Choosing a Stallion for Your Mare

So much choice and so many things to consider, it's an interesting exercise and one I've undertaken for myself this year with the retirement of my Lonhro mare to a new career at stud.

A conversation with close friend Charlotte Manuel a month ago led us to consider her options and with Charlotte keen to try her hand at breeding some commercial yearlings at her spelling and pre-training farm Bella Lodge it seemed logical that the time was right for Mrs Bloom to have a career change.

A $90,000 Inglis Easter Session II yearling, Mrs Bloom won a race at Scone from just six starts and is from a nicely bred Flying Spur mare in Audacious Amber, who was stakes-placed at Randwick.

It's a good pedigree, but not a great one and given Audacious Amber died quite young after having just five foals, the family is stagnant so for our mare to remain commercial it is imperative she produces winners.

With that in mind you tend to focus on proven sires and to find one in the Hunter Valley that is affordable and free of Danehill blood limits your options considerably.

Doubling up to Danehill is done often by breeders and as time goes on is becoming more and more successful and has been demonstrated this season with Group I winners Alizee, (3 x 3) Seabrook (3 x 4) and Prompt Response (3 x 3) all bred this way.

That said, for me personally I'd prefer to steer away from double Danehill for this mare until we see what sort of foals she will have.

Given the presence of champion sires Lonhro and Flying Spur in her pedigree and the fact she is a tall scopey correct mare standing 16.2, Nicconi seemed a good fit as he has the pedigree and type to compliment her.

His muscle bulk and powerful sprinters physique will hopefully bring a bit of oomph to her on the physical side and his Scenic (Sadlers' Wells) and Bletchingly blood through his female pedigree should also be a big positive.

Since we decided on Nicconi and booked her in, Nature Strip has returned to racing and promises to be the next big thing generating considerable interest in his sire Nicconi.

Up until now, Nicconi has been in the 'bread and butter' range of sires, his service fee fluctuating between $22,000 down to $11,000 and then back to $24,750 this year. Nicconi has covered big books of 200 plus mares in his last two seasons and those breeders booked in this year are in a position to reap the benefits which explains the fee rise.

Nicconi is yet to sire a Group I winner, but it's worth considering that another 'bread and butter' sire who has now crossed over into being an elite sire in Written Tycoon had likewise not sired a Group I winner at this point in his career.

The first Group I winner for Written Tycoon came out of his fourth crop and it was Tycoon Tara with subsequent crops delivering Music Magnate, Capitalist, La Luna Rossa and Written By.

Nature Strip is from the fourth crop of Nicconi, so let's hope this is the beginning of something good!