Elusive Quality or Medaglia D'oro

[justinnich]

I'm trying to figure out a booking for our mare Masseuse for next year. She's currently in foal to Bernardini, and I'm inclined to go back to Darley both because the experience was totally painless and because it's clear that they are as good as anyone at supporting their stallions. I'm down to Elusive Quality and Medaglia D'oro as stallion possibilities for her, and I'm just looking for any extra thoughts on what either one might offer over the other, especially in relation to this mare.

The goal here is not to breed specifically to race or to sell, but to breed a quality racehorse that we can run through the sale ring and buy back if we don't get the price we want. We are perfectly fine racing any foal.

Thanks in advance for anything you have to offer, I have found the discussions on here in the past to be of great help in terms of food for thought.

[brogers]

I'd go with Medaglia d'Oro, depending what the mare looked like. El Prado has done really well with Roberto line mares and Topsider is from the same family as Sadler's Wells which is of interest.

Interestingly there was a Kitten's Joy out of another daughter of Footy that we shortlisted for a client at the FT October sale last week. He made a little more than we wanted to pay but was a great type.

[justinnich]

I did happen to catch that that Kitten's Joy sold well, though I didn't see him myself. Honestly, I'd love to breed to Kitten's Joy to Masseuse and add some more Roberto, but commercially it's just not a realistic choice if we want to have a chance at the home run (I know a lot of people cringe when that gets said around here, but I do think there's a huge difference between Kitten's Joy and Medaglia so far, and if we might try to sell the mare in foal which is a possibility, I want to make sure we're at the top of the line).

If her conformation would help, the best I have is a photo in the below thread that includes a couple of our now two year olds as well (Je Ne Sais Quoi, Much Rejoicing, McCool, and Never Dream)

http://www.pedigreequery.com/forum/view ... ing+racers

Thanks for your comments, brogers!

[LB]

I don't have a comment on the mating except to say that if I had a mare I could get into Medaglia D'Oro's book I wouldn't even think of going anywhere else.

But somehow I missed those pix when you posted them before and I enjoyed looking at them. How are your 2YOs doing?

[justinnich]

LB, yeah it's definitely tough to get past him, I agree!

As far as the 2yo's, let's see:
Je Ne Sais Quoi (the elusive quality) finished 2nd first out at Belmont in July, but has had a couple of little issues that have kept her out since then. I'm looking forward to her 3 year old year and a likely switch to grass. She breezed once on the turf in 35 and 3 and loved it.

Much Rejoicing (the distorted humor) looks like a monster. She hasn't started yet, but worked an easy 47 and 3 this morning. Somehow she just moves effortlessly, yet the times are much faster than what you'd expect. If all goes well, she's set to debut at Aqueduct in 3 weeks or so.

McCool (the giants causeway) is still immature. We started bringing her along, but she definitely wasn't ready yet. She's about to go back into training and hopefully she'll be ready for a full 3yo campaign. Guess the Danehill in the pedigree is making itself known.

Never Dream (the vindication) has run 3 times. Ran a good second in a md75 at Saratoga I think it was, losing to a 40-1 shot that day. She's getting a little time off from a small injury that bugged her in her last start. I think she'll probably be a claiming horse, but she's a fighter and does not like to give way in a race.

Anyway, here's hoping we end up with a good 3 yo campaign from this group. After a big 2007 with Bold Hawk and Masseuse we've been very quiet, so we could use it!

[LB]

Thanks for the updates! It sounds like you're doing great. Best of luck in 2010.

[justinnich]

Just for closure as I did with my other thread, a quick update. Masseuse in fact could not get into Medaglia's book (it seems that basically if you don't have a season and you aren't, well, the Sheikh, you don't have much chance). We decided to take advantage of the lowered stud fees and take a shot with AP Indy since we liked the cross with him last year enough to try Bernardini and the drop in price put him more in the realm of reason. Here's hoping the foal looks the part because it's hard not to be excited about the potential from the pedigree!

Thanks again for the earlier comments!

[LB]

Great choice! I hope it works out perfectly for you.