Presentation to the Darley Flying Start Conference at Keeneland, Kentucky
July 2007

Sarah Kilby vs Fabricio Buffolo
Debate: Shuttle stallions are detrimental to the industry and the breed

The argument for: Sarah Kilby

The achievements of shuttle stallions and the effect that they have had on the Southern Hemisphere thoroughbred industry has been well documented in the racing world. Since the arrival of Danehill down under in 1989, and the phenomenal success that he achieved almost overnight, the shuttling concept exploded and nowadays many of the leading stud farms around the world are on board. Of course, Coolmore became the masters of shuttling stallions on the back of Danehill's success and now send twenty one stallions to Australia as well as a number of horses to South America. Other farms based in Kentucky that were quick to catch on to the economic merits of shuttling include Darley, Vinery, Gainesway, Taylor Made and also Shadai farms in Japan.

But is it possible to have too much of a good thing? In 2005, John Messara, master of Arrowfield Stud and himself one of the main pioneers of shuttling, questioned whether there are too many foreign stallions visiting down under and thus becoming a detriment to the Australian breeding industry. Ladies and Gentleman, in the next ten minutes I will present to you why I believe this is precisely what has happened. The growth of stallion shuttling has become a detriment to both the industry and the breed.

Being based down under one of the main issues raised by Messara was the damage that shuttle stallions are doing to the Australian Industry. Yes, by all accounts, there is no doubt that through Danehill shuttle stallions have enhanced the Australian racehorse and produced some true champions. And why shouldn’t their mares have access to the best stallions in the world? But the point I would like to make is that the Australian mare population is simply not big enough to support shuttle stallions as well as homegrown stallions, many of which stand on the smaller stud farms in the country.

If you were a mare owner then of course you would like to take advantage of the great deals offered by Coolmore and Darley to send your mare to the top Northern Hemisphere stallion. And who can resist the clever marketing tools these deep pocketed masters have at their disposal? The small stud farms standing stallions do not have a chance of competing against the likes of racehorses such as Mountjeu, Fantastic Light, Falbrav and Bernadini and are been forced out of business. Likewise, a stallion prospect that was a decent performer on the track and would have had a chance at stud twenty years ago no longer gets to prove his worth due to a Northern Hemisphere intruder who may not necessarily be suited to Australian mares. And these horses aren’t always suited; look at the top ten sires in Australia at the moment. Fusaichi Pegasus is the only shuttle stallion in there, the rest are local breds. Albeit there’s a few sons of Danehill in there but these horses have raced and coped under Australian conditions.

Take a horse like Street Cry for instance. For all his recent success in the US his first two year old crop is yet to provide a winner down under. Now you may say this is due to the quality of mares he received. But if these top Northern Hemisphere stallions really are getting poor quality mares to fill there books then surely this undermines the whole breeding concept and they shouldn’t be going down there in the first place. It would make more sense for an Australian horse, a proven racehorse in his country to be covering these types of mares rather than a stallion with a Northern Hemisphere race record who may only have run on dirt, a surface that Australian horses don’t even have to encounter.

Another point to consider is that the Australian gene pool is becoming smaller because the stallions sent down there are mostly originating from the same successful Northern Hemisphere bloodlines. This brings about questions of horses becoming too inbred and the breed becoming weaker. It cannot be denied that there is a huge glut of Danehill blood down there and yes this has proven successful but it may be because other Australian bloodlines have not had a chance.

Of course stallion health and welfare issues are a huge concern in shuttling these valuable animals. For six months of the year in Kentucky or Europe or wherever the stallion stands in the Northern Hemisphere he lives a life of luxury with his every need attended too. So is it fair to ask him to spend almost a month in often cramped quarantine conditions, a complete break in what he knows before travelling on a plane for thirty six hours to another country? Like people, some of these stallions simply can’t handle this stress and psychologically and physically break down. In the past two high profile stallions, Marju and Singspiel contracted travel sickness and were unable to complete their stud duties. Recently it was announced that Traditionally won’t be making the trip down under this year as he cannot cope with the travelling. Likewise, Johar won’t be travelling as he has ‘not adapted to the shuttling life’.

Further to this, Darley’s own stallion, Mark of Esteem, has been rendered infertile this season after losing a testicle when shuttling in Brazil and at a time when he was really on the up as a sire in Europe. Yes, accidents like this can happen in any country, but why increase the risk by sending these valuable creatures to far away places?

Of course the most expensive stallions are treated with the best of everything on their foreign trips, flying the horse version of first class and housed in luxurious stud farms on arrival but this does not take away the risk of injury or getting sick.

The public perception of operations that utilize stallion shuttling should also be a consideration. Today in these debates we will hear about book size and stallion age. There is already the perception that all thoroughbred owners are in the business purely for money and treat horses like machines, not caring about the fatal injuries that occur in racing. Through shuttling stallions, stud farms are seen to treat the horses like robots, sending them off around the world for a quick buck and not giving them a summer break when they already cover huge numbers of mares in their own hemisphere. Of course, stud farms are in the business to be financially successful, but perhaps more thought should be given to the suitability of a stallion before he is shipped off down under.

On the topic of financial considerations, until they are proven stallions often stand in the Southern Hemisphere for a much lower fee in Australian dollars than they would in the Northern Hemisphere, and even less in New Zealand. For instance E Dubai stands for US $15,000 and $7,700 in Australian dollars, a reduction of almost half the price. This kind of money is incremental to global stallion operations and begs the question - do the risks of sending him outweigh the financial reward? Also, the stallion has to cover a larger book of mares to make up the financial difference between his low Southern Hemisphere fee and his normal Northern Hemisphere fee, thus adding to his already large book in the Northern Hemisphere.

While there is no conclusive evidence to show that large book size is detrimental to a stallion’s fertility, it certainly increases the risk of injury. Also, these horses are not machines and there has to be a point where enough is enough and we stop asking them to cover more and more mares. If the stallion is going to cover a large book then would it be easier on him if he didn’t travel but covered twenty or so extra mares in the Northern Hemisphere at his normal stud fee thus taking out the risk of travel.

I think stallion farms should also consider the damage that they are doing to Northern Hemisphere breeders who want to sell there stock at auction. With those sires who have been less successful when shuttling it is much cheaper to buy there stock in auction in the Southern Hemisphere. Take Cape Cross for instance, a yearling bought down under would be much better value then a yearling bought in the Northern Hemisphere, so much so that it would almost be worth the cost of shipping him back. This is simply due to the success or lack of success that his progeny have had. Just because he is doing well as a sire in the Northern Hemisphere does not make him popular in the Southern

Hemisphere. While this may not be something European buyers consider too much, it certainly is in a case of a country like Hong Kong whose buyers purchase out of both markets. Therefore Northern Hemisphere stallion owners should be careful as to not allow markets to be flooded with a sire’s progeny on a global basis.

In conclusion I am not saying that shuttle stallions should be stopped completely as I believe that this would be a naïve point of view and it is important that the worldwide industry has the opportunity to use the best bloodlines. However I do believe that shuttle stallions should be drastically limited and selected on a strict suitability basis, therefore covering a limited but high class book of mares at a fee that truly reflects their status. And finally ladies and gentlemen, I would like to leave you with this thought in your mind. How do you think Kentucky would react if seventy or more foreign stallions landed in town each year to compete with your stallions at discount prices? I suspect that they wouldn’t even make it out of Bluegrass Airport!

The argument against: Fabricio Buffolo

This presentation talk about opportunity; about evolution; selection; expansion; new chances. Some simple words but meaningful.

I want to share with you some of my thoughts, and why not some of my concerns… I want to go further and have a deeper discussion that takes us to the next level. We need to think big, to see the big picture and then make the necessary adjustments. We need to always be choosing the right over the wrong, ethics over convenience and truth over popularity.

Let’s put this in the context of Charles Darwin and the evolution, the development of animals and humans, let’s take a look to the past. Look for what happened and maybe knowing the past we can have better chances in the future. Sometimes I look for at the fantastic things people in the breeding industry have done. Not shuttling because was a long time ago, but importing different bloodlines just to fill a gap that was missing. And now I hear a lot of comments saying that with shuttling we will drive the industry to mainly few bloodlines, but why do we need to think in this way?

Let’s think outside the box. Like the Aga Khan said when talking about breeding racehorses: “Let’s play chess with nature”. I see an awesome opportunity to disseminate bloodlines that are successful in some countries like the German Monsun; the phenomenon Sunday Silence, today limited to Japan but starting to have his branches going to other countries; the great New Zealand horse Zabeel that is now having the chance to show his potential in Europe.

But suddenly a question came to my mind…What do we want? What’s our target? It is simple… We want to see the best, to be the best!!! The aim is the survival of the fittest.

With all this movement of horses we are allowing a gene flow. Genetic variation is a key ingredient of evolution. A population with no genetic variation cannot evolve in response to environmental or situational changes.

Earlier I mentioned opportunity and I mean just not the access to better stallions that today the countries from Southern Hemisphere have. I mean another kind of opportunity as well. I mean the chance that some stallions have when exposed to a different type of mares or having a better quality of mares in their books.

Let’s see an example that I had the opportunity to follow because it happened in my country - Brazil. Spend A Buck (the winner of the 1985 KY Derby) – had 7 G1 winners in 3 crops including Pico Central, Hard Buck and Einstein, winners of G1 races here in United States. We as a country didn’t have any influence of the Buckpasser line and then along comes Spend a Buck and has a great success. Was it just because of the different bloodline? Obviously not. It was a package including the types of mares, the quality of the mares, the breeding regime and environment… all these points contributing to the success.

And this is not the only example. It is what happens with some types of stallions that are in the shuttling process. Most of them achieve success due to the support that they have from the breeders, and then these horses in the Southern Hemisphere show that they have the capacity to produce excellent runners according to the quality of the mares that they cover.

The South American breeders are very pleased and looking forward to the best results internationally with these stallions. In the past, because the high price of good horses, South America had to be very happy with a horse that had just one good point. If it had a good pedigree it was a mediocre runner, and if it was a good runner it didn’t have any pedigree. Now the picture is changing.

Bernstein, Southern Halo, Royal Academy, Honour and Glory, Hennessy, Mutakddim, Thunder Gulch, Gilded Time, Northern Afleet, Grand Slam… all of them stands or stood here in Kentucky and have travelled or are still travelling to Argentina or Brazil. The results of this venture you all know. Not just the profits for the farms here but a long, long list of G1 winners in South America and here in United States. Actually 3 weeks ago in Argentina, an Honour and Glory colt won a G1 and guess what; sold to Sheikh Hamdan’s Shadwell.

Then we see the expansion. Expansion, that is leading us now to new practices like Shadai Farm standing Snitzel, a son of Redoute’s Choice. Fair enough, they need new blood. And the opposite is also applicable when the Japan Cup winner Jungle Pocket goes to New Zealand. It’s a new practice that is giving New Zealand breeder’s access to great horses at reasonable prices. Sooner we will see some Japanese horses going to South America.

And if we are talking about shuttling how can I not talk about him: Danehill. Difficult to find a word to define him… difficult to describe how important he was and still are through his descendants… Epsom Derby, Golden Slippers, Breeders Cup, Guineas, Oaks… Rock of Gibraltar, Flying Spur, George Washington, Elvstroem, Dylan Thomas, Redoute’s Choice and this last weekend Peeping Fawn… nothing possible without our topic here. His legacy reminds us how precious shuttling can be. Australia and New Zealand will never be the same because this move.

And when we think about Australian market most of people assume that the shuttling stallions are dominating the industry there and not leaving any space for the local horses. That’s not true. The locals are responsible for the majority of leading sires in the country. Many of these local sires represent the best of Australian born progeny of shuttle stallions. It is the proof that shuttle stallions upgraded the local stock and were and are beneficial for the world industry.

It has been said that arguing against globalisation is like arguing against the laws of gravity. The thoroughbred industry has become the thoroughbred world. The shuttle revolution is completing full circle with what we call Reverse Shuttling. More and more we will listen those words. Everything is the fruit of chance and necessity and if we look to the US market, we see that will be necessary the use of this practice. There is an overuse here of mainly few bloodlines and the same type of horses (sprinter-milers). In some years the United States will need a different kind of horse that they no longer have. It had a good start in Europe with the progeny of Choisir.

Another point that I want to share with you is the hope that some breeders are looking now with shuttling. When we talk about Darley, Coolmore, and others in that level, we are talking about people with a lot of money that can afford the high prices for the best horses today. And the rest of the breeders? What they can do? Just know that they will never have the chance to buy Authorized for an example? No. Today, shuttling can give them hope to buy a horse like that. They can have the support from a Southern Hemisphere country that allows them to pay more for a horse and know that it will generate money and compensate the investment.

But we are in a debate, looking for positive and negative points. I’m sure you’re asking questions to yourselves: “OK… are there only good things?”

And I need to answer that I’ve never seen any single topic with just positive points. There are two sides to every question. But my concerns don’t make us thinking about not shuttling. A concern should drive us into action, not into a depression. It leads us to think about the local breeders and local horses; to not spread much a single blood and to find the balance between the healthy and the excess. I want to make sure that all of you will have this in mind. The continuous improvement that all of us are seeking is impossible without continuous innovation. The best way to predict the future is… to create it.

My last words will be Lee Freedman’s words. The Australian champion trainer once said:

“I am surprised there is any room left for debate about the merit of the shuttle stallions. They represent a quality of horse that Australia and New Zealand never previously had the opportunity to access”.

Like Freedman I am surprised as well.

 

Click here for a complete list of July 2007 Keeneland assignments