The latest winner for Tintin In America as a sire came at Manawatu racetrack today – American Flybye, a 2yo chestnut filly from the Caprock mare Cathy’s Flybye, who won for trainers Steve Telfer and Chris Garlick and for owners/breeders I D Bublitz and Mrs J I Bublitz, with the usual lovely drive, well rated, from Scott Phelan.
Solid even quarters on the tightish Manawatu track, and she did it easily in the end, in spite of challenges in the last bit.
Her dam Cathy’s Flybye ( 2 wins) has already produced a good filly by American Ideal – Ideal Flybye (5 wins, $34,209 to date) – but overall the wider family has not been offered much opportunity in terms of sires or made much of the better opportunities they have had. But more recent decisions by the Bublitz’s seem to be kick-starting this branch with two sires that combine toughness and good speed – American Ideal and Tintin In America.
Tintin wins the 3yo colts Breeders Crown
You know the back story – as the breeder of Tintin In America I have followed with close interest and support his efforts as a sire. To me, he offers great opportunities as a sire along the lines of Bettor’s Delight and American Ideal (speed, strength, tough attitude and durability). Tintin won at Group 1 level from 2yo to 4yo).
The oldest of his three crops to date are just 2yos in New Zealand and Australia, and already we have got the top seller ($70,000 plus) at a ‘ready to run’ sale in Australia (but NZ bred), the winner of the South Australian Kindergarten Stakes (a filly), and now his first NZ starter in a tote race winning in a fine way. So it is quality rather than numbers that will do his talking, it seems.
While it is early days for Tintin as a sire, it is also the hardest days. All sires struggle in their 3 and 4 seasons at stud while breeders hang back and buyers hang back…it is the usual cautious waiting for the standout performers to arrive. For sires at the lower end of the market, it is particularly tough. This past season he got just a handful of mares – but I think that could and should change next season. When from very small opportunities you make a mark with quality, a sire is worth a second and third look.
b4breeding 
Hi there, was wondering if you could give me your thoughts on the cross of tintin in america with a fully loaded mare? Thankyou!!
Fully Loaded had so few foals here in NZ and only one has become a broodmare to date. Interestingly the dam of that mare was by In The Pocket and her maternal line includes Bachelor Hanover as a strong influence, just like Tintin’s does. However the foal (by Elsu, who is from the same family as Tintin although a very different type of horse) is just a yearling now so I cannot report on stunning result yet! The actual match of your mare with Tintin will depend on a number of things, but if you are looking to inject speed and competitive attitude, he does seem to be doing that so far. He is a smaller sire, although his foals to date don’t seem to be particularly small, and some are quite leggy. What I like about the match with Fully Loaded is that Fully Loaded’s maternal line is full of stuff that Tintin will relish. It is a lovely constructed pedigree, but the extra injection of speed that Tintin can hopefully offer would be good. Just checking through his Australian foal credits as a broodmare sire, there is one Tintin In America on the ground as a 2014 foal from a Fully Loaded mare called Lucys Penny. Worth checking with the owners and seeing what the foal is like? It will probably be a weanling about now. As always it will depend on all the qualities of your mare and what your intention is with the foal. But I see it as potentially, on paper, a good cross.
Hi, thankyou very much for your advice. The mare Lucys Penny is the mare I was referring to. Purchasing the filly by tintin and the mare. Was considering going back to tintin and was curious what you thought. Will keep you posted on her progress. Thanks!!