As
we all head to the Hunter Valley at the start of spring for the annual round of
stallion parades there is expectation in the air and anticipation as canny
broodmare owners seek to find a stallion that might be flying under the radar.
For the stallions whose oldest progeny have just turned four, judgement is
swift and often unforgiving, which is why the following table from
stallions.com.au is an eye opener.
Yes, that's Sepoy in front of his third season rivals holding a margin over
Smart Missile, Foxwedge and So You Think, that trio having dominated this
division previously.
A Golden Slipper winner and Champion 2YO, Sepoy was the hot horse when he went
to stud for Darley and the hot horse at the sales when his first progeny
exploded into sale rings in 2015.
By the start of this year, Sepoy had become the cold horse… arctic in fact,
having covered just 75 mares last spring even with a 50% fee reduction and his
progeny in the sale ring were also on the slide with 46 averaging $56,913.
Now here we are, nearly at the end of 2017, and Sepoy is out there making the
case for why he is actually good value at $16,500 this year, so if you have a
mare in foal to him, good luck to you!
His 36.8% winners to runners seasonal strike rate is better than his peers and
while knockers will say, 'He has one horse', he has actually had 28 winners and
it is surely better to have the big horse, than no horse.
Sepoy has always had quite good success in the Northern Hemisphere where he has
five stakes-winners and it may well be that by the end of this season that
success will have spread south.