Taking stock at the end of a challenging sales season the numbers on the bottom line would have been difficult had it not been for the return to the Stud on the Wootton Bassett share we owned.
Having bred WB, we kept a share and supported his early career by sending him mares, pinhooking his stock, buying a WB broodmare etc.
Having done an excellent job as stallion master, Haras d’Etreham, rewarded the owners by achieving a sale of the stallion to Coolmore for a very fair price.
Otherwise, the remainder of our N19 crop, were sold for small money (although the rump of the crop had been successfully sold as foals in 2019).
We sold none of our smaller N20 crop as foals and have five yearlings to look forward to selling as yearlings.
While there is many a slip…etc, we are especially excited about our Wootton Bassett filly ex Wake Up Call and our Camelot colt ex Do RE Mi Fa Sol, while we also have a good Night of Thunder filly, a Havana Gold colt and a Starspanglebanner colt.
We will have 3 two year old (Ribchester ex Wake Up Call) with Karl Burke, Madame Bonbon (Iffraaj ex Apres Midi) with Mark Johnston and Shakenotstirred (Havana Gold ex So Funny ) with Sean Woods being trained on our behalf this year.
Brodick has gone to Lucinda Russell to run in the colours of London Scots For Doddie, our charity syndicate which donates all earnings to Doddie Weir’s Motor Neurone charity.
While it is undoubtedly true that the thoroughbred breeding business is having a difficult time due to Covid related demand side effects, overly high production costs and inadequate prize money, we bucked the trend a bit by reinvesting in stock after having severely reduced numbers in 2018 and 2019.
We now have Brassica, an Australia filly out of an Acclamation mare who was double listed placed (and is an especially sweet mare), Winter Light (carrying to Calyx) and Carina (carrying to Camacho).
In 2021 we will use Kameko, Bated Breath, Sea the Moon, New Bay, Mohaather, Muhaarer, Profitable and Zoustar
At a moment in time where vacuous hyperbole seems to win the day,where our freedoms are at the mercy of one side of the ” science” debate and where our leaders and the opposition supposed to hold them to account are following a “pass the parcel” type of strategy, at least in the fields on a daily basis attending to young stock, the world seems to not have changed so much really!! Even on today’s wet and miserable morning, we have much to be thankful for in being able to pursue a life of animal husbandry in the open air .
We very much hope for a 2021 which returns us all to normality after the events of this year!