| Astar Thoroughbreds |
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| Astar Thoroughbreds, LLC Breeding News Astar Thoroughbreds is not only one of the leading racehorse owners in Minnesota over the last decade but they also are one of the few racing owners who, breed, board and own their own stallion. Their study of pedigree and breeding theories compelled them to initiate a breeding program a few years ago. They built a broodmare band, acquired a the multiple triple digit speed rated stakes winning stallion Stormy Business and began racing and selling the horses they bred. Even though most of these youngsters are just beginning their racing careers, and are just now old enough to start running, they have seen multiple personally bred winners over the last two years. They are just as happy to see them win for other fine Minnesota owners as they are to see them winning under their own red and black silks. Stormy Business has annually ranked in the top ten state stallions, based upon number of mares bred in Minnesota, ever since he was brought here from Nebraska. Nevertheless, crops are small in Minnesota yet Stormy's foals began winning races as two year olds in 2011, and the only runner he has had running early in 2012 recently came in 2nd at The Fairgrounds. (One of the few Minnesota bred horses competing at the much more competitive non-Minnesota tracks across the country.) After selling 7 future runners to other Minnesota owners last year during the Minnesota Thoroughbred Association sale and privately, Astar Thoroughbreds is very excited to finally see a representative crop of our personally bred horses run this year in Minnesota and beyond. |
| Did You Know? As a small boy, Dave Astar used to bet races in Chicago, through his father and friends. There was always one constant in betting horses. It seemed, year after year that favorites won 1 out of every 3 races. With that knowledge he wasted many a day developing progressive betting systems knowing that the 33% favorite winning percentage would always come around. However, things seem to have changed. When reviewing track win percentages, it seems that favorites are winning more often than they once did. Looking at Canterbury Park charts, Canterbury must have one of the highest rated favorite winning percentages in the country. Over 40% of the favorites at Canterbury win! Many people refuse to bet favorites. In truth, they should not consider the issue of betting favorites or not. They need to develop logic so they know which favorites to bet. In other words, if a horse has a 50% probability of winning a race, and it's a 2 to 1 favorite, it's a great bet. If you understand probabilities it's a 100% overlay. In fact, it's a much better bet than some horse where a bettor intuitively "likes the odds" and bets a 10 to 1 shot even though it only has a 10% chance of winning. With the shift in winning favorite percentages, and over 40% of favorites winning at Canterbury, bettors who refuse to bet favorites are likely winning on some occasions but often leave the track with a hang dog face. Good bettors who can reasonably predict probabilities, simply have to bet certain favorites to win over an extended period of time. Then again, many people just bet on their neighbor's horses. Oh well. |
| Stormy Business has his First Winner in 2011!!! After 3 years of stallion ownership, the first Stormy Business sired racehorse won at Canterbury in her first race. Stormy Tara, a nice 2 year old, ran by the field winning easily. With only two races run at Canterbury by Stormy Business sired two year olds, he was 1 for 2. Wow! |
| How Do You Buy a Young Horse???? Are you tired of attending yearling sales with catalog pedigree pages that go to the 4th dam and still can't fill the white space? Do you find young horse sires whose success on the track, or in breeding, is ancient history? Do you talk to breeders who understand little about nicking, inbreeding or possess the breeding knowledge required to improve foal success probabilities? Do you really like inspecting young horses out of mares that never achieved any real success on the race track, or in the breeding shed? If you are like smart Minnesota owners and understand the economics of Minnesota racing, you are only interested in the best Minnesota bred horses, and know how fast both the mare and sire of a foal actually ran on a racetrack. You look at the top speed ratings of both parents, or offspring of both parents if that data is available, and compare those to other available horses. You also want a pedigree and a nick that can compete anywhere, not just in Minnesota. You want a yearling to have a sire that won stakes races, had the heart to always be competitive and actually ran multiple triple digit Beyer speed ratings in this century. You want the foal to have a dam that raced and won, may have produced a winning foal and has a pedigree that includes a sire of some repute. If you are a smart buyer, you ignore young horses in Minnesota that do not have most if not all of the mentioned criteria. Then you, your trainer and or your advisors look at the young horses that meet your criteria to assure that conformation is adequate, or in some cases excellent. You then let others buy the young horses that don't meet your criteria for high success probabilities on the racetrack. The Astar Thoroughbreds breeding operation is at the Osborne Farm in Cambridge Minnesota. Joyce Osborne is always available to discuss the available Astar Thoroughbred horses that remain available for sale. Those who visit their farm will not only see Stormy Business, but also Late Edition and Joey Franco, the Osborne's new GRADED STAKES WINNING STALLION they just recruited from Canada to stand in Minnesota. This is an unique opportunity to actually see both the stallions and mares that produce fine 2 year olds, yearlings and weanlings. Feel free to contact Rick or Joyce Osborne to schedule a visit. (Osborne's Number: 763-689-3661) |
