Originally Posted by
str
Yeah. It is. But they have already passed expectations by miles IMO. Not that he was not going to be any good but when you factor in his stud fee which was 7500 and now 12,500, as you saw in the Keenland yearling sale, most of those went for many multiples over that. One would have typically hoped for a 25000- 30,000 yearling for 7,500 stud fee. That's a 3 or 4 times multiplier and that would be at least somewhat successful. Several though, would not be able to outrun anybody under typical averages.
That just doesn't seem to be the case with Army Mule. They sell for fabulous multipliers vs. stud fee. It's really something to see. I would assume another modest raise in stud fee for next year but we will see. They have been very careful to not raise up too quickly. That's not something you see all the time. That's another reason I like him.
We still are not sure of his long term durability with just two racing crops but barring soundness issues, because they all seem to try, no reason to think they won't continue to do so. Of course, soundness issues are a HUGE thing. But in his defense, when you run your guts out almost every race, it's those types that will incur problems quicker than a horse that takes days off sometimes.
It will be fun to watch next year .
Thanks JBEX