One of the measures used to benchmark stallion performance is the ratio of stakes winners to foals produced.  This ratio is worked out by the simple formula:  Number of Stakes Winners divided by Number of Live Foals of Racing Age.

 

In the period 1990 to 2000 in New Zealand, there were 62,532 live foals produced.  These foals are now half way through their six year old season, so it is safe to assume that they have achieved about as much as they are going to achieve.  It is rare for a stakes winner (SW) to win for the first time at that level at the age of six or older.

 

Of those 62,532 foals, 1332 were stakes winners and 1257 were stakes placed.  This gives the ratio of 1332/62,532 = 2.13% or approximately 2%SW/foals.  Thus the figure of 2% SW/foals gives us a baseline average figure for the breed in this region. 

 

Using this as a baseline figure means that we can assume that any stallion who isn’t producing 2%SW/foals or greater is performing at a rate that is less than average.  For that matter any breeder who has more than 50 foals and hasn’t bred a SW is also lagging behind.

 

There are some things that need to be taken into account though when brandishing this figure around.  If a stallion has less than 100 foals, then the ratio is fairly meaningless as the sample size isn’t great enough to get a result that we can have confidence in.  This ratio is also meaningless to use on foals who are younger than four years old, as they are only starting their careers and thus may not have performed at their best yet.

 

This ratio of SW/foals drops to 1.5% for all stallions advertised in the NZTBA Stallion Register.  This includes the foal crop that has just finished their 2yo season.  While the drop might be perceived to be small in percentage terms, it indicates what happens when these younger horses are involved in the calculations compared to only older horses.

 

Given that people tend to write stallions off quickly in these days of the commercial market, the benchmark figure should probably be the lower one of 1.5%SW/foals and include all crops that have just turned 3. 

 

Now we know what to use as the benchmark for the average achiever, but what figures do the good, excellent and great stallions achieve?

 

I like to look at it like this:

1.5% - average

3% - good

5% - excellent

10% - great

 

I have used the figures in the 2007 versions of the NZTBA Stallion Register and the Australian publication Stallions as these compare all the stallions listed at the same point in time, approximately June 2007.  The reason for using these figures, even though they are half a season out of date, is that it is a fair comparison being the same point in time for all stallions; the figures are easily available; and to include this season’s results would mean including this seasons 2yos which would negatively distort the figures as most of this crop remain unraced.

 

In New Zealand there were 59 advertised stallions last season with runners who had completed the 2yo season.  Of these 15 were in my good category (3%SW/foals or more).  Only 3 were in my excellent category:  Zabeel (8.4%), Stravinsky (6.2%) and Volksraad (5.3%).

 

In Australia, there were 148 proven stallions in their register.  Of these 27 made the cut for being good.  There were 8 stallions who were in the excellent category:  Redoute’s Choice (8.7%), Dehere (7.0%), Flying Spur (6.4%), Danewin (6.1%), More than Ready (5.5%), Royal Academy (5.5%), Anabaa (5.3%), Fusaichi Pegasus (5.0%).

 

No current stallions made the grade of Great (10% SW/foals) but there have been some fantastic influences in recent times who have been in this bracket. 

 

The two horses that have had a great influence on the Australasian industry in recent times are multiple Champion Sire Danehill (14%SW/foals) and Sir Tristram (10.2%).  Sir Tristram’s figures show just how hard this measure is to attain.  A great sire whose influence has been enormous and yet he only just slips into greatness by this measure.

 

Just achieving a high ratio of SW/foals is not the only way to ascribe stallion performance and there are sires who achieve into the good or excellent brackets without having left a Group One winner.  Putting together Group One performance and a high SW/foals ratio gives you the very best stallions.

 

There are not many stallions who achieve the sphere of greatness (10%SW/foals or better), but there are enough to choose from in the excellent bracket (5%), and plenty in the good (3%) bracket to give those wishing increase their chances of a top horses lots of choice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As breeders settle down to work out their matings for the coming season, and sire premierships move towards their final results, discussion inevitably arises about the best and fairest ways to measure stallion performance.

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