Life will be a relative luxury for champion standardbred sire Bettor's Delight when he returns to New Zealand.
The country's four-time leading sire is due to land in Auckland in the middle of July and be readied for the spring breeding season after finishing his North American stud duties.
The dominant sire's life will be a little less stressful when he returns after Woodlands Stud put plans in place to significantly decrease the number of mares the rising 20yr-old sire will serve next season.
''We just want to that a bit of the pressure off him. He served a really large book last year and we want to moderate that this year,'' Woodlands Stud representative Charlotte Mooney said.
Bettor's Delight served 299 mares when last in New Zealand, a figure that towers over Mach Three's tally of 90 mares and Art Major's 166.
Woodlands Stud has had positive reports about the horse's health and condition during the North American stud season where regulations mean he serves a book limited to approximately 140 mares, Mooney said.
The Papakura-based stud has not put a final figure on the number of bookings the stallion will take next season, but will monitor the horse's health and progression over the season and adapt it accordingly.
What could have counterbalanced the hot demand for Bettor's Delight was Woodlands' move to increase Bettor's Delight's stud fee from $16,000 this season to $25,000 next season. However, the price hike has done little to deter interest in the super sire.
''A huge amount of interest. We are oversubscribed; we have a large wait list,'' Mooney said.
Bettor's Delight is on track to set records in New Zealand this season even more impressive than the big numbers he put up last year when his progeny won 376 races and $6,402,553 in prize money.
With over a month to go this season, the sire has notched 350 wins and has already broken last season's prize money record with $6,589,201 banked so far, too.
Eight of the top 10 prize-money winners in New Zealand, headed by New Zealand Cup winner Lazarus, have helped him to his big tally.
Art Major is running second to Bettor's Delight this season with 125 wins so far and $1,843,037 in stake money banked.
As impressive as Bettor's Delight's numbers are, they are only part of his global domination of the world's pacing prize pools.
The sire has also banked $A8,615,569 ($NZ9,028,958) in prize money in the Australian racing season so far and $US7,752,494 ($NZ10,674,312) in North American earnings during that season which follows the calendar year.
Breeders who hope to cash in with Bettor's Delight's progeny will know if their mares have made the cut for the sire's book soon.
Woodlands Stud will sit down next week and work its way through that long list of potential candidates, Mooney said.
