Hoof It at York, 2016

Racing Post, 6th February 2011

THE HANDFUL of vendors with yearlings by Monsieur Bond to sell this autumn must be feeling pretty pleased with themselves.

The son of Danehill Dancer has risen to fame by siring tough, high-class performers such as Gilt Edge Girl, Hoof It and Ladies Are Forever from limited opportunities.

At last week’s DBS Premier Yearling Sale he was the most profitable stallion who had two or more sell. The measure of profitability is taken as the sale average in relation to the covering fee this season’s crop of yearlings were bred on.

So Monsieur Bond had all four of his yearlings sell at Doncaster at an average of pounds 60,500 – a whopping 20.2 times his 2009 stud fee of pounds 3,000. It is an imprecise measure of profitability, as it does not take into account deals on the fee, keep costs or the fact that some progeny were being resold. But it does give an impression of a sire’s commercial appeal.

Monsieur Bond covered only 17 mares in 2009 and many of those were from his owner Reg Bond (who retained a share in his homebred sister to Hoof It who made pounds 147,000), so a lot of outside breeders missed the boat that year and the small supply probably helped increase his average. His book size leapt to 112 at Norton Grove Stud this year.

Monsieur Bond was in a league of his own in terms of profitability at Doncaster, but next best was Camacho, whose pounds 24,250 average for four horses sold was over nine times his 2009 stud fee of EUR3,000.

All four offerings by Camacho, a son of Danehill who stands at Morristown Lattin Stud and has supplied the likes of Arctic Feeling and Puff, sold for prices ranging from pounds 20,000 to pounds 26,000. Those figures allow plenty of room for profit on his bargainbasement fee.

Another value son of Danehill, Kodiac, managed to maintain a high profitability margin with double the number of horses sold than Camacho and Monsieur Bond.

Tally-Ho Stud stallion Kodiac, a three-parts brother to Invincible Spirit, has provided four Listed winners with his second crop of juveniles running. Breeders who sent mares to him in 2009 and 2010, the years his fee hit a low of EUR4,000 (he covered at EUR6,500 this year) could be sitting pretty.

Progeny of Derrinstown Stud resident Elnadim also excelled, recording a pounds 36,333 average that is nearly seven times his 2009 fee of EUR6,000. The Danzig sire’s statistics were massaged by the sale of a half-brother to Listed winner Miss Meggy to David Redvers for pounds 82,000.

Rathasker Stud-based Thousand Words had two of his six offerings change hands, but those that did sold well. Colts who sold for pounds 36,000 and pounds 23,000 to Geoffrey Howson and Peter and Ross Doyle made an average of pounds 29,500, 6.7 times Thousand Words’ EUR5,000 2009 stud fee.

The next best first-crop sire was Elnadim’s studmate and fellow son of Danzig, Haatef. He had three out of five offerings change hands for an average of pounds 19,750, five times his 2009 stud fee of EUR4,000.

Assertive also made a pleasing first impression. The Throckmorton Court Studbased son of Bold Edge had four out of six offerings change hands for prices between pounds 8,000 and pounds 30,000, making an average of pounds 19,750 that was nearly five times his 2009 stud fee of pounds 4,000. He was available to breeders at a fee of just pounds 2,500 this year.