June 2008 - Posts
Visitors to http://www.truenicks.com/ will now notice that those stallions subscribed to our service are treated a little bit differently than the norm, with their name in bold and links to both their TrueNicks page and Stallion Register Online page following their name. As an example, any story featuring the young Adena Springs stallion North Light ( TrueNicks , SRO ) will have his name appearing...
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Throughout the history of the Thoroughbred there have been a number of occurrences where full brothers have performed very well at stud - the European foundation stallions Pharos and Fairway, the North American duo Bull Dog and Sir Gallahad, the Australian stallions Todman and Noholme. More recently, the Thoroughbred gene pool has been blessed with the brothers Kris and Diesis and Sadler's Wells and...
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Q: I was looking for nicks with a mare by Abaginone. Your reports show an A++ for a Seeking the Gold/Halo crossing but all the stakes winners listed are by one sire, Mutakddim, out of Southern Halo mares bred in Argentina. Is this a statistical quirk or a valid basis for generalizing about a Seeking the Gold/Halo nick? A: Thank you for the question. The calculation for a mare by a son of Seeking the...
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That under-appreciated Nijinsky II line stallion, Hernando (by Niniski), is having an excellent run with his current crop of three-year-olds, which include the English Oaks (gr. 1) victress Look Here ( A+ TrueNick Rating ); Casual Conquest ( A+ ), winner of Derrinstown Derby Trial (gr. II) and third in the English Derby (gr. 1); and most recently, on June 24, Indian Daffodil, who took the Prix Daphnis...
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On Saturday, improving 3-year-old Tiz West scored his first graded triumph when he prevailed by a nose in the Cinema Handicap (gr. III). A son of Gone West, Tiz West is out of the Cee's Tizzy mare Tizso, a full sister to Tiznow ( TrueNicks , SRO ) (and is A++ rated by TrueNicks). What makes this particularly interesting is that one day earlier Merchant Marine captured the Yankee Victor Stakes at Belmont...
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The recent post by Alan regarding the Ascot stakes winner Supaseus (Spinning World - Supamova, by Seattle Slew) brought back memories for this author as her dam was one of the 100 or so horses in the yard of leading trainer Paul Cole while I worked a flat season in England going back almost 15 years now (...yes we are all getting old!). Supamova, a 2-year-old at the time I was there, was one of two...
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Kingsgate Native has always been something of a mold-breaker. He very nearly won the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot last year on his racecourse debut, and two races later, the 2-year-old broke his maiden in the Nunthorpe Stakes (gr. I), beating established older sprinters. He open his 3-year-old campaign on the first day of this Royal Ascot meet, finishing unplaced in the King's Stand Stakes...
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It was Galileo's model of the universe that prevailed on Day Four at Royal Ascot. Daughters of Galileo landed two of the three group races on the card, including the day's jewel, the Coronation Stakes (Eng-I). In that event -- a contest for 3-year-old fillies -- Galileo's daughter made up for the disappointment of her run in the Oaks (Eng-I), where she appeared not to handle track. This time she relished...
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The day started with a score for the the U.S. when South Central (Forest Camp - Brittan Lee, by Forty Niner) -- a 13-length winner on his debut -- blazed the trail and then held on gamely for a narrow win. South Central was bred in Kentucky by the partnership of Tony Holmes and Dr. Walter Zent, also breeders of juvenile champion Stevie Wonderboy and millionaire Zanjero. The result was received with...
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It's no secret that Seattle Slew and Mr. Prospector have been combining well in pedigrees for a considerable amount of time (and probably no coincidence that both go tail-female to the Myrtlewood branch of the family of the great tap-root mare Frizette, who is incidentally doubled in Seattle Slew's granddam). One of the most successful versions of the combination has been Seattle Slew-line stallions...
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While Day One at Royal Ascot was dominated by Mr. Prospector-line horses, Day Two was a Danzig day, that line capturing four of the five stakes events on offer. First off the mark was Aqlaam (Oasis Dream - Bourbonella, by Rainbow Quest), who was making only the third start of his career when capturing the seven-furlong Jersey Stakes (Eng-III). Aqlaam is from the first crop of his sire, a son of Green...
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As a grandson of Mr. Prospector, Distorted Humor ( TrueNicks , SRO ) has been given plenty of opportunity with Northern Dancer-line mares, even though he himself is out of a mare by Northern Dancer son Danzig. Some versions have proved better than others, but overall, the broad Distorted Humor/Northern Dancer cross gets a TrueNicks rating of C+ and it has produced 10 stakes winners, six of them graded...
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The first day of the Royal Ascot meeting produced some remarkably international results. The opening race - the Queen Anne Stakes (Eng-I) for 4-year-olds and up over a mile - saw Australian-foaled Haradasun narrowly get the better of last year's classic fillies Darjina (by Zamindar) and Finsceal Beo (by Mr. Greeley). Haradasun, the Australia's champion 3-year-old of his crop, was the subject of a part...
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There is no doubt about who is the early sensation amongst European freshman sires. One Cool Cat has already sired 10 individual winners, but more importantly, has three individual black type winners. His daughter Knavesmire captured the Hilary Needler Trophy at Redcar. Then the colt Icesolator captured the National Stakes at Sandown Park. Finally, at the weekend, the Premio Alberto Giubilo, in Rome...
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One stallion that has been on the move, both physically and in terms of his stud fee, is Exchange Rate ( TrueNicks , SRO ). The son of Danzig - Sterling Pound (by Seeking the Gold) retired to Padua Stables in Ocala, Fla., where he stood for as little as $7,500. However, after a flying start, the gray has earned a move to Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Ky., where he was advertised as standing for $25...
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It's just 35 years since Mill Reef stamped himself as one of the best horses to race in Europe during the 20th century. Paul Mellon's son of Never Bend went on to prove himself an outstanding sire, too, so it's something of a surprise to find that his male line is already in danger of extinction. Recent weeks, however, have indicated that the line may have a representative who could save the day in...
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Japanese racing seems to have a new star in the shape of Deep Sky, who followed up his win in the NKH Mile Cup (Jap-I), by producing a blistering finish to land the Japanese Derby. Deep Sky is by Agnes Tachyon. A son of the almost inevitable Sunday Silence, Agnes Tachyon scored his most important triumph in the Japanese Two Thousand Guineas (gr. I). He's made a promising start to his stud career with...
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Vision d'Etat retained his unbeaten record with a head victory in the Prix du Jockey-Club - French Derby (gr. I). Vision d'Etat has a pedigree that is obscure by almost any standard. Chichicastenango - the sire of Vision d'Etat - was one of only two stakes winners for his sire, Smadoun. A son of Kaldoun (by Caro), Smadoun started 63 times over five years, and was a prolific scorer in provincial black...
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We are often asked the question on nick ratings - "do they work across multiple generations?" The answer ironically depends on the genuine strength of the affinity between the sire lines in question. Examples of nicks that seem to span generations and withstand the scrutiny of time include Fappiano over In Reality-line mares and Seattle Slew over Mr. Prospector-line mares with these two in particular...
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We are gaining the impression that breeding a stallion back to a mare from his own broodmare sire line can work quite well. One example is Pure Prize ( TrueNicks , SRO ), the young Storm Cat horse who is making a very strong start with his first crop, now only 4. He is out of a mare by Seeking the Gold, a son of Mr. Prospector, and crossing him back over Mr. Prospector-line mares has already produced...
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We have previously posted about the impressive start that Coolmore's group I English Derby winner Galileo has had with mares by the ill-fated champion sire Danehill. The Coolmore stud "mega-nick" added a juvenile group success when Cuis Ghaire (Galileo-Scribonia, by Danehill) scored a 3 1/2 length victory in the €100,000 Gr3 Swordlestown Stud Sprint Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Naas over the weekend...
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Alan responds to a few readers' questions... Q : Are there any downfalls to nicking? A : Nick ratings are a measurement of one area of pedigree affinity, that of the sire (or sire line) for mares by the broodmare sire (or broodmare sire line). There is a very high correlation between a high TrueNicks rating and the potential for success. However, the potential downall is to blindly employ the nick...
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