By: Elizabeth Rancani

In the spirit of the season, it is important to also look for value. In the thoroughbred industry, expensive doesn’t necessarily mean better, and some of the best success stories in racing, are about the bargain basement horses that went on to achieve greatness. A 16 million dollar horse has yet to win a race. A $57,000 yearling purchase (and yes, that isn’t chump change to most people) will be named Horse of the Year. In the thoroughbred world $57,000 is a steal especially if on the other end of the price tag stands Curlin. Racing greats Seattle Slew and Spectacular Bid were steals in their day also. Why is it then, that owners still continue to shell out millions on unproven yearlings? Sure, million dollar horses have done well at the track. But for every million dollar Grade I winner, bet we can also point out the name of a bargain basement Grade I purchase.

The same can be said for sires. One never knows when a horse goes off to the breeding shed what you are going to get. Street Sense could be a total flop. Or not. The next Northern Dancer could very well be a horse that ran well, but was not a millionaire in earnings. Sure, it stands to reason a horse like Street Sense will get better quality mares so the chance for greatness increases. Give a lesser known horse the same mares, and what happens is anyone’s guess.Which brings me to the bargain basement steal of the year, at least in this writer’s eyes.

Unbridled’s son Empire Maker is having a banner year as a sire. He has fillies Country Star and Muska. His son, Major General is also turning heads. That is the way of the thoroughbred world now. His sons and daughters will run a handful of times and then be whisked off to the breeding world with one ailment or another to pass along their genetic brilliance as well as flaws. It says that Empire Maker retired sound on his sire page. Well, that is good since he only ran eight times. If he was so sound though, why was he retired after barely holding off the lightly regarded Strong Hope in the Jim Dandy? His owners threw any chance Empire Maker had at an Eclipse award in the gutter after passing on all the major fall races of 2003. They all but handed Funny Cide the three year old title on a silver platter.

But, enough about Empire Maker. He stands for 100,000. His half brother, a horse also by Unbridled, will stand for just $3,000. Add in the fact that Mustanfar raced until he was six years old, and you have a really interesting stallion prospect, and perhaps the next greatest bargain in the thoroughbred world.It is important to also note that great sire Northern Dancer’s most accomplished racer was not his best son at stud. In what was surely a surprise at the time, Mr. Prospector was his greatest gift to racing. Now, that may or may not have been a good thing for the modern day racehorse, as it certainly could be the reason why today’s horse is not as sound. But, the brilliance in the offspring of Mr. Prospector will never be overlooked.

Dr. Larry Bramlage made a really good point in last week’s Bloodhorse chat. He said that longevity is not demanded anymore in the sales ring, so why should we expect it? Sires like Empire Maker are popular even though their sons and daughters surely will follow their father’s short career. Maybe, just maybe, some noted breeders will send some fine mares to his half brother next year though. Maybe they will be as brilliant as Country Star, and will stick around awhile. And maybe then one day the market will demand sound horses again. Today’s horse certainly can be sound and brilliant, right? We think so. And just maybe, Mustanfar’s offspring will be.