I have this mare who I love to death, [color=red]GCh. Playing It Cool. She’s a pretty consistent stakes racer, with 3 wins, 7 places, and 2 shows in stakes races. She’s still running well this year but I definitely feel this will be her last season racing. She hasn’t made too much money this year and she’s slow with regaining energy, (I usually have to ship her home after every race), so she’s not cheap to keep racing. So I’ve kind of been toying with retiring her now and breeding for a late 2014 foal. I’m impatient and would love a baby from her for next year.
I was thinking of possibly breeding her to A.P. Indy, Point Given, or I’m A Classic (for a nice steeplechase prospect).
What would you guys do?
If you were going to breed her in the next couple of weeks, I’d breed. If you want to wait until the last possible minute, I’d wait until next year, since maiden mares could carry late and then she might foal in late July and not be able to be bred in 2014.
I would disagree with breeding her–she’s still doing well on the track, and any future winnings will only make her that much more valuable before she proves herself. How much $$ would you pay for a foal out of a GCh. mare versus a NCh. mare? A mare that’s won 1/2 a million, or a mare that’s won well over a million? I mean, if she goes on to become a platinum producer (which would take at least 4 or 5 years to establish just a breed ranking), the point’s kinda moot. However, in general, I think a lot of talented horses are retired too soon. Many don’t hit their stride until 4yo or even 5yo year. I have a MSW mare who had I not leased her out on a whim, I would have retired at 4 due to her only being an “allowance” sort of horse. As a 5yo, she’s won 1/2 her starts this year, including 3 stakes. I’d keep running a horse for as long as it was profitable/made sense. There’s no guarantee you’ll even be around when this mare’s foal races (life happens) in three years.
However, it seems like it’s too late to change it.
