Mid Atlantic Stallions

199 · Postby **199** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 5:12 pm

Does anyone have any opinions regarding the Mid Atlantic Stallions? In particular... Rock Slide? Dance with Ravens? Outflanker? Real Quiet?

mightyhijames · Postby **mightyhijames** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 10:00 am

we have a mare in foal to st. averil at the stallion station - rock slide and outflanker stand there as well. while he doesn't have a crop to race yet, he's had some success at the mid-atlantic sale. we breed to race and we're committed to race in-state. personally, i think there's some good value in maryland.

199 · Postby **199** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 10:20 am

I couldn't agree more. We also breed to race and are extremely loyal with respect to breeding within the area. I am a little torn between Rock Slide and Dance With Ravens - both AP Indy and impeccably bred. Would love to have seen some of their foals...

mightyhijames · Postby **mightyhijames** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 3:18 pm

you may want to contact the farm managers. they may have mares coming in to be bred that are in foal to the stallion(s) you're interested in. or they can tell you were to go to see offspring. i would think they would be doing whatever they can to keep mares maryland.

bcassidy · Postby **bcassidy** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 5:32 pm

I like Outflanker a whole lot but of coarse any stallion needs the appropriate mare to make a great mating.....Outflanker certainly can improve the mare he covers.

arsvcs · Postby **arsvcs** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 10:31 am

If you go to www.charterfarms.com you can see some babies of St. Averial and Gator's N Bears. They also have either a 2 or 3 yr old by Outflanker and Jazz Club. Farm doesn't mind calls or visits.

merse · Postby **merse** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:25 am

I have a beautiful Fantasticat filly and, if I had waited to see the foal, would have bred back to him.

I have one maiden mare in-foal to Outflanker. In my opinion, he is the best deal in the mid-Atlantic.

I am sending my other mare to Rock Slide.

In answer to your question about Rock Slide vs. Dances With Ravens, I've seen them both and believe Rock Slide to be the better specimen. I have seen a bunch of the Rock Slide foals each year at the farm where I board my mares and they are nice looking individuals.

Good luck!

Cathy D · Postby **Cathy D** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 3:06 pm

Welcome to the board, 199. It's nice to see that there are still some MD breeders! I'm in Maryland, too, so I am familiar with a lot of the MD stallions.

You mentioned that you are breeding to race. Can you tell us a little bit about the mare(s) that you are looking to match and stud fee range for them? That info might prompt some suggestions of other stallions for you to consider.

Most of the stallions you asked about are unproven so far. Of the proven stallions, Not For Love and Two Punch are both good, proven sires that can really get you a runner. Outflanker is a very powerful individual, a proven horse, and I believe he is very good value for the fee. Dances With Ravens is unproven. His first crop are yearlings this year, so only a very few have hit the market. I haven't seen enough of them to have a strong sense of what he is throwing, but my guess is that his female family is going to be the key to breeding to him. Rock Slide had two year olds last year and has some winners. I expect his get to take some time coming to hand, so it will be a couple of years before we know about him. He has some conformation issues, so be sure to look at him to be sure he complements your mare.

Two young stallions that may not be on your radar that might be fun to consider are Fantasticat and Domestic Dispute. Both stallions are stamping their get hard. I have a 2008 Domestic Dispute filly from a Two Punch mare, and she is an outstanding baby. I wasn't planning on breeding in MD anymore, but like this filly so much I am seriously thinking of going back to him. The stallion Merse suggested, Fantasticat, is also getting very good looking babies. He had several weanlings on the market, and really stamped them. In particular, he threw his front end and shoulder, and put a really nice hip on them.

Good luck, and keep us posted on your decision.

merse · Postby **merse** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 4:49 am

I'll second Cathy D on Domestic Dispute and stamping his foals. I have a conformationally correct yearling colt by him (chestnut, blaze and three white feet) and, eventhough my plans from before he was born were to sell him as a weanling, I bought him back last November when he failed to meet his reserve.

199 · Postby **199** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 11:40 am

Thank you all so much for the input. It is really appreciated. Trying to do our part in holding MD Racing/Breeding together.... such a sad situation, really. I have hopes that they will work out the politics and turn things around though.

Merse -- The Rock Slide babies that you have seen, are they correct? I know he has some conformation issues, but they say it has not passed to his offspring.

199 · Postby **199** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 11:44 am

I am happy to hear the positive feedback on Fantasticat. I considered him last year, but went to Lionhearted instead. I have a yearling from him that I absolutely love.

Given all the positive reviews, I may have to consider him for next year.

Thanks.

geowarrior · Postby **geowarrior** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 6:04 pm

I'm not from Maryland but I'm a big fan of Two Punch (as I was of Waquoit), and since I also love racing history I'd like to see Maryland regain it's former glories breedingwise but particularly racing wise.

Two Punch can get the big horse, but he is getting on, so if you are following the Storm Cat thread, I imagine that if he was an option he should be visited sooner rather than putting him off to a later that may never happen.

Barbaro06 · Postby **Barbaro06** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 6:59 pm

geowarrior wrote:I'm not from Maryland but I'm a big fan of Two Punch (as I was of Waquoit), and since I also love racing history I'd like to see Maryland regain it's former glories breedingwise but particularly racing wise.

Two Punch can get the big horse, but he is getting on, so if you are following the Storm Cat thread, I imagine that if he was an option he should be visited sooner rather than putting him off to a later that may never happen.

Oh how I dream Maryland regain its racing glory too, geo! There have been a couple of foals born at Sagamore, now owned by the young man who started Under Armour. I get teary eyed when I look at pics from the Graw and Laurel when they ran the Washington D.C. International.

There are people who think trying to "save" racing in Maryland is fruitless, but I would hate to see more green space going to the developers and hokey subdivisons with names like Belmont (with street names like Pleasant Colony) being built. The majority of people buying those homes probably have no clue of what those names mean....

I digress....

KBEquine · Postby **KBEquine** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 1:59 pm

While we stand stallions in PA, when we look for an outside stallion for one of our mares, we do always look to the MD stallion roster, too. This year we are expecting a Cherokee's Boy foal [and day now, actually], and went to auctions last year specifically to see Rock Slide babies.

I think bred to the right mare, Rock Slide has some very nice offspring, although I liked some more than others.

Best of luck to all out there supporting Maryland racing. I personally think the racing folk in the other MidAtlantic racing states need to support Maryland because a strong Maryland is needed to help make a strong overall MidAtlantic racing program.

geowarrior · Postby **geowarrior** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 2:07 pm

I hadn't noticed that the initial post mentioned Real Quiet.

I'm one of Real Quiet's biggest fans, and I'm very glad he has acquired his very own farm and will get some support. However I'd have reservations about him right now.

His stud fee is high based on Midnight Lute/Pussycat Doll, but we are now entering a phase where he is going to have very very few foals of racing age entering the picture, as he went through three very bad years of limited opportunity including one year where I believe there were only 14 foals. Therefore I would expect to see very few new Real Quiet stakes horses in the next two or three years and unless Midnight Lute and Pussycat Doll continue to win big, he will drop off all the major sire lists.

Thus you must be thinking breed to race for Real Quiet because I don't think sale prices over the next three years will bear the current stud fee. Only when his first large crops of Pa foals start hitting the ground will his real value start to be known.

I hate to say all this because I love Real Quiet, but he is overpriced given the particular hard luck circumstances which have led him to this point in his stud career.