Quote Originally Posted by triplev123 View Post
G'day Troops,

In virtually all instances... save of course the rare superstar sire... you have to consider the opportunities that were afforded each sire by way of mare numbers and mare quality.
In that respect everyone's going to have their own views on what constitutes a good, bad or indifferent shot at the big leagues...however it is obviously reasonable to suggest that a horse like Dawn Ofa New Day got both significantly fewer and generally lesser quality mares than did the likes of Art Major. For Dawn Ofa New Day to then produce an Oz 2yo colt of the Year was really quite significant while had Art Major done so it would still have been an achievement but it would also have been somewhat expected of him.
Going back to the opening question of this thread... the best value sire under 5k in Australia at the present time, IMO, is Artistic Fella. I've only relatively recently come to this conclusion by way of seeing some of his first foals. If he doesn't make the grade as a sire here in Oz I'll eat my old Lawn Mowing Shoes.
Yet, Triplev, on another thread you stated something along the lines of a good stallion will produce great offspring with lesser quality mares. What side of the fence are you on? :P For mine only 16 to the races out of 60 doesn't cut the mustard (yet - but early days) and there was a huge difference between his best and then next ones along... To be fair, looking at his race record although a very nice stakes winning colt, he was not as good as for example Rocknroll Hanover or Lis Mara and I am guessing he will sire accordingly... There is the saying they can all sire a good one, let's see if he sires a good one this year too, hopefully for connections he will