a thank you and he would, most of the time, sell it on each year. Jonathan Sheppard received a lifetime breeding right for training Storm Cat, which did very well for him! Ian Balding also received a right to Mill Reef.
nationality question for you princess-what country as a whole produces the best horses,england or ireland
It's a difficult one to assess as Ireland produce significantly more horses than we do in Britain. Certainly in the past the better stallions stood in Ireland due to the tax breaks, but now the power is shifting and the quality of stallions in Britain has improved rapidly. It's also hard to distinguish what constitutes an Irish horse or a British horse as so many mares cross back and forth over the Irish Sea. For example Frankel is by an Irish stallion out of a British based mare (herself by an Irish based stallion). He was born in Britain but spent about a year of his life in Ireland after he was weaned. Some people would argue he was British, but others would say Irish!
The latest on Frankel at stud: Frankel: 126 out of 133 covers are in foal BY MARTIN STEVENS 12:00PM 6 JUL 2013 FIGURES from Frankel's first season at his owner-breeder Khalid Abdullah's Banstead Manor Stud in Newmarket show the dual world champion is proving as successful in his stallion career as he was on the track. Frankel covered 133 mares, with the last covered on June 13. Of those, 126 have been scanned in foal for a fertility rate of 95 per cent - a figure all the more impressive for the fact six of the seven mares not in foal were pregnant before suffering early foetal deaths. Twenty-four mares in Frankel's first book belonged to Prince Khalid's Juddmonte operation. If the owners of all the other mares pay the full £125,000 stud fee, and the covering results in a healthy foal, the son of Galileo will generate revenue of £13,625,000 in his first year at stud. Frankel covered a stellar first book that included 38 Group or Grade 1 winners and 26 dams of Group or Grade 1 winners, with two mares fitting in both categories. In all, 113 of the mares (85 per cent of the book) were winners and 92 (69 per cent) earned black type on the track. Fifty-two (39 per cent) of the mares are dams of black-type winners. Showing the high esteem in which Frankel is held by breeders, 117 mares in his first book - a lofty 88 per cent - are either black-type performers, black-type producers or both. Among those blue-chip mares were Alexander Goldrun, Danedream, Finsceal Beo, Midday and Stacelita. The average age of Frankel's first mares was ten. Juddmonte general manager Philip Mitchell said: "Frankel has been a true gentleman throughout the season and great credit for this has to go to his handler Rob Bowley, plus Banstead Manor Stud manager Simon Mockridge and his team." On the subject of the mares who had lost their foals, Mitchell added: "This demonstrates how important to the industry a better understanding of early foetal death is and the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association is to be congratulated in taking up this initiative with Dr Amanda de Mestre and the Royal Veterinary College with a project entitled ‘Risk factors and pathologies associated with early pregnancy loss in thoroughbreds'." Frankel's next job will be to cover a limited number of mares to southern-hemisphere time.
Thanks pN. Good news and a great start for what could be a tremendous second career. Another question: there's a mare Aurore who I know produced a filly by Fastnet Rock in 2013. What did she do in 2012 and who is the current owner? Thanks.
New Approach won't be going to the colonies this year DARLEY'S superstar sophomore sire New Approach will not shuttle to Australia for this year's southern-hemisphere covering season. In the past the son of Galileo had been sent from his base at Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket to Darley's Australian base and he had been scheduled to do so again this year, with his fee increased to A$55,000 (£33,400/€39,000) from A$33,000. However, in a statement Darley said: "New Approach's capacity to cover large numbers of mares is not the same as other stallions and his book size has been limited in both hemispheres since he retired to stud. "Therefore, the decision to rest him has been made in the interests of his long-term career." Derby hero New Approach has got off to a stellar start at stud. Last year his first crop yielded three Royal Ascot juvenile winners, one of them subsequent champion two-year-old Dawn Approach, while this year Dawn Approach has won the 2,000 Guineas and St James's Palace Stakes. The sire has also been represented by Oaks heroine Talent and Derby runner-up Libertarian. New Approach's first southern-hemipshere crop are two-year-olds and he has produced five winners led by Group 3 scorer Montsegur. Darley's chief operating officer Oliver Tait said: "We are sorry that New Approach will not be travelling this year as we strongly believe he has a bright future in Australia. "We recognise it is very close to the breeding season and we will obviously try our best to work with breeders who have mares booked to him to accommodate them with our other stallions. As always, we greatly appreciate their support."
He covered a normal book of 140ish in the UK this year so I can only presume he's had some kind of setback.
I was at Dalham on a visit a couple of weeks ago and they said he was limited to 2 mares a day. He did look very well
Hmm, sounds like he may have gone a bit stale. It happens, they get over faced by covering 4 mares day in day out and lose their libido. As long as he doesn't go the way of War Emblem, they'll be ok!
four mares a day-- these animals are just treated like cash machines--- like porn stars, no room for romance !!
I think it is a huge red flag personally. They quite happily released the full reports into previous investigations, so it stinks to high heaven that they won't release this one quite frankly. I have started to hear stronger rumours that there was a whistleblower involved at Godolphin, so perhaps it is an attempt to protect that person, but I am only speculating. Plus you can refer to a whistleblower without naming names.
