Your broodmare criteria

Less about lineage but still about breeding, lines, etc. I am slowly decreasing the size of my broodmare band and hoping to be a little more strict. Out of curiosity, how do you decide who to keep and who to let go? No more than 2 daughters by the same stud? Must have 70% OTB? Black type? Whoever you fell in love with while racing them? And what about the horses who bombed but their lines are good?

The #1 piece of advice that has stuck with me over the years is a comment Shanthi once made, which was along the lines of, ā€œif Iā€™m no longer excited to breed a mare, I sell her.ā€ This has been useful, but Iā€™m curious if anyone else has expectations for their broodmare band members.

I think I have a difference between what I think my broodmare criteria should be and what I actually do as Iā€™m a terrible hoarder and I really struggle to let go of mares that have been part of the team for a long time.

Ideally I like them to be stakes level, MSP or better if possible (for unranked/maiden mares). Having said that, some of my best ranked mares at the moment have no stakes placings - I think one of my Platinum mareā€™s record is ā€˜winner, mult. placedā€™ for example.

In the past I havenā€™t been too fussy about having multiple mares by the same stallion although I might have to review that as more of the fillies by my resident studs start to retire to broodmares. I tend to ā€˜collectā€™ mares from damlines that I like - again I probably need to review that as I start getting too many closely related descendants (especially if theyā€™re fillies).

Haha, same here!
I like mine to have at least Champion title, and I wanted them to be Allowance level or better on all distances and surfaces (and at least try steeplechase). I used to want them to run at least 30 races injury-free, but Iā€™m not so strict about that now. I do want them to be relatively consistent.
Iā€™m more willing to retire a mare than sell her, if her offspring doesnā€™t run well. Next year Iā€™m planning to retire seven, and sell three after foaling.

My problem is that every time I start a ā€œcriteriaā€ I get a SW/consistent allowance horse out of a well-bred but dud-running mare. Doesnā€™t do much to encourage me to weed my herd. Also Iā€™ve sold off some ā€œdudā€ mares that go on to produce shining stars. :woman_facepalming::woman_shrugging:

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@rainee Oh good, itā€™s not just me! Iā€™ve sold off several mares who went on to become gold or platinum rated once their babies got older. A lot of them were from decent lines but hadnā€™t been stellar on the track - at my earliest stage, thoughts went like this: ā€œWell, she didnā€™t start racing until 5 so maybe she could have been great at 2/3/4?ā€ - even from created lines.

Nowadays, I try to cull my herd based on specific traits I want to breed for: peak @ 3, classic distances, flat runner. If the mare herself hasnā€™t performed in those areas, maybe a 1/2 sibling or dam did well, or maybe she set a speed record or two in that category. But then there are always exceptions - favorites get to stay. Now that more of my mares/mare candidates are related, Iā€™m starting to decide which ones to cull from particular lines - typically based on sires and/or performance. Sometimes itā€™s too hard to choose, so I keep both/all. Also, Iā€™m not great at culling, so maybe disregard everything Iā€™ve said thus far.

Usually once Iā€™ve had a chance to race a mareā€™s offspring and they donā€™t do well in the first couple years, I tend to sell them and/or her (especially if Iā€™ve gotten a couple fillies from her by then).

I usually require my mares to be stakes level (of some sort) to retire them to my broodmare band. Iā€™ll make exceptions if theyā€™re the only filly I own from a nice mare, or they raced late, or I can somehow otherwise talk myself into wanting their babies :wink:

Once theyā€™re dropping foals I usually evaluate once theyā€™re on their 3rd/4th racing foalā€¦by then the oldest should have a mostly-established racing career, and the second oldest is on their second season so I can get a sense of whether theyā€™re throwing nice babies or crap. I try not to keep Bronze level mares in my band unless - again - I can talk myself into it.:wink: Since I have so many mares/foals, though, Iā€™m usually trying to talk myself into keeping mares rather than talking myself into not keeping them. This has led me to sell some that have turned into really nice producers, but I find that bothers me less than selling racers that blossom in another barn (I suppose because I figure I might not have chosen to cross mare X with stud Y, so superfoal Z wouldnā€™t have existed, vs not thinking to try foal Z on turf to realise heā€™s a superstar).

This is all very interesting and quite helpful! While it didnā€™t help me to absolutely cut a number of mares based on any one criteria (because I will also make exceptions to keep what-ifā€™s and favorites) it definitely helped me select several mares to let go of next summer. Once they foal. Because I want the baby, haha.

Ultimate goal is trying to get under 90 mares but as certain favorites near retirement from the track, wellā€¦

My goal is 100 mares or less, but I have 118 now so clearly that isnā€™t going so well.