Bling it On served 92 mares in its first full season at stud.
63 foals were born from this crop.
Two must have subsequently died or been deported, because each is eligible for the rich NSW Breeders race series, however there only 61 are on the official registration list.
Only 9 of these foals were sold at the yearing sales, three at the APG Sydney auctions, and six at the sale at Bathurst.
It’s not hard to see why.
By and large, and almost without exception, the mares serviced by Bling it On are scrubbers. Some of them are 20 years old. Others haven’t been serviced by a stallion for years.
So why are their owners bothering to pay a couple of grand to send them to Bling it On, or to have his semen sent to them?
That’s a real good question.
Are they paying it is another one?
To be eligible for Stallion incentive scheme payments and Colonial Stallion bonuses, a sire must stand for a minimum of $2 000, even if their sperm isn’t worth two cents.
For the McCarthy’s to get the bonus paid for their mares, they need an equal number of outside broodmares to be serviced by the stallion, because the payments are made on a 1 for 1 basis (1 payment made to an in-house mare for every 1 payment made to an outside one), so it is certainly in their own interest to
(a) Set the stallion fee at $2000 or more;
and
(b) Ensure that outside mares get serviced too
This creates a perverse incentive to give owners of mares freebies if you have a sire that fits the extra eligibility criteria of being a Group 1 winner by a Group 1 winning stallion, but is never going to be a chance of attracting a decent book.
Not that I am suggesting that this is what the McCarthy’s are doing.
I’m just saying that to certain types the idea might be appealing.
That’s why generous breeding schemes incentive schemes like the multiple types Harness Racing NSW have been offering over the past decade need to be closely monitored and strictly audited.
Are they being?
Of course not.
Between them just 2 studs – Cobbity Equine Farm (the McCarthy’s) and Yirribee Stud – have been receiving more than 3/4 of the Stallion Incentive and Colonial Stallion payments.
Yirribee Stud are business partners with HRNSW in the $3 million investment Lazarus.
You have to start scratching your head and wondering about the governance of HRNSW don’t you, and ask some simple questions about whether the appropriate checks and balances have been applied to ensure that precious industry money is being spent in the proper way that it should be.
There is an even bigger question however.
Where have all the other foals that weren’t sold at the sales gone?
Where will the majority of the progeny of this bedraggled band of old, barren, missing, slipping, slow mares end up?
Where are they now?
I contacted Cobbity Equine Farm to ask for an interview with the operation’s trainer Killer Cross last week, and had intended to put these questions to him direct, but sadly no-one from the farm has responded to my request.
So I guess unless someone else starts asking, we will all just have to sit here wondering.