Breeding for the harness racing market in Australasia is never an easy business at the best of times especially if you are trying to market and sell fillies,
Buyers are notoriously reluctant to pay anything like the same premium for well bred fillies as they are for well bred colts but we feel that are missing out on a lot of opportunities because the buyers have missed the changes taking place in the stallion market down under.
When you look at the present line up of stallions that are dominating the racing scene in Australasia, then just about all the elite stallions are outstanding filly sires.
Bettor's Delight is without doubt the best filly sire in the world today, continually churning out champion fillies each season and in big numbers and they are keenly sought after at yearling sales in both hemispheres.
Rock N Roll Heaven is another sire whose fillies to be honest are better than his colts in North America, Australia and New Zealand in his siring career to date.
American Ideal is another stallion whose fillies often outperform his colts on the track while Shadow Play has five mares amongst his top eight earners in North America.
So with such great filly sires dominating the stallion market in Australasia, you would think that fillies would be keenly sought after especially since any well bred ones have a good residual value once they have finished racing which the colts in the main just don't have.
Looking through this weekends Australian Pacing Gold Sale at Brisbane and a great number of the fillies would appear to have a high residual value post any racing career.
A lot of them come from high profile New Zealand families which are very current in the New Zealand market and have just fetched significant five figure sums at the latest sales in New Zealand.
We thought we would highlight a couple of lots from Brisbane that in our opinion would have high residual valve post racing.
Lot 450 – Filly by Mr Feelgood from the Christian Cullen mare Tori Maguire 1:57 ($57,870)
The first foal of a smart Christian Cullen mare in Tori France who is a full sister to a champion two and three year old filly in Lizzie Maguire 1:56.5 ($477,366).
Christian Cullen is the leading pacing broodmare sire in New Zealand at the moment and for the foreseeable future.
A colt by Mach Three from Unrehearsed making him a half brother to Tori Maguire made $40,000 at the recent Australasian Classic yearling sale at Karaka in Auckland.
The family is seen as a rich source of juveniles in New Zealand and has been selling well at the yearling sales for the last 15 years.
Lot 431 – Filly by Lanercost from the Bettor's Delight mare in Manhattan Montana 1:57.6
The first foal from a 1:57.6 Bettor's Delight half sister to nine winners including such top liners as Village Hero 1:50.6 ($306,475) and He's My Hero 1:54.3 ($222,293), this is a family that is highly sought after in New Zealand as as can be seen from the latest yearling sales there
Two Bettor's Delights colts from Christian Cullen half sisters to Manhattan Montana were sold at the Australasian Classic Sale at Karaka for $80,000 and $60,000 respectively
The two Bettor's Delight colts in question are three quarter brothers in blood to Manhattan Montana.
At the New Zealand Premier Sale at Christchurch, a Washington VC half brother to Manhattan Montana made $45,000.
Now both the fillies we have highlighted are by young sires who still have to prove themselves at the highest level but the maternal families are so strong in our view that we wouldn't hesitate adding those two to a broodmare band when they are finished racing.
There are numerous other lots for sale at Brisbane on Sunday that are just as well bred in our view and are from families that are in hot demand on both sides of the Tasman.
In a lot of ways, the fillies are becoming a better financial investment than the colts these days.
Harnesslink Media