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While it is a little off topic, I thought it worthwhile to make comment on Darley America's recent announcement of the recruitment of Street Boss to their stallion ranks. An obscenely good looking horse with racetrack talent to match, Street Boss follows another son of Street Cry (IRE) (TrueNicks, SRO) in Street Sense (TrueNicks, SRO) -- I can't wait for the Darley advert --  to retire to the Kentucky arm of the international conglomerate.

Darley has, by design or other, taken an active management in Street Cry and his sons, and this move has long-term implications for "the franchise." Why is this so important? Astute stallion managers recognize that controlling the destiny of the first and better sons of a stallion that they stand at stud ends up helping them in the long run with both the sire and his sons.

It is like a rising tide. Firstly, the presence of two active sons at stud at Darley immediately underpins Street Cry. The industry understandably assumes, "Well, if Darley believes he is a prepotent sire, then he is a prepotent sire." Standing the best sons alongside their sire helps the stallion immediately. Furthermore, when breeders are breeding to and yearling buyers are buying a Street Sense or Street Boss, they are not only buying the belief that they may get a yearling that can run as well as either of these two horses, but they are also hoping to catch "lightning in a bottle." They know that either of these horses could be the next big sire -- or at least as good as Street Cry -- and the yearling that they have will have increased commercial value by sire line association.

Equally, if Darley is able to manage these stallions well and Street Sense and Street Boss are successful at stud, the moniker of a proven "sire of sires" gets placed on Street Cry's shoulders, underpinning his long-term value as a stallion. Stallion managers who have a prepotent young sire but who leave the management of the first important sons of these stallions to retire to stud to others do miss out on the opportunity to control the destiny of "the franchise."

Darley has taken no such chances.