April 2008 - Posts
You asked, Alan answers! (Part (V) The Blood-Horse recently hosted an online seminar called "What Is TrueNicks," in which Alan and Byron presented an overview of the TrueNicks system and answered users' questions. The response from the Webinar audience was overwhelming, and the TrueNicks co-founders wanted to make sure every question was answered. Here is the first round of questions, with responses...
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You asked, Alan answers! (Part (IV) The Blood-Horse recently hosted an online seminar called "What Is TrueNicks," in which Alan and Byron presented an overview of the TrueNicks system and answered users' questions. The response from the Webinar audience was overwhelming, and the TrueNicks co-founders wanted to make sure every question was answered. Here is the first round of questions, with responses...
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You asked, Byron answers! (Part (III) The Blood-Horse recently hosted an online seminar called "What Is TrueNicks," in which Alan and Byron presented an overview of the TrueNicks system and answered users' questions. The response from the Webinar audience was overwhelming, and the TrueNicks co-founders wanted to make sure every question was answered. Here is the first round of questions, with responses...
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You asked, Alan answers! (Part (II) The Blood-Horse recently hosted an online seminar called "What Is TrueNicks," in which Alan and Byron presented an overview of the TrueNicks system and answered users' questions. The response from the Webinar audience was overwhelming, and the TrueNicks co-founders wanted to make sure every question was answered. Here is the first round of questions, with responses...
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You asked, Alan answers! (Part I) The Blood-Horse recently hosted an online seminar called "What Is TrueNicks," in which Alan and Byron presented an overview of the TrueNicks system and answered users' questions. The response from the Webinar audience was overwhelming, and the TrueNicks co-founders wanted to make sure every question was answered. Here is the first round of questions, with responses...
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A 35-minute online seminar will introduce you to the TrueNicks system. Tune in today, April 23 at 2:00 p.m. EDT , for the FREE session. After Alan Porter completes an overview of TrueNicks, he and Byron Rogers will answer readers' questions. If you have not pre-registered for the Webinar, please do so here: http://www.bloodhorse.com/webinars/truenicks1/register.asp Those who have already registered...
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This is a blog, and indeed TrueNicks is not supposed to be a handicapping service - but we are seriously going to have to reconsider this after the win of Sebring in the Golden Slipper Stakes (Aus-I) on the weekend! It was back on the 20th of January, some 13 weeks ago, that we first mentioned the then-non stakes-winning Sebring as a likely Golden Slipper candidate. Under a masterful ride by Glen Boss...
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That remarkable California sire, Unusual Heat, was represented by another graded stakes winner when his daughter, Lightmyfirebaby, won the Las Cienegas Handicap (gr. III) last week, her first victory in a race at that level. Lightmyfirebaby is the fifth graded winner by Unusual Heat, following 2008 grade I winner Golden Doc A, Tucked Away, Unusual Suspect, and Lethal Heat. Given that Lightmyfirebaby...
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That Pivotal (GB) is one of Europe's best stallions is not exactly news. However, Cheveley Park Stud's Nureyev grandson recently enjoyed a day that was special, even by his standards. At Kempton on Saturday, April 12, there were three black type events and offspring of Pivotal won all three, with a one-two in one race. First up was the Oddschecker.com Snowdrop Fillies Stakes, which resulted in a first...
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In an increasingly commercial world it is becoming more and more evident that particular sire lines - and more specifically, one stallion and his sons - can, at least from a commercial sense, quickly dominate the broodmare population of a given country. It then becomes a race for the next sire line - one that fits the dominant sire and his sons from a physical and genetic viewpoint - to emerge, as...
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Readers of this blog are encouraged to register for the free online introduction to TrueNicks to be conducted Wednesday, April 23 at 2 p.m. During the Webinar, Alan Porter and Byron Rogers will explain nicking theory, the proprietary TrueNicks calculation, and benefits for breeders and owners. Please pre-register for the session by providing your name and e-mail address here: http://www.bloodhorse...
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We were recently forwarded an e-mail containing an advertisement from another pedigree consultancy that mentioned "... other pedigree information services that attempt to dazzle you with vast database resources without discriminating the information that matters from the information that doesn't ...." It also asserts that it chooses not to include the results of restricted stakes - even though that...
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One of the stallion success stories of 2008 is that of New York's Hook and Ladder (Dixieland Band - Taianna, by Cox's Ridge). Although a very fast horse - he ran a 110 Beyer speed figure as a 2-year-old and subsequently won the Mr. Prospector Handicap (gr. III) and the seven furlong Gulfstream Park Breeders' Cup Sprint Handicap (gr. II), after running an opening half in :43.89 - Hook and Ladder didn...
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Former European champion 2-year-old and Darley -owned sire Xaar (GB) was a stallion that looked to have it all - a rudely talented racehorse that boasted a superb pedigree being by the brilliant Zafonic from the Best in Show family. Despite outstanding credentials and opportunity to match, Xaar failed to reproduce a horse close to his own ability in both Europe and Australia and has stood at different...
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While the classic trial round has nearly been completed in the U.S., in Europe it is only just under way. Sunday saw the first of the English and Irish classic trials, the Leopardstown Two Thousand Guineas and One Thousand Guineas trials (both Ire-III). Both events fell to horses sired by sons of Danehill, whose influence in Europe threatens to become almost as dominant as in Australia. The colt's...
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The mega-nick of A.P. Indy over Mr Prospector mares continues to shine with the Ashland Stakes (gr. I) winner Little Belle the most recent example. Once again, it proves that where you found gold once, if it is a rich vein you will find it again. With the same mating pattern found in last weekend's graded stakes winner Adriano, we find that this cross scores an A TrueNicks rating, with a variant score...
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Zenyatta (Street Cry (IRE) - Vertigineux, by Kris S.) further enhanced the burgeoning reputation of her sire on Saturday with a victory in the Apple Blossom Handicap (gr. I). The undefeated 4-year-old follows Street Sense ( TrueNicks , SRO ), Tomcito (a Peruvian Derby winner, who was third in last week's Florida Derby (gr. I) on his U.S. debut), Majestic Roi ,and Cry and Catch Me as the fifth group...
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Previously in this blog we had commented about the strange fact that despite standing at the same farm in Australia, Giant's Causeway never received as many Danehill mares as one would have thought reasonable. By our count, Giant's Causeway has only 16 named foals out of Danehill mares, a stunning number when you consider that Giant's Causeway stood at a high fee and he looked an option for high quality...
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With the Golden Slipper now just two weeks away, Arrowfield Stud's Flying Spur (AUS) has given himself another live shot at winning the race after his grand looking son Krupt (AUS) won the Todman Slipper Trial (Aus-II) at Canterbury racecourse over the weekend. An AUS$450,000 Easter Yearling purchase by trainer Matthew Smith, Krupt heads into the Golden Slipper with a chance of giving his sire two...
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The obvious highlight of the day was the majestic display by Curlin (Smart Strike - Sherriff's Deputy, by Deputy Minister) in the Eminates Airline Dubai World Cup (UAE-I), but the day produced several other interesting pedigrees. Curlin himself is an A++ nick, the Smart Strike/Deputy Minister cross having produced four stakes winners including - in addition to Curlin - millionaire Tenpins ( TrueNicks...
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Alan analyzes first-crop sires of 2-year-olds represented at the Keeneland April sale in a featured article in The Blood-Horse Data Digest (preview below). If you'd like to follow along in the Keeneland catalog while reading, it's available here . Coming into the Keeneland April 2-year-olds in training sale, TrueNicks turns its eye on the freshman sire class of 2008. Below are notes on all hips by...
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We were sufficiently impressed by Big Brown's devastating Florida Derby (gr. I) win that we went straight to TrueNicks to have a look at the pedigree. The TrueNicks rating is always updated overnight, but when we looked at the pedigree on Saturday afternoon, the page reflected the state of play before Big Brown's win (see attached). Therefore, we were both delighted and surprised by the result - delighted...
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