BARGAIN BRED RACING SERIES & BREEDING CORNER

Exchange Rate (13547)

Exchange Rate is the subject of this week’s Breeding Corner. A pretty solid runner that faced some solid horses at two three and four. He is a little like More Than Ready in that he is facing very stiff competition as a sire from horses he competed against as a runner. His pedigree is a very solid for a runner but can be tricky for a breeder.

Real Life- Exchange Rate is by Danzig. His dam sire is Seeking The Gold and his dam’s dam sire is Spectacular Bid. He seems to have a nice mix of speed and stamina in his pedigree. As a runner he faced some tough runners. As a two year old he finished second in stakes twice behind Dixie Union. He won the Risen Star as a three year old on the road to the derby. He did make it to the derby but had a horrible post so was five or six wide the whole way through the race finishing twelfth the year Fusaichi Pegasus won. At four he finally broke through with a graded stakes victory and even ran very gamely in a turf stakes against Val Royal and Hawksley Hill.

His real life runners will not hit the track until next year (2005). His pedigree presents an interesting challenge. He is a product of a Northern Dancer X Mr. Prospector cross. Northern Dancer will be in the third generation of his offspring and Mr. Prospector will be in the fourth generation. Mr. Prospector line dams have been used in his few listed real life progeny along with the Roberto line.  

Sim Life – He has seventy-one runners in the sim. His oldest runners are four-years-old. That first crop that is now four were pretty solid. Every one of his stakes winners are from that crop. Two of horses have broke the 110 speed figure mare in sprints and three have done it going further than a mile. He has not produced very many turf runners, which is a little surprising.

Using Mr. Prospector line sires as dam sire has produced several of his stakes runners. Homebuilder, Marquetry, Roar, and Gold Fever. As a matter of fact a majority of his runners are bred to Mr. Prospector line sires.  He has been bred back to very few Northern Dancer line dam sires. His progeny have been a lot better on dirt and have run well sprinting up to nine furlongs. He has a couple that have run well further.

He only has sixteen two year olds this year. The newer sires have just drawn more attention so he is a very good value right now. He has not been bred to top notch dam sires for the most part just one or two but his small two year old crop looks pretty solid. Urko’s Pricey #53044 is probably his best two year old so far with a second and third in stakes tries. #89787 Swap Meet could be a horse to watch the dam sire is Seattle Slew. His two year olds on turf are better than previous classes.

Breeding Suggestions – There is no denying that crossing back to the Mr. Prospector line works in the sim. If I wanted a turf runner I would breed back to the Northern Dancer line sires. You could breed him back to speed to get a sprinter but I think you can breed him to a little more stamina and get a very solid route horse. If you are lucky you could get a derby contender. The Ribot line would add good stamina and has produced one of his stakes winners through Lost Code. Seattle Slew and sons should mix well as well as Buckpasser lines. For more of a sprinter type popular speed lines like In Reality, Dr. Fager or Bold Ruler seem to fit well. For a Derby type runner I would try…

Exchange Rate (13547) X Unbridled (6852) X Hoist The Flag (2812)

Sprinter… 

Exchange Rate (13547) X Phone Trick (4781) X Relaunch (5255)

Turf… 

Exchange Rate (13547) X El Gran Senor (1894) X Mill Reef (3979)

Bargain Bred – Exchange Rate does get down to about seventy BPs by the end of the week.  So he can be bargain bred although I usually do not like using sires that cost this much. It just means we have to search a little harder for solid yet cheap dam sires.

Route…. 

Exchange Rate (13547) X Slew the Coup (5952) X Favorable Path (8978)

Sprinter…. 

Exchange Rate (13547) X Boone’s Mill (765) X Wayne’s Crane (7047)

Turf…. 

Exchange Rate (13547) X Creator (GB) (1378) X Secret Counsel (5669)

What to Expect – Exchange Rate really did not run his best until he was four so It would not surprise me if some of his runners take time to develop. They should run well as two year olds and three year olds. Most likely his progeny will prefer the dirt but as always be sure to try his progeny on both surfaces. You should be able to get quality offspring from Exchange Rate.