Thoroughbred Sales Incentives - added value

With global inflation rising, mare owners as well as sales consignors and buyers may be looking harder than ever for perks to plump up their equine investments.

by Annie Lambert

Arguably one of the greatest promoters in history was P.T. Barnum, most remembered for creating the Barnum & Bailey circus, “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Barnum grew up in 1800s America with a natural talent toward publicity and promotion. 

Modern-time promotion is more likely to be called marketing. It won’t have all the bells, whistles, fireworks and grifting used by Barnum, but it still requires limitless imagination. Stallion promoters and sales companies in North America and globally have developed marketing programs to entice customers in their competitive markets.

Interested parties can choose from deals on stallion shares, buy auctioned horses with eligibility to restricted races and more.

Advantage breeders

Some breeding farms have put together attractive programs to draw the owners of quality mares to their stallions.

Spendthrift Farm (Lexington, Ky.) provides two options to breeders. Their programs include Share the Upside and Safe Bet. 

Share the Upside has been a great program for Spendthrift Farm, according to Ned Toffey, the farm’s general manager.

“You breed a mare in each of the first two years the stallion is at stud, and once your mare has produced two live foals, and you’ve paid your stud fees in a timely manner, you have then earned a lifetime breeding right,” he explained. “After that you breed to the horse free (no charge) for the rest of his breeding career.

“Into Mischief was one of the first horses that we offered on this program, and people paid in the vicinity of $6,500, two years in a row to earn a lifetime breeding, which is now worth $1 million.” “That’s the ultimate example; not every horse is going to be a two-time leading sire,” he added with a laugh.

Ned Toffey - Into Mischief

Toffey explained that the program has helped smaller breeders who are often priced out when stallions become successful. Share the Upside helps those breeders, who helped make the horse successful, by allowing them the opportunity to utilize the horse throughout his career.

While first-year stallions generally don’t need incentives to attract mares, the hope is that they will use that stallion in subsequent years.

Which stallions are offered in the program depends on the market economics at the time. Toffey finds that the $15,000 and under fee levels of the market appreciate, and he enjoys using the program. It is not as appealing to some of the higher-end breeders. Mares are approved for the first two paid breedings, but once owners have earned lifetime rights, they may breed any mare.

“Our hope is that, since people have a vested interest in the horse’s success, that they are going to support him with quality mares,” Toffey acknowledged. “We try to always have some Share the Upside horses for our breeders to be able to utilize.”

The stallions offered for 2022 have not been decided on yet. Spendthrift holds breeding rights in a number of horses, but it is unclear if those will be coming into stud or remain in training. It is a little early.

Spendthrift’s other program option is not geared toward freshman sires, but rather their first crop of two-year-olds. If a breeder sends a mare to the stallion the year his first offspring are two, the contract has two options.

If the stallion does not produce a graded stakes winner by the end of that calendar year, then there is no stud fee owed. If the stallion does produce a graded stakes winner by the end of the year, then the mare owner would owe the agreed upon/advertised stud fee.

“The idea is to try and incentivize breeders who may like a horse but may be apprehensive about using the horse who is unproven,” Toffey explained. “This gives them a reward for taking a chance on one of our horses. If the horse works out, then they owe a very reasonable stud fee; if the horse doesn’t have a very good year, even though he may throw some listed stakes winners, he may throw graded stakes placed horses. But if that is all he does, then there would be no stud fee owed. But once he produces a graded stakes winner, the full fee would be owed.”

Bob Feld’s Bobfeld Bloodstock took advantage of Spendthrift’s Share the Upside program and now has a lifetime breeding right to Temple City. Feld bred and campaigned Miss Temple City’s daughter of Temple City—a winner of three Gr. 1 stakes with earnings of $1,680,091. She sold at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton November sale for $2.5 million.

Miss Temple City - Bob Feld

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