I am looking for a 2 or 3 yr old that is paid in to some of the good incentives.  I found one that was Pink and Ruby Buckle, future fortunes and Breeders Challange elgible.  I checked about the cost of paying in  FF was 2500, Pink and ruby 2000 each  Breeders Challange was 250 because the stallion was recently enrolled.   Please people pay them in when it is affordable and don't bother posting that they are eligible and not paid.   Needless to say I passed on the filly.  My rant for the day.

Depends on location too. I know a lot of people around me wont pay them in, maybe FF at most. Because chances of someone spending the money to haul from IL to any of those other events is slim. And nobody wants to spend the money putting their horse with a good futurity trainer to go do something at Pink, Ruby, etc. And they're sure not gonna haul down there when they'r eolder, open horses either. If I had a ruby or pink baby I wouldn't pay them in bc I'm not going to utilize it here in the middle of IL. Now if you're in TX or something and plan to utilize it then go for it, or if you're planning on selling then try to pay into one of them I guess maybe. They might not have planned to sell the horse and didn't have interest in the incentives for themselves. Plans can change & force us to sell our keepers. I'm not going to pay a baby into incentives I'm never going to use just in case my life sitation forces me to sell the horse in the future. And it's possible those people had something go on in their lives where the money was better spent elsewhere. And posting that their eligible but not paid chases the tire kickers off. Do you want to ask a bunch of questions and spend the money to go see the horse, only for them to say oh by the way he/she isn't paid in to anything and you've just wasted everyones time? 

I pay my babies into several incentives even though I know I may not haul the horse to any of them.  I usually do at minimum Future Fortunes and Triple Crown 100.  I am not a fan of enrolling in Pnk or Ruby buckle due to yearly fees (but I still own some that I pay in), but if I am going to sell them, I believe having horses paid into the incentives is a seling point.  I know when I am looking to buy I want them enrolled and scroll past the ones that are not paid in.  I read "eligible" all of the time and I KNOW those fees get higher with the horses age.  I have had some come in that were not paid in and I paid them in at a little older age and it came in handy when I sold them later, but I will not benefit.  I just benefited at the time of sale. 

Also, I don't futurity, I just compete in open classes, but I still enjoy the opportunity to run for some of that incentive side pot money.  Out of 9 currently in my pasture only 1 is NOT a FF horse and that is because her sire has never been in the program and she sits at home more than the others because she is not eligible for the incentive monies.

I have a coming 2 y/o filly. . paid into FF; TC100 and the Breeders Challenge. 

Yeah we have 2 FF events in the state for the year, so unless you like hauling to other states for weekend jackpots its not worth much here. I have a FF horse and I'll never see anything out of that when running her. And for those who would want to go to say Pink or Ruby, or any big shows in OK/TX areas, the gas alone would be around $800 to go try to run there. I'm sure not paying that when I can just go an hour or two away to a weekend open show here and have better odds at $.

And prices of horses are not the same up here as they are down south & other places. Even if I had an Epic Leader or say The Goodbye Lane or whatever, broke riding nice 2 year old paid up into everything, we'd still be looking at about a $12K sell here at most. Where you might get twice that in Texas or another state. Prices here will barely cover your breeding costs half of the time & lets be honest, very few people are going to pick an IL prospect to run with the big dogs anyway. And maybe a handful of people here even will go to those major events, so for us it's not really worth paying them into things with our market prices so low. There's little to no return on it & it's not going to keep someone from here buying it  

I completely see your thought process, but paying them in as babies for $150, for me, is well worth the future investment.  I'm not relying on what I do with them. I am hoping others do things with them and future owners after that. I'm a firm believer that incentives do mean something to a lot of buyers even if they have no intention of taking advantage of that opportunity.  I get the region thing.  I pay everything into TC100 and we don't have any of those shows around here, they are primarily out East.  I pay them in anyway in hopes someone ends up with the horse and has the opportunity to hit those shows.  I do think FF might be trying to broaden their area though and expand where the money is available.  Nothing better than having a surprise incentive check show up later as the breeder.  

Also, the stallion owner spends a lot of money to have their stallions in the incentive program, so I want to support their efforts also by making sure the babies are paid in.  Again, not necessarily for me, but for the industry as a whole.  I see incentives as literally an incentive for people (or benefit). 

Now for the market right now.. prices are all over the place.  I've stayed steady with my prices. I didn't raise them due to the market.  I do know that prices also jump all over based on location.  I have been known to pick up prospects all over the place, including Illnois.  Shippers go anywhere and if the horse "talks to me" .. it shows up at my place. 

I limit the incentives I pay into, but I am an incentive check junkie. 

I am looking for a 2 or even 3 yr old that is paid in to something good.  I am really interested to see how the breeders challange works out.  I have a ruby buckle 4 yr old and a yearling.  I may not continue to keep them in Ruby Buckle past their derby year. 

I sold a colt as a yearling. He was paid into Triple Crown 100 and Future Fortunes. The girl never transferred him out of my name so I will never realized any money from him. I know some people who bought a horse that is Future Fortunes. (Really a nice horse). They have never transferred the horse either so the breeder on that horse isn't getting their part of Future Fortues monies. I have two that are paid up into FF, Triple Crown and Breeders Challenge. I am keeping them to run in futurities. I am really kind of on the fence about the incentive program. I choose a stallion this year that isn't in any program. 

It does remain to be seen but I believe for colts to sell well they will need to be in some incentive program. I am more for the one time pay incentives and am anxious to see how breeders challange works out.  I was looking to buy a nice 2 yr old to start and then sell.

We bought a 3YO filly last year that thankfully was in Ruby Buckle but they didn't enroll her in Future Fortunes. No way we were spending another $2500 to enroll her.