Dove Hunt

[austique]

Does anyone have an opinion on him (good, bad, indifferent)? He seems like a pretty solid sire for the fee although he's a ... turf horse. Anyone have any experience with his foals?

[Derring]

I like a lot of things about him; bloodlines, race record, looks. I would like to see a little more of what he can do--only 4% stakes horses.

You say 'Turf Horse' like it's a dirty word!

[Nerd]

Is it just me or is his conformation photo on the pedigreequery site stretched vertically?

[KBEquine]

I've been looking at one of his daughters for sale on Starquine:

http://www.starquine.com/mare_detail_ne ... sp?id=6104

[jellac]

Dove Hunt currently stands in 3rd place of all Texas based stallions based on their offspring's 2006 earnings in what amounts to a Triple Play for Lane's End Texas. (That puts him ahead of several longer established, Texas based sires) -

1 VALID EXPECTATIONS (1993, Valid Appeal), Lane's End Texas $17,500 98 35 $795,485
2 OPEN FORUM (1994, Deputy Minister), Lane's End Texas $5,000 85 29 $612,824
3 DOVE HUNT (1991, Danzig), Lane's End Texas $3,500 60 16 $450,014

The numbers in bold are the number of runners/number of winners thus far in 2006, followed by their 2006 earnings to date. By late May you can generally take the total earnings and the number of runners at this point and double it to see where they'll be at year end, keeping in mind that many of the 2YOs that ultimately will be raced will not hit the track until the second half of the year. It would appear to me that Dove Hunt is on track - from relatively modest number of runners/winners - to be very close to having $1MM in 2006 Crop Earnings. I use that figure as a yardstick as to whether a stallion is going to have the commercial staying power at the regional level (with some exceptions made when circumstances warrant it) as it represents that the stallion was seen by enough mares to produce a viable crop, the stallion's offspring are making it to the track in sufficient numbers and most importantly winning - either frequently enough or at high enough levels to add up. More to the point though is the fact that he's at about 50% of Leading Texas sire Valid Expectations in crop earnings but is standing for 20% of the stud fee. And I have to add that the Dove Hunts I've seen - as foals/yearlings - have been quite nice looking; definitely stamped by him: a bit leggy as foals but overall balanced, muscular and athletic in appearance, especially as they mature into their yearling/2YO selves.

Holzmeister is another Texas based stallion that I think is demonstrating some real merit as a regional sire and he's doing so with even less mares/foals, i.e. runners so definitely one to watch....look at where he stands (7th) in this snippet a bit further down from the first three leading sires and then note how his runners/winners numbers compare with those stallions ranked above and immediately below him. He's getting the job done - by one rather general yardstick of comparison - and doing so with fewer 'at bats' in terms of the numbers of his foals on the track so far in 2006. This is where I often make the sort of exception as I spoke of before - baring a sensational late summer/fall campaign I suspect he'll actually lose ground in this ranking as the year end approaches simply because his stock will be getting retired by the usual injuries, requirements for taking a break from racing, etc. and I doubt he has the numbers of prepping 2YOs to fill in for these early retirees of this season as compared to those he's ranked close to who seem to have larger books/crops. Holzmeister won't make it to $1MM - unless he has one or more sensational starters begin racing - but he seems to offer a lot of bang for the buck if his conformation and pedigree fit your mare.

4 STORM BROKER (1994, Storm Cat), Rio Rico Ranch $2,000 46 20 $392,601
5 HADIF (1986, Clever Trick), Valor Farm $3,000 55 20 $328,943
6 GOLD LEGEND (1990, Seattle Slew), Valor Farm $4,000 52 17 $316,984
7 HOLZMEISTER (1994, Woodman), Q6 Ranch $2,500 17 8 $264,790
8 DIXIELAND HEAT (1990, Dixieland Band), Q6 Ranch $2,500 43 10 $258,078
9 MARKED TREE (1990, Forty Niner), JEH Stallion Station $1,000 52 15 $241,509

As in all things statistical you have to use this sort of rough analysis for what it is - a quick overview that might direct your attention to one stallion whose stats appear to be 'emerging' and then dig down into the numbers more diligently as the devil is in the details...

[Linda in TX]

Dove Hunt currently stands in 3rd place of all Texas based stallions based on their offspring's 2006 earnings in what amounts to a Triple Play for Lane's End Texas. (That puts him ahead of several longer established, Texas based sires) <snip> the stallion's offspring are making it to the track in sufficient numbers and most importantly winning - either frequently enough or at high enough levels to add up. More to the point though is the fact that he's at about 50% of Leading Texas sire Valid Expectations in crop earnings but is standing for 20% of the stud fee.

Dove Hunt came out of Florida, and I believe his first season here was 2003. His first Texas bred foals are two this year, and he's seen fewer than 30 mares each year he's been in Texas. He's represented by nearly twice as many FL breds as he'll be by Texas breds and that could impact, and lower, the runners/winners and earnings currently on his scorecard.

Not that it matters much -- Dove Hunt is probably a decent enough breed to race sire with the right mare(s), and Lane's End will negotiate his fee (at least they offered to when I talked to them).

Another guy to check out at Lane's End is Parade Ground. At an advertised fee of $2500, I believe his pedigree makes him a good value stallion.

[jellac]

Linda of TX pointed out:

he's seen fewer than 30 mares each year he's been in Texas. He's represented by nearly twice as many FL breds as he'll be by Texas breds and that could impact, and lower, the runners/winners and earnings currently on his scorecard.

This is the type of more in depth information that I was speaking of in my post above and as she points out I would expect Dove Hunt's stats to decline as his early Florida offspring end their careers on the track = both because of a decrease in numbers/frequency of opportunity and a presumed decline in the quality of mare bred - which may or may not be signifigant at all in terms of Fla based mares vs. Texas based mares. Until recently the overall quaility of broodmares in this state had steadily improved and there are some rather nice mares based in this state. The question now in their owner's minds is do I breed to a Texas based stallion or go to KY or FLA/NY and try for the "commercial foal" route? That's one reason Holzmeister's numbers caught my attention and why Open Forum's are impressive - both these relatively young stallions have begun and built their careers standing entirely in Texas and during an overall declining environment for breeding to race - let alone for 'commercial' breeding - so they have struggled to see a decent sized book - let alone one of some quality.
ON that note - I would also note that given the lack of financial incentives to even breed to race to a Texas based stallion that exist right now (unless you can foal out in New Mexico, Louisiana and/or Oklahoma and have a state-bred foal to race in those jurisdicitions) even seeing 30 mares is quite an achievement, especially for a stallion relatively early in his career. I'll bet if you leave out Valid Expectations there are at best only one other stallion that saw more than 35 mares this breeding season when the Mares Reported Bred information comes out and most will be below 20.

[austique]

Thanks for your opinions! Very well thought out posts Jellac and Linda of TX must be psychic because I was about to ask when he got there. He did spend a few years in KY also or am I confused? Anyways I'm still looking at him sorta, kinda. Parade Ground is interesting (although he's said to be a total psycho).