Best mare families for my stallion

[crazy canuck]

We will be standing our own stallion for 2008 in Ontario, he is Ingot who is by Seeking the Gold and out of Catinca by Storm Cat. His picture on this website doesn't do him justice and I'll post some new pics soon. Anyway, my primary goal is to breed to my own mares and I want to breed to race more than breed to sell (although I wouldn't turn my nose at a commercial foal!).

What families would you all recommend I look for when I'm mare shopping? And are there any you would say I stay clear of?

thank you!

[Maven]

I would look for more Silver Fog. This is a strong Whitney family. You can find Silver Fog through stallions Banquet Table and State Dinner.

[bcassidy]

Your stallion has a very nice pedigree. I really like to see a stallion by a good son of Mr P over a dam by a good stallion from Northern Dancer (although I prefer that son to be Danzig).
I would recommend you look for mares with Ribot or one of his 3 sons Graustark, His Majesty or Tom Rolfe and/or strains of Turn To-- preferrably through Hail To Reason. Finding a mare with two doses of Turn To---top and bottom would be an ideal mare for your stallion.

Good luck with your plan! If he can produce sound, athletic horses you might have a shot----- but it will be an expensive and long haul. Make sure you are in for the distance----- this is every bit of a 3 mile race and certainly not a 6 furlong sprint. You will need a lot of guts and perserverance to make it through to the other side of this business plan. Good luck with your plan and finding suitable mares for your stallion.

Medium sized, correct mares would be a good physical match for him.

[crazy canuck]

Thank you Maven and Brendan for your replies. I really appreciate it because I know that pedigree advice is a livliehood for some folks on this forum and that the information you gave me is worth good money. Speaking of money, yes this stallion venture is pricey! I just got off the phone with AMEX asking for a credit increase (yikes!).

[Bill from WA]

Your stallion is not only beautifully bred, but additionally, he has a very well balanced conduit mare profile. Another option would be mares from Seattle Slew line stallions. This would sustain the profile balance, while adding some classic distance potential.
Good luck with him.

Bill

[madelyn]

You might want to look at Montrachet, on the buying/selling section.. she offers Graustark, along with some other interesting aspects. She is advertised as free to good home.

[jagger]

A very nice horse you have there. Outstanding females on top and bottom with 3 Reines in waiting for Ellen to crown in the third generation.

Seeking the Gold has had 55 of his progeny that have won at least 1 graded stakes race when he appears on the sire's side. Of these, 29 have Northern Dancer in the pedigree with Nijinsky being the leading son of ND as the conduit. I think. I didn't check Danzig. Seattle Slew appeared 9 times and with 13 less years at stud than ND, may surpass ND in the next 13 years and would be a good choice. I can't remember the exact score but both Seattle Slew and Nijinsky had very nice favorable VGS numbers around 3 to 5. Pleasant Colony leads the way, a His Majesty son, (good call, Brendan) with the best VGS score of 9+ So, my vote would be a daughter of Pleasant Colony.

Excellent suggestions by those above.

Good luck with your fine boy.

[Keith]

I would consider mares by

The Prime Minister
Wheaton
Horse Chestnut
Full Mandate
Capote
Aptitude
Golden Missile
Charismatic
Stephen Got Even
Slew City Slew
Seattle Song
Benchmark
Siphon

Keith