Graded stakes winner Copper Bullet will enter stud at Darby Dan Farm this season, with a unique incentive program in place to attract solid mares to his book in a competitive market.   Copper Bullet, by More Than Ready, was co-owned during his racing career by Winchell Thoroughbreds, which campaigned him with Willis Horton. Ron Winchell has now teamed up with Dr. David Lambert's Equine Analysis Systems to establish three qualifications for mares to be considered for the new stallion's book. Mares are first analyzed based on age, race record, pedigree, and production. Those approved at this first stage will then have their pedigrees and conformation assessed by Lambert's team. As a final step, a photo of the mare will be uploaded into an Equine Analysis Systems program where an algorithm will take biomechanical measurements of the mare. If the mares meet are approved through all three steps, their owners will receive a complimentary season to Copper Bullet, and will also receive a $5,000 bonus when the mare has reached 45 days’ gestation.   “There are many reasons, based on physiology, anatomy, and genetics that a horse has the potential to become an elite stallion,” Lambert said in a release, comparing Copper Bullet to Winchell colorbearer and leading sire Tapit. “Just like Tapit, Copper Bullet is such a horse. We have a panel of scientific tests and he passes them all. If now we can also scientifically select his mares, then his future chances become extraordinary.” Copper Bullet won the Grade 2 Saratoga Special Stakes and also finished second in the Grade 3 Bashford Manor Stakes as a juvenile in 2017. He returned from a layoff of more than a year for an impressive allowance victory at Churchill Downs in November 2018 before returning to graded stakes company, with his best effort during his comeback a runner-up finish in this year's Grade 3 Razorback Handicap. In today’s stallion market, there is intense competition for mares, heightened by the reduced broodmare population seen in the smaller foal crop. Incentives or bonus strictures have thus become a common practice used by stud managers not only to increase book sizes, but to attract quality mares to a young stallion's book and give them a better chance at early success. For example, Spendthrift Farm – which will stand five new stallions in Kentucky this season – has pioneered the “Share the Upside” program, in which breeders commit mares to a stallion for his first two years and thereafter earn a lifetime breeding right. Kentucky operations such as Darby Dan Farm, Mill Ridge Farm, and Crestwood Farm have adopted the program. Spendthrift also pioneered “Breed Secure,” in which a stud fee is not owed until an owner sells and profits on the resulting in-foal mare, weanling, or yearling at public auction. Gainesway adopted the program, and Darby Dan has branded a similar program "Profit Protection." Darby Dan introduces two new stallions this year in Copper Bullet and Flameaway, a multiple graded stakes-winning son of Scat Daddy. In addition to Share the Upside and Profit Protection, and Copper Bullet's own individual incentive, Darby Dan offers three other programs designed to attract black-type performers or producers to its various stallions. “This horse checked all the boxes that Mr. Winchell uses in evaluating horses to purchase,” Darby Dan stallion director Ryan Norton said in a release. “He believes in this horse and his analytics so much that he is willing to spend his money to prove how much he believes in this horse and the science. We are excited to be at the forefront of such a forward-thinking model for how to breed horses.” Copper Bullet, out of the winning Unbridled's Song mare Allegory, is a half-brother to stakes-placed steeplechaser Fast Car. This is the family of French Group 1 winners Loup Sauvage and Loup Solitaire.