BloodHorse.com

By Eric Mitchell  Much has been written about the polarization of the Thoroughbred commercial market.  Within subgroups of sale horses by quality, we've seen a growing divide between what's paid for those perceived as the most desirable and those perceived as the next-best. But there is a broader polarization, too, which is beginning ...

By Ron Mitchell Driven by the top of the market, the first four juvenile sales of 2017 resulted in a 12.2% increase in gross receipts, a 15.8% cumulative increase in average, and a decline in buy-backs as the marketplace becomes more polarized. According to BloodHorse MarketWatch data, the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream, Ocala Breeders' Sales ...

 By Eric Mitchell The average price of a sire's progeny sold at auction is one our most trusted metrics of commercial value because money actually changed hands. An average sold price follows the adage that an item is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Prices that have not met a reserve also have a place in ...

 By Eric Mitchell The late Unbridled's Song appears to have already clinched the 2017 North American leading sire title with Arrogate's rich back-to-back victories in the $12 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) and $10 million Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1). Juddmonte Farms' 4-year-old juggernaut has grabbed $13 million in ...

 By Eric Mitchell With the first of 2-year-olds in training sales behind us, BloodHorse MarketWatch compiled a list of the leading sires by average under tack show times and compared the average prices among those sires. The list, which included only sires with three or more sold, narrowed the field of 127 sires presented at ...

Two of the highest profile classes of horses a trainer will have in his barn are maidens and 3-year-olds. A relatively high percentage of maiden special weight wins indicates a trainer who has the ability and team to manage inexperienced horses and get their careers off to a good start, while the ability to successfully manage 3-year-olds is high ...

Sources of stamina among North American stallions seems to be getting leaner as judged by the recent release of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation's annual report of sire durability and soundness (see near pg. 66 in the Feb. 11 issue of BloodHorse). Among the leading 30 stallions by starts per starter, 13 sires have died, two are ...

Successful pinhookers are like long-term stock investors. They set their spending limits, buy as much quality as they can afford, and stick to the basic principles that identify performance potential in young Thoroughbreds.  Also like stock investors, they are savvy to market cycles and recognize when to stretch on their yearling ...

Nowhere is the impact of a $12 million race felt more keenly than on the general leading sire list for North America, where Unbridled's Song has made a meteoric rise to the top. In 1:47.61, the late son of Unbridled's progeny earnings went from $276,412 to $7,276,412. Now with Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) winner Arrogate primed for ...

Time to dust off the crystal ball and attempt to decipher which freshman sires of 2017 are likely to be at or near the top of the first-crop sire list at year's end. The only certainty in such an exercise is that someone will surprise us. For the past few years, BloodHorse MarketWatch has published statistical profiles of the first-crop ...