The same three stallions top the list in a slightly different order with Arrowfield's Not a Single Doubt edging out Written Tycoon and I Am Invincible with Snitzel a close fourth.
What this list does is bring into perspective the more expensive stallions with
horses like Exceed and Excel and Redoute's Choice, who stood for $110,000 in
2014, both proving a great choice for breeders.Also delivering handsome profits were top class active sires such as Medaglia D'Oro (USA), Sebring, So You Think and Lonhro.
Zoustar and Dundeel did best of the first season sires, while Pierro was the best of the young sires with two year-olds.
Fastnet Rock does not appear as his fee was Listed as private in 2014, but he would be in the mix there somewhere given his Inglis Easter average was $429,524.
Expensive well proven stallions are what they are and more often than not are well worth the money assuming the fee does not get ridiculous and the market does not crash.
That scenario is something we have actually seen here in Australia.
In 2005, Arrowfield Stud decided to go for the jugular and put the service fee for Redoute's Choice, who had been standing at $40,000, up to $220,000!!
It was an unprecedented fee hike that rocked the industry.
From there he escalated all the way to $330,000, the fee at which he stood in 2007 and 2008, the years at the very height of the bloodstock boom.
Many breeders that went to him in those two record breaking years at $330,000
paid a harsh penalty when those yearlings came to the marketplace with more
than half of those sold failing to make their service fee.It was a grim time coinciding with the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis and led to a major reshuffle in the industry.
Redoute's Choice was not the only stallion priced at a ridiculous level at that time as the now retired Coolmore stalwart Encosta de Lago was right up there with him.
While Encosta de Lago has largely left the picture, apart from the legacy of his sire sons and daughters, Redoute's Choice at 20 remains a massive influence on our industry, particularly now that the end is in sight.
Savvy breeders have flocked to him in recent years with his fee back at a realistic level set at $137,500 from 2011 to 2013 and then dropping to $110,000 in 2015 and 2016.
This year he's back at $137,500 and is still unbeatable value.
Redoute's Choice is arguably the best stallion ever bred in Australia and has delivered phenomenal profits for his supporters that have been life changing for many.
Earlier in this article I used the term 'ridiculous' as regards his $330,000 fee and the initial jump from $40,000 to $220,000, but was it?
Ridiculous would be setting a fee that people were not prepared to pay.
In reality, Redoute's Choice covered 315 mares in those two years at $330,000 and covered 196 when he first jumped to $220,000. Encosta de Lago covered 227 mares at his commercial zenith in 2008 when standing at $302,500.
This proves if people will pay it, you can charge it.
That's not ridiculous, that's good business.
