b4breeding

The rise of locally bred sires – back to the future?

Is Christian Cullen our Artsplace? Gotta Go Cullen our Art Major? Changeover our Western Ideal? Tintin In America our Bettor’s Delight? Gotta Go Cullect our Rock N Roll Heaven? The growing number of top quality locally bred sires on offer is creating healthy options for our future breeding.

This article was originally published in Breeding Matters magazine, January 2013. It is reproduced here with some minor additions. Comments are welcome. 

Have we finally got over the colonial cringe? Are we ready to view pacing sires bred here as worthy as a new unproven sire brought down from North America?

The answer may be a key part of how well we get through some tricky years ahead in our New Zealand breeding industry.

I’m not saying breeders should turn their backs on proven or quality new sires from overseas – far from it. But if overseas owners pull back from making their top sires available here (as could be the case if they get few mares taking up the opportunity), or they become too expensive, then we have a number of local prospects that are potentially ready to step up and do the job.

On the other hand, if overseas owners try to move too many of their second-tier stallions ‘Down Under’, they may find the local competition here stronger than they expected. And it could be the ones we know get the nod.

A bit of history

Locally bred sires are often referred to as “colonial” sires in a reference to past days when there were many such hopefuls standing in Australia and New Zealand. A glance at the past shows that locally-bred sires have had variable success and often struggled for support, despite some vigorous efforts.

Johnny Globe, super racehorse, sire and broodmare sire

Two of the more interesting locally bred sires in New Zealand were Johnny Globe (raced mainly in the 1950s and stood as a successful sire in the 1960s and early 1970s) and his siring son Lordship (who raced at the top level in the 1960s and stood successfully as a sire from the mid 1970s into the 1980s).

That siring line traces back to a branch of Hambletonian not found on today’s charts – known here as the Globe Derby line but originating way back from Strathmore, a son of Hambletonian. Starship and Lord Module, sons of Lordship, tried to carry on that sire line in New Zealand and had good opportunity but pretty low key results overall. There have been recent efforts to rekindle the flame through Magic Rule, an elderly son of Starship, and Kurahaupo Lord, an elderly son of Lordship, but not on a commercial basis.

More recently in the early/mid 2000s locally grown sires included Il Vicolo and Iraklis (both sensational racehorses, both commercial failures at stud and both sons of hugely successful imported sire Vance Hanover, in turn a son of Albatross which is a siring line that did not kicked on at all internationally). Other less high profile attempts, also from Albatross sire line, included Soky’s Atom sons Thunder N Lightening, Captain Rufus and Spirit Of Zeus, although the latter is from a US bred mare. Tuapeka Knight (a son of Smooth Fella from the Most Happy Fella sire line) was much more successful as a local sire.

All of these “colonial” sires came from very solid New Zealand maternal families, and were good racehorses themselves. They were not ‘local hacks standing at the farm down the road.

However they could not do the job as sires (let alone as sires of sires) and breeders turned towards the modern bloodlines, proven race horses and safer options coming in from North America. At this time the marketing of stallions also improved and via the internet more is known about these stallions.

Remember, this was also a period where many more male racehorses were gelded as yearlings, so some top local prospects never got the chance.

Overall, locally bred horses have had an uphill battle to be successful and desirable sires in their own land.

What’s changed?

It was when sons of In The Pocket starting standing at stud that things really picked up. Christian Cullen and Courage Under Fire standing from the early 2000s but really hitting their straps by 2005/6 marked a turning point for New Zealand-bred sires and how they are perceived in the commercial breeding market.

And that’s what really turned the corner for us.

A champion sire restores the faith

Christian Cullen, super sire

When Christian Cullen yearlings became ‘the bees knees” and got top prices at the sales, and then performed so well as racehorses – well, that has developed into a fairy-tale story for those who have believed we can produce a sire just as good “over here” as “over there”. Christian Cullen is even cheekily poking his noggin into siring lists “over there” – Ian Dobson had the gumption to take him over to North America as a sire for a season, and Christian Cullen has done a remarkable job with his 2yo progeny last season in spite of very limited numbers of mares. They may regret the opportunity they missed.

And Christian Cullen is going one step further. He’s making a great fist of carrying on the Direct Scooter sire line in the southern hemisphere – out of the 5 or 6 of his progeny already standing as sires in New Zealand, it is highly likely that 1 or 2 will get enough support to go on with the job in the longer term.

Thanks mainly to Christian Cullen, and also Courage Under Fire, we have lost much of the ‘cringe’ factor around locally bred sires.

A growing confidence in well-bred, well-known and reasonably priced New Zealand (or Australasian) sires may give these horses a real opportunity to shine.

More reliance on locally bred sires is not a bad trend so long as we keep our standards high:

• It will help keep pricing competitive and realistic, and ensure more of the breeding revenue remains in local hands. (Around 60% of the revenue from USA/Canadian stallions leaves NZ.)
• The quality of our top stallions and their own sires is such that we are not breeding backwards to an older type of “colonial” horse.
• It will help us retain significant, if quirky, difference in our mares’ pedigrees – a point of difference in our New Zealand gene pool, which is a good thing for the overall diversity and survival of the pacing breed (similar perhaps to the development of different gene pools in trotting globally).
• It is ensuring the survival of a very, very good branch of the Direct Scooter/Volomite siring line, in much the same way that Matt’s Scooter has done in America.

Variety important for locally bred sires

A very positive factor is the variety of locally-bred types coming through. That’s something needed to offer breeders real choice in pedigree, attributes and conformation.

That’s what I suggested at the start of this blog – Is Christian Cullen our Artsplace? Gotta Go Cullen our Art Major? Changeover our Western Ideal? Tintin In America our Bettor’s Delight? Gotta Go Cullect our Rock N Roll Heaven? Is Elsu our Grinfromeartoear? Perhaps Courage Under Fire will become our Good Time – a sire whose future contribution will be through good racehorses and wonderful broodmares rather than his own siring line?

Ohoka Arizona, sire

There are several others having a go such as Charles Bronson, Justa Tiger, Ohoka Arizona, Christian Fire, Attorney General… so far Ohoka Arizona (Christian Cullen x a Falcon Seelster mare) has some promising youngsters showing up, and the owners of Justa Tiger (the Clarks of Highview Standardbreds) are giving him every chance by ensuring a number of his progeny get into the 2013 yearling sales arena (see my blog about that). Pay Me Christian is another who has already left a winner from very few foals but has given up a siring career for now due to fertility issues (January 2013 news on Pay Me Christian).

At the moment our list of current “colonial” sires is dominated by sons of In The Pocket and Christian Cullen, and Stunin Cullen may add to that list in 2013 season.  However it is good to see two by Falcon Seelster (Attorney General and Elsu), and one by McArdle (Tintin In America) and perhaps soon Sir Lincoln and/or Auckland Reactor (by Mach Three).

Gotta Go Cullect, getting good numbers of mares

In the next couple of years will we see quite a few more locally bred sires available and competitively priced. Hopefully the range of sire lines represented will broaden out even further.

Nine (three Christian Cullens, two Mach Threes, Two Bettor’s Delights, one Falcon Seelster and one Western Terror) of the 15 starters competing in the NZ Cup this year were entires. Look at that mouth-watering field and the variety of sires and great maternal lines!

As the appeal of locally bred sires grows, there could be a fairly tough period coming when breeders make up their minds about which ones offer the most. “Many will be called, but few will be chosen.” Sentimental favourites may struggle; those with the ‘wow’ factor will succeed. And then the results on the track will decide who survives in the longer term.

If we want top quality locally bred sires with commercial appeal that sorting out process is inevitable and important. Just like it is for any sires on offer.

Attorney General, siring son of Falcon Seelster

Our new “colonial” sires will have an opportunity to shine with a growing number of broodmares by top imports – Bettor’s Delight, Mach Three, McArdle, Grinfromeartoear, and then American Ideal, Art Major and Real Desire, as well as older broodmares by Live Or Die, Badlands Hanover and Falcon Seelster.

The resulting remix of imported and local bloodlines will once again give New Zealand’s gene pool a distinctive profile.

Let me leave you with a quote I saw in the newspaper recently from Mark Chittick of Waikato Stud (one of the top thoroughbred studs in the Waikato) on his purchase of Rock N Pop (by Fastnet Rock out of a Sir Tristram mare) to stand at their stud:

Waikato Stud has a longstanding belief in colonial stallions who have shown they are robust enough to withstand the vigours of Australasian racing. It’s pretty easy to see why we stick with stallions that are proven in the tough Australasian racing circuit. If you look at the Australian Sires Premiership, 16 of the top 20 stallions actually raced in that very environment.

List of NZ bred sires currently or recently available in New Zealand (in no particular order)

Changeover – In The Pocket x Chaangerr (Vance Hanover) – Nevele R

Courage Under Fire – In The Pocket x Advance Debra (Vance Hanover) – Alabar Australia

Julius Caesar –  In The Pocket x Pleasant Franco (Bo Scots Blue Chip) – now standing at Mountain View Stud Victoria, Australia

Christian Cullen – In The Pocket x Pleasant Franco (Bo Scots Blue Chip) – Wai Eyre

Gotta Go Cullen – Christian Cullen x Sparkling Burgundy (Butler BG) – Wai Eyre

Gotta Go Cullect –  Christian Cullen x Elect To Live (Live Or Die) – Alabar NZ

Ohoka Arizona – Christian Cullen x Millwood Krystle (Falcon Seelster) – Wai Eyre

Justa Tiger – Christian Cullen x Tigerish (Butler BG) – Highview Standardbreds

Charles Bronson – Christian Cullen x Seymour Lass (Falcon Seelster) – Pinelea Farm

Elsu – Falcon Seelster x Interchange (New York Motoring) – Alabar NZ

Tintin In America – McArdle x Zenterfold (In The Pocket) Nevele R

Attorney General – Falcon Seelster x Classic Blue Jeans (Camluck) – Barra Equine

Pay Me Christian – Christian Cullen x Pay Me Tu (Tuapeka Knight) – not standing as sire currently due to fertility issues

Christian Fire – Christian Cullen x Advance Debra (Vance Hanover) – not sure where he’s gone

Plus likely in near future:

Stunin Cullen – Christian Cullen x Vicario (Soky’s Atom)

Sir Lincoln – Mach Three x Clare De Lune (Beach Towel)

Trotters

Skyvalley – Muscles Yankee x Chiola’s Lass (Chiola Hanover) – Nevele R agent for Aldebaran Park