He
was proven, popular and fully booked this spring at a fee of $55,000, so what
do you do if you had a mare booked to Hinchinbrook.
That's a question well over 100 mares owners will be now asking themselves
following the tragic loss of Yarraman Park's Group I sire Hinchinbrook, a
three-quarter brother by champion sire Fastnet Rock to reigning champion sire
Snitzel.
If you selected Hinchinbrook for being a proven sire in that price bracket, the
comparable alternatives are somewhat limited and several of these sires would
be extremely hard to get into at this late date.
Looking at proven stallions priced $10,000 above and below Hinchinbrook's fee,
the only options are More Than Ready (USA), Sebring, Zoustar, Lonhro, Spirit of
Boom and So You Think, none of them Danehill line sires like Hinchinbrook, so
any matings planned on that basis may have to be rethought.
Of the new or unproven sires in the $66,000 - $44,000 price range, you'd be
looking at American Pharoah (USA), Capitalist, Merchant Navy, Russian
Revolution, Vancouver and Pride of Dubai.
Russian Revolution is by Hinchinbrook's three-quarter brother Snitzel, while Royal
Ascot hero Merchant Navy is an interesting one as he is bred on the same cross
as Hinchinbrook being by Fastnet Rock from a daughter of Snippets, so if
pedigree was the driving factor behind your choice of Hinchinbrook, the same
theories would apply for Merchant Navy.
He's not proven, but what's not to like!