Gimmethegreenlight’s stud fee may be a steal despite demand for progeny

There are two stallions who are household names in two countries — Frankel in the UK and Gimmethegreenlight in SA.

Interestingly, both retired to stud at roughly the same time — Frankel in 2013 and Giimmethegreenlight a year earlier in 2012.

That’s where the similarity ends, certainly from a monetary point of view. Frankel’s service fee in 2022 is £200,000 while you can get your mare covered by “Gimme” for £8,000.

Now — if the sums here are correct — Frankel has earned close to £100m since he retired to stud with an unbeaten record of 14 out 14.

Along with Kingman — £150,000 — Frankel is the stallion of choice for many European owners and it’s much the same story here with Gimmethegreenlight.

This became further evident at last week’s Bloodstock SA Two-Year-Old Sale when Form Bloodstock bid R3.8m for a son of Gimmethegreenlight. The colt was offered by Wilgerbosdrift and the youngster is out of their mare, Sarasota.

So one can say Mary Slack did a nice bit of business — the service to “Gimme” cost R160,000 and she got back 24 times that figure.

So the question that needs answering — is Varsfontein’s (with their stallions managed by John Freeman) fee for “Gimme” a steal at R160,000 for a live foal?

One would say the answer to that is yes, though — because of export restrictions — there aren’t the same opportunities for his offspring as there are for those of Frankel. Still, mare owners are likely to be getting on the phone to Carl de Vos who continues to produce quality thoroughbreds for buyers of Varsfontein-bred horses.

Originally a wine farm, Varsfontein is owned by the Kalmanson family and began operations in 1974. It has grown into one of the Premier League stud farms in the country.

Bloodstock SA can only thank their lucky stars that they have a client such as Form Bloodstock who continue to make the headlines at their sales. Just for the record, they spent R22.6m at the National Sale in April.

Gimmethegreenlight has produced three grade 1 winners in Got The Green Light, Gunner and Surcharge and to that list can be added Garden Province Stakes victress, She's A Keeper.

Of course, the horse everyone is talking about is Baaeed but he’s not a son of Frankel — his sire is Sea The Stars. It has been a privilege to report on both Frankel (2012) and Baaeed’s wins in the Juddmonte International at York for this newspaper.

Now the big question is whether the four-year-old will run in the Arc in Paris on October 2 and — the latest word from trainer William Haggas — is that there is a “strong chance” of a trip to France.

Haggas told the Racing Post: “Baaeed has been in great form since York and everyone is happy with his wellbeing. If the ground is nice, there is a strong chance he’ll run there. Otherwise he’ll wait for the Champion Stakes at Ascot and run there.”

• Another notable quote from Gary Player. Discussing his passion for golf and racing at the Equus awards, the maestro said: “You can study them all your life and end up knowing a helluva lot about nothing”.