Keen pedigree observers note that the same patterns often work the world over. This is frequently revealed when running the TrueNicks page on a horse, a report which gives–in addition to a five cross pedigree, Dosage profile, inbreeding, and TrueNicks rating–a list of the five best horses bred on a cross.
A case in point is Malibu Stakes (gr. I) victor Johnny Eves. He is a member of the first crop of Skimming. Sired by Nureyev out of the multiple graded stakes winning Lyphard mare Skimble, Skimming started once at 2 in England, and was unraced at 3. He made up for lost time at 4 and 5, however, winning back-to-back renewals of the Pacific Classic (gr. I), and three other graded stakes. Standing at Cardiff Stud Farm in Atascadero, Calif., Skimming is off to a bright start with his initial 3-year-old crop, with Johnny Eves being joined as a stakes winner by Skewing and Miller’s Turbo.
A look at Johnny Eves’ TrueNicks page reflects that on the basis of the Nureyev/Capote cross, he was an A+ rated horse before his stakes win. What’s interesting is that the rating is based on three stakes winners who have raced on three different continents: grade II winner La Italia (by Stravinsky, and from a Southern Hemisphere crop by that horse), winner of the Wakefield Challenge Stakes (gr. II) in New Zealand; Chan Chan (a U.S.-sired son of Spinning World), a stakes winner in Germany and 2 and 4, and group-placed there at 3 and 4, as well as winning the John Henry Stakes in the U.S. at 4; and Attico (by Atticus, and also U.S.-sired), winner of the Hatoof Stakes at Arlington Park and the Nicole Stakes at Hawthorne. So, proven in New Zealand, Europe and North America, the Nureyev/Capote nick now has a grade I winner to its name.
View the TrueNicks report: Johnny_Eves.pdf