Page 190 - Equine Chronicle August Select 2020

Do you get value out the money and effort you put in?
Trainer, breeder, and stallion manager Kevin Dukes can see both the positive and the negative sides of highly discounted or free breeding. He hypothetically weighs the choice between a “free” stud and a $2,000 stud fee saying, “It depends on what you’re want- ing out of breeding your mare. If you just want to have a baby, a project to play with and possibly show, it can be a good way to make it more affordable. A lot of people get into breeding that way.
Maybe you have a maiden mare. Often you don’t want to invest as much in a first foal. However, if someone’s goal is to put the baby in the NSBA sale, then definitely the horse with the reputation is the better choice.” He figures if you like the stallion that’s offering a free breeding, there is nothing wrong with that little bit of a gam- ble. He reflects that even with per- fect planning, “this whole breeding thing is a gamble.”
“Having baby horses in today’s
world is really almost insane,”
Dukes laughs. “No doubt, the stud
fee is the least expensive part of
raising a foal. From insemination
to foaling to getting one to the point
where it’s old enough to do some-
thing, or to sell, if it still has four
on the floor, horses are just an ex-
pensive venture. It used to be that I
would know when I bred something that the baby would be worth X amount. But, in today’s world, the market is crazy. It’s just an odd place that we’re in. It has been for several years, but even more so now.”
Dukes addresses the different ways studs are marketed. He says, “There are a lot of stallion owners who will advertise free breed- ings, or say ‘first 20 mares free.’ Yes, those stud fees are free, but they end up making a little bit on the shipping, chute, and other
Living As A Force
Living Large x Gracious And Fabulous
fees.” He believes that stallion owners lose quality control by in- centivizing strictly on stud fees to everyone. They can end up with a lot of foals that produce nothing. However, Dukes also recog- nizes, “There are lots of people who play the numbers. They figure if they get enough babies out there, surely some of them are going to do something. I personally don’t do that. I feel that I would like to have a little more control over what my horse breeds.”
He says he’s very open to negotiating breeding fees with a client with a quality mare that has either done well in the show pen or has produced good babies. He knows sometimes the stud fee is a make or break financial decision. He adds that all stallion managers, with the exception of one or two, routinely deal with customers on price. He adds, “I don’t mind try- ing to help people, but we don’t
Kevin Dukes with Gerri Leigh Pratt
give them away.”
Dukes cautions that futurity
breedings sold through auctions aren’t often that much cheaper for mare owners. He says, “It depends on all the costs involved. It’s usu- ally a different contract through the futurity than what you would have with that stallion directly. There may be other fees that you’re re- sponsible for beyond the auction price. You may end up spending less or maybe not. The upside is
that your baby is eligible for that futurity, so that can be a bigger incentive for the mare owner.”
According to Dukes, some of the futurity breedings do not ob- ligate the stud owner to a re-breed in the event you do not produce a foal. He adds, “We always do re-breeds, regardless. I believe that any time someone goes to the time and expense of breeding, they ought to get a re-breed if they didn’t get a foal. But, every contract is different, and you have to understand how it’s written.”
Dukes explains that the auctions rarely benefit the stallion owner financially. Rather, it does get more babies out there where they will be seen. He continues, “Their eligibility makes other people interested in breeding to those studs.” He also shares that stallion owners need to be smart about choosing which futurities to enroll in with their studs. “Every futurity wants you to be a part of it. You have to look at the entries and the results. You have to do some re- search to see which futurity program fits your stallion the best. Oth- erwise, you can end up giving away a lot of breedings that year and not get the result you were hoping for.” He says it can be help- ful when some futurities pay back to the stallion owner or pay out from incentive funds. He likes participating in the NSBA Futurity auctions and cites that the Tom Powers Futurity is a good deal.
Many horse breeders had to re-examine their plans this year due to market uncertainty and the anticipated economic downturn caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. At the height of breeding season, some mare owners looked at the calendar of cancelled shows and considered that it may be difficult to sell babies if the trend continued. Dukes has seen many mare owners around the
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