New sire by SPECTACULAR BID for 2010!!

[Jorge]

Spectacular Bid was a very underestimated stallion due to his own superb success as a runner. Elite world breeders expected so much from him from a strict racing view, that many ordinary breeders then lost perspective completely. He was quite a specimen and deserves to be preserved via his sire lineage too. One of the best attributes of his gets was that they were very healthy, robust and durable. But of course, since he didn't get top notch racing millionaires from blue blood mares, he was penalized and bypassed. But here is a wonderful opportunity for people who breed for dressage and other disciplines including coat color breeders. Coat color breeders should pay attention to his influence and preserve his unique influence before is too late. In five years from now his tail male lineage will be gone, unless someone inserts his name via another discipline. When he was moved to New Yok, he sired a good number of sufficiently marked equines, perhaps because he had the opportunity to cover a wider variety of mares with non-top-notch pedigrees. But there was a constant variable, namely, always a high percentage of runners who made it to the track. I even remember reading about ordinary owners who constantly sent him theirs mares, not because they were expecting him to reward them with another Spectacular Bid (yet, who knows!), but because they didn't want to lose money in the process because he was such a sure investment.
Hope our coat color breeders take note!

[Jorge]

Given that Spectacular Bid was quite popular with the sport horse show world, I don't know that I'd geld him. From a sport horse perspective, he is marketable and more so if they can show him (dressage perhaps?).

Certainly would not jump on him as a racing stud,although the bloodlines are intriguing as an outcross.

I agree with your opinion "ak1". There is another point to standout: Spectacular Bid was a formidable sire of sound progeny with remarkable versatility. And I am not referring to his ability to sire precocious sprinting middle distance & Classic runners, but rather to his mighty built. Thats the reason why he is become a respectable force as a second broodmare sire, not to mention his decent merits as a broodmare sire alone.

Perhaps our breeders of color Thoroughbreds may want to consider his genes more frequently, especially since his sire Bold Bidder was known for reproducing some conservatively, yet very telltelling unusual face markings. Not to mention Promised Land (Mahmoud). Remember that Spectacular Bid was a gray, and ordinarily, grays don't tend to stamp many loud white socks on their gets. (Well, not every gray sports a phenotype like Snowbound Paisley or Mystiko). I would like to suggest to our color breeders to try to keep alive Spectacular Bid's male lineage in combo with their coat color of preference. What a tribute it could be! Not only to his greatness as one of the mightiest runners of all time, but also for the sake of his physical qualities for the benefice of our equines. Why not try it?

Any recent sire news on Favorite Bid?

[Bellissima]

I was a huge admirer of Spectacular Bid, truly a 'spectacular' horse.
I saw him race, and I saw him when he was standing at Claiborne.
I'm glad to see at least a few of his sons standing at stud, whether they are used for race breeding or sport horse breeding.
Good luck to them.

[Bellissima]

My own stallion, A Fine Romance, is a very successful TB sport horse stallion, and he is a grandson of Bold Bidder, through his sire, Brave Shot(GB) (Bold Bidder - Gay Missile,Sir Gaylord)

Here is his pedigree http://www.pedigreequery.com/a+fine+romance

I have always loved Spectacular Bid, and when he moved to NY, I really wanted to breed my A Fine Romance full sister to him.
Sadly, I didn't, and now that opportunity is lost.

This would have been quite close inbreeding to Bold Bidder - a great racehorse, a great race horse sire, and also a very important name in sport TB breeding.
The other thing on my wish list, that I haven't done (yet) is breed my horse to a Spectacular Bid daughter.

Another possibility would be to breed one of my A Fine Romance daughters to one of these Spectacular Bid sons.
I wouldn't be breeding for racing, but for TB sport horse.

In my opinion, as a breeder of Thoroughbred sport horses, Spectacular Bid's lines are very important, and as I said already, I am glad to see some sons in the breeding shed.

[Bellissima]

Jorge, I am very interested in your comment about the 'tell-tale' Bold Bidder face markings, do you have any more details?

[Jorge]

I have discussed it with some friends and apparently Bold Bidder had the ability to stamp some broad blazes on his gets, albeit without white socks.
Apparently Spectacular Bid also had said ability. When he was in New York, late in his breeding career, I remember browsing some pictures of some of his daughters sporting broad blazes. A friend of mine who is also an avid observer told me that To Market is the culprit. In fact Spectacular Bid is carrying two doses from him. That's all I can say.

Aside from the blaze issue, I cannot understand why coat color breeders are not taking advantage on the proven durability, soundness, and who knows what other racing potential of the Spectacular Bid strain. Why not preserve this lineage in combo with a white, perlino, cremello, palomino or buckskin lineage? Two advantages for the price of one!

[RiddleMeThis]

I'm not a breeder, but as a potential buyer Ill give you my outlook on why not.

TBs that are primarily used for race horse breeding have incredibly high stud fees for the sport horse market. You can breed to a very proven sport horse stallion for the same price, and as a buyer I would much rather see the bigger more proven horse in the pedigree rather than a sire who was just a racehorse ans has little to no sport horse results.

[Jorge]

I'm not a breeder, but as a potential buyer Ill give you my outlook on why not.

TBs that are primarily used for race horse breeding have incredibly high stud fees for the sport horse market. You can breed to a very proven sport horse stallion for the same price, and as a buyer I would much rather see the bigger more proven horse in the pedigree rather than a sire who was just a racehorse ans has little to no sport horse results.

Late in his New York breeding career, and due to his decreased value as a Thoroughbred stallion (mainly because so much was expected from him during his early years in Kentucky, which resulted in a so-so success with top-notch elite mares) Spectacular Bid earned a good reputation among other disciplines ---something that helped a lot his worth as a stallion in general. I don't know about the fees but apparently he earned a relative good standing, but Thoroughbred people always perceived him as a non-successful Thoroughbred stallion ---quite understandable given that he was a mighty one-of-a-kind horse!

[Bellissima]

I agree that sometimes the racing TB stallion fees may be a bit high.
But often what happens when a horse is no longer 'hot' as a racing sire, his stud fee drops markedly.

When Spectacular Bid stood in NY his stud fee was very affordable. I think it might have been $2000 (but I could be mistaken)

As a sporthorse breeder who breeds primarily Thoroughbred sporthorses, (with the occasional WB mixed in), I would have bred to him in a nanosecond.
He had the conformation, the TB sport pedigree, the movement, the athleticism -
The only reason I did not breed to him (and I still question my decision) was that the mare I wanted to breed was herself a granddaughter of Bold Bidder, a full sister to my stallion A Fine Romance.
And even though Bold Bidder is himself recognized as a very important TB sport horse ancestor, I considered that might be too much, too close.

[Jorge]

I cannot understand why coat color breeders are not taking advantage on the proven durability, soundness, and who knows what other racing potential of the Spectacular Bid strain. Why not preserve this lineage in combo with a white, perlino, cremello, palomino or buckskin lineage? Two advantages for the price of one!

More comments from our coat color breeders on this angle?

[Jorge]

According to Thoroughbred Times, SPECTACULAR BID (gray H 1976)
is still represented by the following sires:

Allegacy (in Georgia)
Bee Man's Bid (in Pennsylvania)
Bid Higher (in New Mexico)
Bite the Bullet (in Australia
Castle Rising (in North Dakota)
Favorite Bid (in Florida)
Gliders Bid (in New Jersey)
Legal Bid (in Germany)
Runaway Valentino (in New York)

Any missing name(s)?

[Jorge]

According to Thoroughbred Times, SPECTACULAR BID (gray H 1976)
is still represented by the following sires:

Allegacy (in Georgia)
Bee Man's Bid (in Pennsylvania)
Bid Higher (in New Mexico)
Bite the Bullet (in Australia
Castle Rising (in North Dakota)
Favorite Bid (in Florida)
Gliders Bid (in New Jersey)
Legal Bid (in Germany)
Runaway Valentino (in New York)

Any missing name(s)?

In re FAVORITE BID (son of Spectacular Bid)
http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showt ... vorite-bid

[xfactor fan]

Jorge,

The same problem shows up when breeding any grey into a color program. Half of the foals are going to grey out. And the last thing someone who is breeding for color wants is for the horse to turn white.

In theory it is a fine idea, in practice, not so much.

[Jorge]

Most probable, this multiple champion and international star is SPECTACULAR BID's most talented and sturdy tail male grandson up to this day. Hope this horse makes it as a stallion in his country.

DANZIG PRINCE RACE: http://www.pedigreequery.com/danzig+prince+race

DANZIG PRINCE RACE has several winners. One of the latest is Lovely Race: (Gr/ro M 2009) http://www.pedigreequery.com/lovely+race

[camohn]

Well Favorite Bid is now 1500 in FL. I don't see any working photos now so can't comment on confo. Aside from things already mentioned like gray color and stud fee at the original 2500 being unattractive to colored horse sport breeders, my big thing is confo. Sport breeders are much pickier about foot and leg correctness on the whole. There are only a handful of sport proven TBs around, never mind colored ones. I looked there first, and either the pedigree ruled them out ( there were certain ones I wanted to avoid for various reasons...Mr.P, Storm Cat and Hoist The Flag ) or they were not strong in the area I wanted to correct in my mare or they were not within the 6 hour drive I was willing to haul to/ drive to go see.