Obviously I don't ship to CA because I own a stallion here I want to support,
but objectively I think it goes like this.

PROS
Larger selection of stallions
Larger selection of stallions with better race records
Larger selection of stallions who've produced real stakes horses.
If foal is dropped in CA, we're eligible for much better breeder's awards.

CONS
Shipping a mare several hundred miles, maybe with a baby
Cost of shipping said mare, whether commercially or just buying gas/diesel.
Cost of mare care in CA tends to be about half again as much as here or even
double.
Hard to go visit facility on a "whim" to check on her

The sad fact is that Arizona does have several really well-bred, nice stallions
that have retired here in recent years, but because they aren't standing at
Fleming's, they have a pretty tough time getting known. Also, almost none of
those stallions are advertised on a regular basis or at all, so no one knows
what all is available, most of the time. Additionally, several of the best bred
and raced horses are turf horses and if you breed to them, you have to keep in
mind that you may not get to race too often or at all in Arizona. For a lot of
people, that's a deal breaker, and understandably so.

Another negative for Arizona stallions is that they are automatically perceived
to be "not as good as" stallions in CA, which is not true, as far as comparing
bloodlines and some race records. It would be even less true if Arizona
breeders would keep their best mares at home and support these stallions who
deserve a shot, rather than sending their best to CA and breeding their lesser
mares to the locals stallions, thus condemning them to siring "cheap" horses.

I've had offers to send my stallion to Washington and New Mexico, but I'd really
rather stand him here, where I can see him, and to help upgrade the Arizona
Thoroughbred. If we worked at it, we (Arizona breeders) could breed horses that
could easily hold their own in CA or NM racing and we wouldn't have to fear
giving up our better purses to "shippers" when racing locally.

In my opinion, Arizona can regain some of it's former stature, and improve on
it, when we start acting like we deserve to have a graded race back at Turf
Paradise again, and make an educated effort to breed our better mares to our own
stallions that fit them and not support them with failed mares and mares that
are ill-suited to a particular stallion because someone offered us a free
breeding. We could rebuild our local industry, but we have to commit to doing
so.

Ok, off my soapbox....

Vikki


----- Original Message -----
From: Pat
To: azhorseracing@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 11:33 PM
Subject: [azhorseracing] AZ Stallions VS CA Stallions


How many of you prefer to ship to the California to breed? Pros? Cons?





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