Poor Boy Stallions

Every year The Blood-Horse publishes a book Stallions of (whatever year). This lists all stallions standing on this continent. I look for stallions that get runners for stud fees below $5,000.
This being horses that get over 60% runners /winners to foals. My all time favorites were Baederwood, a Maryland stallion who got very high numbers for a modest $2,500 and Maudlin
who got numbers in the high 80's. Affirmed when he got to the ten grand area was a good bargain for that high a fee to me. I look at the number of foals they get, check the stud books for the name of the mares. Then I used my Brisnet CD's of the American Produce Records and check out the mares, checking for affinity for a certain mare if the stallion gets a small book.
I check to see if he moves up his mares and other things, such as his race record, hopefully he ran several years with more than a few starts. I prefer stallions that are milers as opposed to just sprinters but that does not keep me from breeding to them. There are a lot of stallions out there that get very good numbers and produce runners. They may not be "fashionable" but they run. Which when you are on a limited budget, your foals need to be able to get to the racetrack. If they can get to the racetrack they have a chance to win. Which is what this game is all about. Winning races. If they cannot get to the racetrack-they cannot win.

P. G. Johnson

P. G. never paid a lot of money for mares but got runners the best being Volponi, Breeders Cup Champion. P.G. bred numerous New York winners .An ardent student of pedigrees and an avid reader of Thoroughbred literature, over the years produced a string of capable runners by breeding his mmodest band of broodmares to stallions with reputations of siring sound and hickory tough runners. For $5,000. he purchased Grey Table who produced Quiet Little Table and the mare Gray Matter who got Water Malone by Naskra, a former Johnson trainee. For $3,000 he got the mare College Bold who produced the stakes horses Nasty and Bold, Told and Boldara. In the mid 1970's he established a family owned operation, Amherst Stable, to provide runners for his stable because of the uncertanity of owners. He was quoted in a Blood-Horse article as saying "he admired Hirsch Jacobs and Frederico Tesio, saying they both chose sound
horses as the basis for their breeding programs." Take the mare Belle Nuit she produced full siblings Belle Cherie $426,861 and Be Mine Tonight $159,210 and he successful sold three other siblings for a total over $700,00. at Keeneland. He bred to stallions such as Mr Leader, Nodouble who were noted for getting sound durable runners just like the Johnson trained Naskra, to whom he bred a lot to.

In American racing there are several Trainers who also bred and owned their charges. The best of this was Hirsch Jacobs. Jacobs bred and traiend horses he owned with long time partner from 1931 thru 1970 Isidor Bieber. Jacobs was leading Trainer in wins from 1933-39, 1941-44 being second in 1940, leading money winnings trainer in 46,60 & 65 and leading breeder from 1964-67. With the success of claiming Stymie in 1941 changed the scope of the breeding program of Beiber-Jacobs stable with the purchse of a farm named Stymie Manor in Maryland. There they bred hickory mares trained by Jacobs to stallions raced by him also. Their breeding program was that was numerically strong but weak in quality until Hail To Reason came along. Then Jacobs was able to swap breeding with the best in Kentucky. Up to that time they had not bred a stakes winner, the first year of breeding in Kentucky came Our John Wm. The second year came Palestinian, $296,424 and sire of another Beiber-Jacobs runner Promised Land,$541,707. Then the avalanche of quality runners came with a flury. In looking at pedigrees of the horses Jacobs bred other than the La Troine mares, another story, almost all of these mares won 5 races or more on the race track and produced runners. Other trainers we wil be talking about are P.G. Johnson and King Leatherbery.