Look for Malibu Moon to Step Up

[Rupert Pupkin]

The Malibu Moon 2 year olds that I have seen this year at the sales have been absolutely awesome. I couldn't figure why his horses look so good this year. Then I realized that 2005 was the year he moved to Kentucky, so this is is his first crop of two year olds since he started standing in Kentucky. The quality of mares he got in Kentucky was 100x better than what he was getting in Maryland.

I wouldn't be surprised if his stud fee moves up into the $75,000-$100,000 range in a couple of years. His 2 year olds this year look awesome and the mares he got for this crop are much better than what he got in Maryland, but not nearly as good as the mares he got the next year. He got even much better mares after DM got the Eclispe, but the offspring from those mares are only yearlings this year. So I would expect his 2 year olds next year to look even better than this year.

At the 2 year old sales this year, I was impressed with the babies of several first-year sires. A couple of the sires whose 2 year olds worked really well this year at the first few sales were Harlan's Holiday and Empire Maker. Based on what I have seen so far, I would expect these sires to do well. Granted I am giving my opinion based on a limited sample.