March 2008 - Posts
Jeri from New York asked: I'm pleased to see Empire Stud signed up! Could you ask Alan Porter if there is any value to tying to inbreed to Alydar. I do not see his name come up in pedigrees anymore and I have mare by Western Expression whose bottom has Alydar mate of third dam. I may be going back to far, but I could not help but think of the great horse himself.I met Mr. Porter at McMahon's a few...
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Ashford Stud sire Grand Slam lived up to his name over the Easter weekend with three stakes winners in three days. On March 21, French-raced and Kentucky-bred 3-year-old War Officer earned a first stakes win by capturing the Prix Montenica at Deauville. An A++ TrueNicks rated horse, War Officer is out of the Storm Cat mare Wonder Woman. The next day, and an ocean away, another Grand Slam 3-year-old...
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Amy from Lexington asks Alan: I work for a small farm in Lexington and have been helping to plan matings. I really enjoy pedigree research and learning all the theories behind different nicks / crosses inbreeding / outcrossing, etc. The main problem I have run into had been finding a way to figure out what lines broodmare sires cross with. I was hoping you could shed some light on finding a good approach...
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Horsemen will have an opportunity to learn more about the value of pedigree nicks in April, when TrueNicks co-founders Alan Porter and Byron Rogers host an online seminar to discuss the TrueNicks service. Here's your opportunity to ask for clarification about any issues that remain unclear! We'll post details soon about the seminar, including date and time and free pre-registration for readers of the...
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Yesterday brought the news that champion 3-year-old filly Rags to Riches was to be retired and bred to Giant's Causeway. The match of the history-making Belmont Stakes (gr. I) heroine with Storm Cat's leading son is one that should create a tough runner, and a horse that will have no problems with classic distances. Of course, we couldn't resist running it through the TrueNicks program. This came up...
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Cometh the hour, cometh the man... or so the saying goes and in Australia it seems that the hour is arriving for a stallion or sire line to stand up and be counted when it comes to the next leading sire. With a broodmare population that, at least from a commercial aspect, is becoming laden with Danzig and his prolific son Danehill, it is fast becoming a case of the next great sire or sire line being...
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In a previous post , Alan discussed the success of Honour Devil, a son of shuttle sire Honour and Glory out of a Fitzcarraldo (ARG) mare, and noted that it was part of a broader cross that involved another son of Relaunch in Slew Gin Fizz. On Saturday, the Relaunch/Fitzcarraldo cross, already a TrueNicks A+ rating, came up with its first grade I winner in the shape of the Honour and Glory 2-year-old...
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The success of the Unbridled/Storm Cat - and particularly the Unbridled's Song/Storm Cat - cross is one that has been well documented. Now there may well be an emerging nick between Unbridled-line stallions and another branch of the Northern Dancer line. This cross stepped into the limelight this weekend, when the Honeybee Stakes (gr. III) was taken in impressive style by Eight Belles (Unbridled's...
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Topping the charts is hip #308, a colt from the second crop of Zavata ( TrueNicks , SRO ), out of the Pine Bluff mare Fair Miss, a half sister to Irish stakes winner Steaming Home, from the family of Corporate Report. Bred on the Phone Trick/Pine Bluff cross that has also produced stakes winners Who's Happy and Call Me Wild, this colt is also inbred to Mr. Prospector. A couple of breeders seem to have...
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It has been a little over two months, ten weeks to be precise, since we launched TrueNicks into the marketplace and the response has been nothing short of overwhelming. With a large roster of stallions subscribed to the complimentary subscription service that allows users to generate their own ratings via either this Web site or www.StallionRegister.com, we have seen some outstanding activity from...
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A young horse making a bright beginning from among the less expensive ranks is A.P. Indy’s son Jump Start, who is currently advertised at a fee of $10,000. With Littlemiss Allison’s win in the Sam Houston Oaks (her fourth black type win), following on from the success of Sir Whimsey in the Gulfstream Park Handicap (gr. II) the previous weekend, Jump Start is currently the leading third-season sire...
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Although he wasn't an overnight success, Arch has fought back extremely well, and earned recognition as a very solid racehorse sire. The last few years have been highlighted by Canadian Horse of the Year Arravale; English champion older male Les Arcs; thrice South African champion sprinter Overarching; and the ill-fated Alabama Stakes and Gazelle Stakes (both gr. I) heroine, Pine Island. In the most...
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Users of TrueNicks, and for that matter any pedigree program, will have already seen a number of examples where the quality of the immediate ancestors in a pedigree can have an impact on the genetic affinity, or lack thereof, that seems to be present. A good example of this is the royally-bred 2-year-old filly Merlene de Lago (AUS), who made a sparkling debut at Turffontein in South Africa on Saturday...
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On the subject of the Unbridled's Song line - Songandaprayer ( TrueNicks , SRO ), subject of a post over the weekend, being a son of Unbridled's Song ( TrueNicks , SRO ) - Unbridled's Song's daughter Classify, who dead-heated for the Spring Fever Stakes at Oaklawn Park, shone a light on what might be an evolving nick. Classify is out of the mare Classic Olympio, a daughter of the Naskra stallion Olympio...
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Last weekend was a big one for two Ashford Stud Storm Cat-line stallions. Heatseeker (IRE)'s victory in the Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I) propelled Giant's Causeway to the top of the leading sires list. He has three other stakes winners this year, including a pair of 3-year-olds in the graded winner Cowboy Cal and the very promising Giant Moon. Heatseeker is an A++ rated horse, on the basis of the Giant...
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Songandaprayer's ( TrueNicks , SRO ) first crop, sired relatively inexpensively in Florida, made a considerable impact, producing six stakes winners headed by the graded scorers Songster, What A Song, He's Got Grit, and Praying For Cash. That first crop was impressive enough as yearlings that it triggered a move from Florida to Walmac in Kentucky, where he's covered some very nice mares in the last...
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With the Barretts March Sale of 2-year-olds in training coming up next week, TrueNicks turns the spotlight on the West Coast, with some notes on the TrueNicks top 10 rated horses in the sale. The highest rated sale horse, hip #49, is bred for speed, being a son of grade I winning sprinter Trippi. Out of Meteoric, a daughter of Pentelicus who set a track-record for 4 1/2 furlongs at Delaware Park. Both...
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Latest in the growing band of regional farms to sign its stallions up for TrueNicks is Fox Tale Farm of Coopersburg, Penn. Fox Tale has added a graded stakes winning trio in Pies Prospect ( TrueNicks ), Request for Parole ( TrueNicks ), and Smart Guy ( TrueNicks ). Pies Prospect - (Crafty Prospector - Hot Pillow, by Bates Motel) won six races and over $700,000, including the Pegasus Stakes and the...
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Empire Stud became the first New York stud farm to enroll its stallions on TrueNicks, making available complimentary hypothetical matings with Sunriver ( TrueNicks , SRO ), Defer ( TrueNicks , SRO ), Chief Seattle ( TrueNicks , SRO ), and Midas Eyes ( TrueNicks , SRO ). Sunriver and Defer are both newly retired for the 2008 stud season. Sunriver, a brother to champion 3-year-old filly and champion...
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When Langfuhr retired to stud, he looked a very logical horse to try with Mr. Prospector-line mares. Not only was he a son of Danzig, a line that has done well with Mr. Prospector, but he also carried Fleet Nasrullah, a close relative to the dam of Mr. Prospector. Not surprisingly, Langfuhr has been tried extensively with Mr. Prospector-line mares, and the cross has produced six stakes winners, including...
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After a slightly hesitant start to his stud career, champion older horse Lemon Drop Kid has rebounded to establish himself as a very solid racehorse sire. With his first crop having just turned 6, he has 23 stakes winners, eight of them graded and three grade I. He enjoyed a good weekend, with millionaire Cosmonaut winning the Tampa Bay Stakes and Candy Ball the Bayou Handicap at the Fair Grounds....
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Mineshaft and his family were major winners over the Feb. 24-25 weekend. On Saturday, Little Belle took the Busher Stakes at Aqueduct. A daughter of A.P. Indy, she is out of Dubai Belle, a Mr. Prospector mare who is three-parts sister to Prospectors Delite, the dam of Mineshaft (Dubai Belle is by Mr. Prospector out of Flagbird, a grade I winning half sister to Prospectors Delite). All of this makes...
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We don't hear too much from the Buckpasser sire line these days, the great son of Tom Fool having been a much better broodmare sire than sire of sires. The last 10 days, however, gave us three stakes winners, all from the Buckaroo branch. The Gulfstream Park Turf Stakes (gr. I) went to Einstein (BRZ), a son of Spend a Buck, who sired other U.S. grade I winners Pico Central (BRZ) and Hard Buck (BRZ...
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