Regional Merit at OBS June

Examining three first-crop regional stallions with offspring selling at OBS June

There are quite a few horses entered in the OBS June sale by first-crop regional stallions, and 45% of the catalog is comprised of horses bred somewhere other than Kentucky. As a big fan of state breeding programs, I thought it would be fun to highlight three of these young regional stallions that I find particularly noteworthy.

Solomini - McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, NY

Solomini has been an exceptionally popular stallion since retiring to stud in New York in 2020. That year, he bred 123 mares for 81 live foals in his first crop. He covered 91 mares in his second season, getting 64 live foals in 2022. Last year, he covered 58 mares, and if his foals run as well as they’ve been selling, I expect that number should go back up.

As a racehorse, Solomini consistently faced the best of his year, being G1 placed four times, although he never won a stakes race. Like fellow Curlin son Good Magic, to whom he ran second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, he was quite a precocious son of Curlin, which seems to be a good indicator of future sire potential from that sire line. He was the kind of horse who had plenty of talent and always tried hard, but seemed to often get in his own way, which I think is the biggest question mark about him as a sire - will he pass on those mental inefficiencies to his offspring?