Be fruitful, and multiply.

The 2014 season marked a milestone for Otsego Farms.  For the first time, it was a season that showcased a talented and potentially explosive group of 2yo's. 

Nova - Otsego Farms first homebred

Prior to 2012, my breeding operation was very limited.  In fact, in the 7 years from 2005 through 2011, I bred a total of 18 foals; an average of just 2.5 per year.  Coincidentally, I had very limited success with homebreds during this period.  Nova was a bright spot and Shatterstar was and still is serviceable.  Sabretooth also showed some ability, but won just 3 races in his career.  Other than those, it was a motley crew of washouts.

I often wondered why was my racing success was so limited with my homebred's early on.  Breeding-wise, I was just as careful during my early years as I am now. I look for appropriate pairings and mares with ability; never using a mare just because she's a mare. I breed strength to strength and try to cover weaknesses when possible.

Perhaps, I thought, it is just a numbers game.  Produce more foals with quality breeding and the odds are better that some good ones will pop up.  After getting some advice, I decided to gear up my breeding operation.

My current group of 2yo's was born in 2012 and was the first batch of the enhanced breeding strategy suggested by Steven of Golden Acres and Foxie of Foxies Lodge.   During the period of 2012 through 2015, I will have bred 36 foals; an average of 9.0 per year.  My first larger group has produced a boatload of talent...

Azrael 4-1-1-0.  Son of Nightwing has lungs.

Captain Britain 3-1-0-1.  Union Jack sired.  Loves turf and distance.

Deep Magic  4-0-2-0.  By War Machine and maturing nicely.

Kit Fisto 4-0-2-0.  Another War Machine product who can make the distance.

Moondragon 4-1-0-0.  Moet filly won debut and has some speed.

You Know My Name 4-2-0-0.  Filly by Union Jack who is gonna be a handful.

Every one of these horses has potential and I'm very excited to have them all running as 3yo's next year.  Additionally, my batch of upcoming 2yo's for the 2015 racing season looks stronger on paper than this group.