Best breeder in Photo Finish?

Anxiously awaiting results of best breeder award

The title of best breeder is difficult to assign.

  

Some stables breed sparingly, which limits their opportunity to be anointed as "the best".  Others set their pairings up haphazardly or just for fun, not putting much thought into it.  Still others may be just plain lucky.  

Donny at Chiquita Lodge has been prolific, putting himself atop the TOP BREEDERS list many times in the past few years.  But what exactly does that mean?

That list sorts stables strictly by earnings of homebred horses.  That is a very important measuring stick, no question.  But does that necessarily mean that Chiquita Lodge, who had homebred earnings of $25.9M was the top breeder?  It does if earnings is the only criteria.

Out of curiosity, I looked at the top 10 stables on the list for 2018 and ranked them 1 (best) to 10 (worst) in the following categories, giving each category equal weight.

• Average earnings per start
• On-the-board percentage
• Win percentage

Then I averaged the three scores and came up with a ranking of the "best" breeders as far as 2018 results were concerned.  Using AEPS as a tiebreaker, they are:

1. Rainbow +1
2. Snowbank Farm +3
3. Golden Acres +6
4. Otsego Farms +6
5. Whisperwood -1
6. Chiquita Lodge -5
7. Olmo Dorato +1
8. FDL Lodge -5
9. Newsham Lodge -2
10. Foxies Lodge -4

The +/- shows the number of spots a stable went up or down from their position on the TOP BREEDERS table.

What exactly does all of this mean?  Nothing!  Just for grins.