not to get on a soap box but me and my fiancee were talking about something that you just brought up about a week ago.
why is every year, some european horse the greatest of all time.
Sea the stars was a very very good horse. very good. Great horse. but greatest of all time? you can't convince me he was better than Ribot, nearco, nijinsky or Shegar. I don't know if he could catch dubai millinium in a race under 12F. hell I'm not sure he could beat zarkava the filly from last year. Zarkava was a serious racehorse who retired undefeated.
yes, really good race horses WITH THE RIGHT PEDIGREE are worth far more as stallions. Mares too. Sea the stars is by Cape cross, a world class sire, and his dam happens to be urban sea, who is one of the only fillies to win the arc and making him a half brother to 4 grade 1 winners including galileo who is a world class sire himself. Yes, he's worth far more in the breeding shed.
His stud fee is 75k euros per baby this coming year w hich is give or take 107k in american money. his book is going topping out at 76 mares, considering some of the mares will be his and the farms he is standing on, let's say 65 x 107 that's 6.9 million dollars for not racing. and that's 1 year. his career earnings is 4,417,163 euros which equates to 6.32 million dollars.
Also insurance on horses like that are crazy. He's worth over 100 million dollars (the avg stallion has a 20 year lifespan). A horse racing insurance premium is usually 3.5 percent, so it costs 3.5 million dollars just to insure him while racing.
In america the hottest stallion / most expensive going now is Street Cry with a 150k stud fee. 2 years ago it was storm cat with a 500k stud fee and a book of 120 or so mares a year. So yes, the money is downright sick at that level.
it's really funny when you get into it and see that kentucky, or horse racing country decides who is fastionable and who isn't. For instance, Sea the stars is very fasionable. Champion mommy, great bloodlines. Makybe Diva, who is a MARE who won back to back to back melborne cups is NOT fasionable. she made over 10 million dollars, they could not even sell her as a 1 year old beucase no one owuld but her becuase of her pedigree.
blind luck the 2YO here, is not fasionable. she is unique in the sense that her sire is a first crop sire meaning she is part of his first bunch to hit the track. she COULD become fasionable if he keeps it up making good babies like him.
but yes sea the stars.. you can't justify racing him with that much money on the table. They were going to run him in the breeders cup classic in southern california but the insurance was too much to ship him overseas.
