Know Your Product: The advantage of knowing a stallion

With 35 first-season sires on offer at the Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale, any additional insight a potential buyer can bring to a first crop during a busy inspection period is useful.

For one of Victoria's leading trainers Mick Price, he feels having trained three of those first-season stallions to Group 1 victories gives him an edge over the others on the buying bench when it comes to selecting their best yearlings.

Price trained now Westbury Stud-based Tarzino (NZ) to victories in the Victoria Derby and the Rosehill Guineas and he has seven yearlings on offer at Oaklands Junction. He also trained G1 Coolmore Stud S. winner Flying Artie, who is represented by 12 of his first crop as well as G1 Blue Diamond S. and Moir S. winner Extreme Choice, who has four in the sale.

TDN AusNZ spoke to Price in between yearling inspections on Friday, with the experienced trainer saying any insight you can bring to a potential purchase was advantageous.

"I believe it is of relevance. It helps as a horseman when you see the stallion and it helps even more when you've trained them," Price said.

"It doesn't go any way to whether the stallion is any good or not, but it is an insight."

In the case of Tarzino, Price also has the advantage of having trained his sire, Tavistock (NZ) as well. Having seen the young stallion's progeny through the ring already at the Gold Coast and Karaka, he is already developing an understanding of the characteristics that the dual Group 1 winner has passed on.

"I can see Tarzino's toughness and nervous energy in a lot of his yearlings. I suppose if you didn’t have as much intimate experience with the stallion as a trainer, you are guessing a little bit," he said.

Price said from his inspections, the excellent composure and temperament of both Flying Artie and Extreme Choice, who are both based at Newgate, flowed through to a lot of their first crop of yearlings.

Looking for behaviour traits among certain breeds of horses and purchasing the right ones is something Price has had considerable success with before. He was able to watch Not A Single Doubt at close quarters when he was trained by Tony Vasil at Caulfield in the latter part of his racing career and apply what he learned when his progeny hit the ground at the sales a few years later.

"I remember seeing Not A Single Doubt in his early days, when he was on the track and then when he let down at Arrowfield. We've followed him all along and I had a feel for that stallion and we've bought three Group 1 winners out of the ring by that stallion," he said.

He has used that insight when preparing his progeny for sale, including the three Segenhoe offers at Melbourne, two colts and one filly.

"I didn't have a positive perception about him until I saw him let down and it varied the view. It’s hard to be objective. You have your likes and dislikes, but it’s all information isn't it?

"I haven't had a stallion at stud that has been a great stallion, but the general point holds that if you have information about the stallion and a good feel for that stallion, I think it is of benefit."

Prior experience aids vendor insight

From the vendors' perspective, an understanding of a stallion can also be of significant benefit when their progeny are being readied to be offered for sale.

Segenhoe Stud's General Manager Peter O'Brien has particular insight into the progeny of Pride Of Dubai, having seen the stallion himself develop as a yearling on the farm.

"He was a massively mature yearling. A huge hip, a tonne of substance and obviously didn’t go through a sale. But if he had, a lot of people would have thought he would have been too heavy and coarse," he said.

He has used that insight when preparing his progeny for sale, including the three Segenhoe offers at Melbourne, two colts and one filly.

"Knowing that and having a lot of Pride Of Dubais to sell, you can see the similarities, particularly in that Slippery Rose colt (Lot 436). He is very similar to Pride Of Dubai as a yearling.

"You do have to be very careful with the Pride Of Dubais. You have to do a lot of exercise with them."

While Segenhoe don't have any Vancouvers in its draft, there are 14 overall in the sale and O'Brien also brings a good understanding of that stallion, having seen him develop as a younger horse in his time at Coolmore.

"I spent time with Vancouver as a yearling. He was always very light, so when you have that in mind, before you start a prep, you build them up in the field first. It’s all very logical really," he said.

Variety the spice in Erinvale offering

Across the road from Segenhoe in Barn B, John Kenneally of Erinvale Thoroughbreds has a Pride Of Dubai of his own, in Lot 374, on offer, which has been one of the most popular on a busy week of inspections.

Kenneally's draft of 16 is remarkable in that it contains yearlings by 15 different stallions.

His key to getting the best out of them through a yearling preparation is by not treating them according to what is on their pedigree page, but what each individual horse needs.

"We've had them on the farm for ten weeks. We know the horses well. They are all by good stallions and there's something for everybody here. It’s good to have a variety like that," he said.

"They are all individuals and you make the assessment as they go along, depending on how they are doing.

"If they come in too fat, then you adjust that because you like to have them coming in a bit lighter, so you can gradually increase their fitness and their overall wellbeing. We do a lot of hand-walking, so you get a good long preparation with lots of walking."

The important thing for him is that the Erinvale horses are settled and ready to put their best forward for potential buyers

"We had over 50 parades yesterday. The first day or two, they are a bit on edge but by now they have settled in really well and they are doing really nicely," he said.