Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Most breeders will have heard of G1 Goldmine, an in-depth mating tool which helps them dissect the match between mare and stallion.
However, diving into a pedigree to the depths it facilitates is not to everyone’s taste, or time constraints. At the beginning of the month, Matthew Ennis, Managing Director of G1 Goldmine, quietly launched Stallion Match - a streamlined redevelopment of the technology that takes stallion hunting to the next level.
“The biggest change with Stallion Match is its simplicity,” Ennis told TTR AusNZ. “It’s a super high-level way of analysing a mating, without getting into the nitty gritty like we do in G1 Goldmine.
“The biggest change with Stallion Match is its simplicity.” - Matthew Ennis
“G1 Goldmine is set up in a way that you can really pull a pedigree apart, and find out what's happening, whereas with Stallion Match we really try to simplify it by asking, ‘What's the father? What's the mother? And then, is it good, and how good?’
“That's really the difference, we don't really go into the nitty gritty as such.”
Stallion Match has received its own, sleek branding, with each hypothetical mating evaluated by comparing similarly bred stakes winners and their aptitude at different ages and distances. The uncluttered interface lays the information out efficiently, so that even the entry level breeder will find it accessible. Users can shortlist favoured stallions, and there is promise of more to come.
“It’s unlike anything else out there at the moment,” Ennis said. “It’s a stallion directory with a real focus on analysis.
Matthew Ennis | Image courtesy of Sky Thoroughbred Central
“I think we're improving our ability to give the market what they want. I think there's always been many different types of breeders out there.
“There's the pedigree-savvy breeder, then there's always been that commercial breeder, and then there's been the mum and dad breeders that aren't necessarily too interested in diving too deep into a pedigree.” Stallion Match offers benefits to them all.
Data-driven foundations
The call for a more user-friendly tool has long been there, according to Ennis, but it wasn’t something he wanted to develop before a few holes in the underlying data were plugged, as he puts it.
Both G1 Goldmine and Stallion Match are data-driven tools designed to aid the mating process. A vast amount of information is fed into them, but they are only as good as the quality of data they rely on.
With this focus in mind, Ennis has been devoted to diligently ensuring that the database is comprehensive and reliable, a process which he believes he’s now on top of. A robust data set, he explains, allows for more accurate suggestions and predictions.
“We've worked very, very hard and spent a huge amount of resources at creating a very, very robust data set of racehorses,” Ennis said. The data of over 1.5 million racehorses from around the world, stretching back to 2011, have been fed into the Stallion Match database. Presently the site lists 1927 active stallions from 622 farms across 11 countries, and Ennis sets the total at over 2000 with inclusion of “old legends” for comparison.
“Presently the site lists 1927 active stallions from 622 farms across 11 countries, and Ennis sets the total at over 2000 with inclusion of “old legends” for comparison.
“Now we're at 500 data points now for every horse and it goes back as far back as we can go,” he added.
“If you don't have a big data set that's clean, you can try to create a model but it's going to be wrong. We delayed the launch (until this month) and the reason was because of the data.”
When developing Stallion Match, how that data is delivered to the end user was a huge focal point.
“It was on our agenda for the last 18 months (before launch),” Ennis said. “We improved our data and the automation of that data with various models.
“I think that puts us into a position where we're able to have more predictive suggestions as opposed to only relying on the breeder’s input.”
Leap of faith
First conceived of in 2006 and relaunched in its current form in 2020, G1 Goldmine has had impressive reach in the global breeding world. A distinct new brand might be necessary to set Stallion Match apart from its progenitor, but that comes with a consequence.
Stallion Match Website | Image courtesy of Stallion Match
“The tricky part is that it’s a new platform,” Ennis explained. “Realistically, we won't get the engagement that we're seeing with G1 Goldmine, at first.
“So we are almost starting afresh. It's daunting, but it's totally exciting.”
Whilst he’s aware that all new products come with an inherent minimum number of ‘friction points’, Ennis has smoothed as many as possible - which includes the pricing.
“It’s a free product. All they have to do is register, it costs them nothing. If we can just show people what is on offer, I'm expecting engagement to go through the roof and that people will love it.”
“It’s a free product. All they have to do is register, it costs them nothing.” - Matthew Ennis
Critically, individual user membership and running mating analysis is subsidised by the farms, who will also have a slew of mating and marketing analytics at their fingertips.
“I think farms are going to embrace it,” Ennis said. “It's a really good platform to create an introduction for a breeder that they might not necessarily have met previously.”
Direct communication
Ennis envisages shrinking the gap between stallion farms and breeders by placing more tools in the hands of farms to make that first connection.
“My personal goal is to really open up that communication between the breeder and the farm, as soon as I possibly can,” said Ennis.
“We'll start onboarding farms by the end of this month,” he explained. “The farm gets a dashboard when they are onboarded, and it's not only a management tool for their stallions and farm where they can update all of those marketing pages, but it's also a very detailed analytics program.
“They (farms) can capture data points now on virtually everything associated with their stallions. Search metrics, location, if those searches are linked to any other external marketing campaigns that are doing. They can see in terms of the time of the month - when there's a spike, when there's a drop off.
“But they can also then reach out to specific registered users searching for their stallions."
Farms will be able to communicate directly with end users via the platform, Ennis explained, and achieve the goal of all good marketing strategies: turn that initial interest into a sale. When messaging is launched, it will go both ways, and individual users will also be able to reach out to farms through the platform's channels.
“So for them (farms), it's going to be a game changer. All of a sudden, they've got the opportunity to target and communicate with the end user. It's pretty remarkable when you think about it.”
A friendly reception
One question that pops up repeatedly throughout The Innovators series is how receptive to change an industry like horse racing is. Roughly, the heuristic jump is to think that a sport which has largely repeated the same practices since the thoroughbred breed was developed hundreds of years ago will be inherently resistant to change.
However, Ennis argues that things have changed in recent years.
“I think the tide's changing,” he said. “I think that was the case when I first started. We were trying to push the envelope. We had to dial it back a little bit to accommodate - but I think that's changed in so many ways.
“I think Stallion Match could include a lot more things that will prepare us for tomorrow, without a doubt. They're on our roadmap.”
The Stallion Match website promises the release of more in-depth features to come, including broodmare sire analysis and the results from progeny that have gone through the sales ring. The plan is to roll out new features monthly in the run up to the 2025 breeding season, ensuring the depth and quality of data remains consistent.
“I think the market, generally, is becoming used to the concept of relying on data and utilising a digital environment now,” Ennis said, “whether that's data, whether that's registering a horse, transferring a horse, whatever it happens to be.”
Another point that Ennis can draw comfort from is that Stallion Match relies on the same fiercely independent model that has provided such success to G1 Goldmine.
“I think it's a really good way for a farm to market themselves in an environment that is 100 per cent independent,” he said.
“We don't have any ads, we don't push any one farm more than any others, it's an independent space where a farm can put themselves out there, and breeders can feel confident that what they're receiving in terms of results is not biased at all.”
“At its very simplest, it’s a dating website for race horses. That's what we do; we basically try to give the power to the breeders to make the best matches.”
