So Brentina is among the select few mares scheduled to be bred to Totilas, the hot-stallion-du-jour.Only six mares from the U.S. made the cut among over 350 mare applicants. The stud fee is just about $7,000, and the first foals will be arriving in March 2011. Not surprisingly, Brentina's foal will be an embryo transfer. Here is Totilas at the World Dressage Masters in Munich a few days ago..
Among the other U.S. mares on the Totilas list, I know of only two (so far): Shooting Star Farm's Orchis; Valerie Swygert's Personality by Amsterdam (see article on the latter). One mare in the UK has also been identified (12 mares in the UK made the cut). I believe 175 breedings are being made available this year.
clipped from www.dressage-news.com
Kees Visser, owner of Moorlands Totilas with the stallion and Edward Gal. © 2010 Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com
Among the applications that excites Kees and Tosca Visser, owners of Moorlands Totilas, is to breed to the U.S.-owned mare Brentina that was ridden by Debbie McDonald to Olympic and World Equestrian Games medals and the first World Cup title for an American.
Between 150 and 170 of the applications at a fee of €5,500 (US$6,740) for total revenue of up to €962,500 (US$1,180,000) will be fulfilled in 2010 by the KWPN-approved Gribaldi son.
Criteria for selection of mares for breeding to Totilas include the competition record indicating a good sport horse, pedigree, approved offspring and height. The height factor is considered important as Gribaldi produced some small foals.
About 25 mares from The Netherlands have been bred. Six mares were approved from the U.S. and four in Canada.
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Thanks for sharing the links! Hopefully I can get my home computer to work, as the Shooting Star Farms website is blocked by my work firewall. (Have horses now become offensive?)
ReplyDeleteWhat an absolutely exquisite creature! That was just beautiful to watch!
ReplyDeleteThat breeding might make some special baby!!
ReplyDeleteJust curious, why are breedings to him in particular so exclusive and expensive? He is a magnificent stallion. I guess the exclusivity is whats really got me.
ReplyDeleteWho were the Canadian mares?
ReplyDeleteThey're apparently not announcing the mares -- unless the breeder fesses up, we may not find out right away. So I don't know who the canadian mares are.
ReplyDeleteI guess the exclusivity is b/c his "stallion services" are limited while he is performing?
My guess about the price is that they think he's worth it and he probably is. I think most of those breeders wont have much issue recovering their investment.
ReplyDeleteOn the exclusivity thing I think it's probably because they want to regulate the quality of the foals he produces. I mean Totilas x random mare with a uterus, probably is not going to be a winner in the show ring. Keeping it to a select number of quality mares ensures offspring that will carry on Totilas's legacy. Keeping it low also keeps them in demand so those horses will always have great homes, even if Totilas ends up going out of style in favor of some newer stallion.
Maybe they're only think about supply and demand economics, but what they're doing seems really responsible and I admire their restraint. The limited numbers also keeps the gene pool diverse :)