Juvenile Errors
Written by Alan Porter 1 | Oct 15, 2008 |
Comments
After looking at the pedigrees
of a couple of recent juvenile graded stakes winners, we were surprised by the
discrepancies between the TrueNicks
rating and the grade generated by a competing product that was posted in an
industry newsletter.
The first horse in question was
Maram, who captured the Miss Grillo Stakes (gr. III) at Belmont on only her
second start. Maram is a daughter of the well-bred Mr. Prospector stallion
Sahm, who has actually proved to be a rather useful sire from distinctly
limited opportunities. Her dam is American Dreamer, a daughter of the Rainbow
Quest (by Blushing Groom) stallion, Quest For Fame (GB).
TrueNicks rates Maram A++
on the basis of the Mr. Prospector/Quest For Fame cross that has produced
three other stakes winners winners, including the recent group I-winning
European sprinter African Rose (GB). We were perplexed to see that this opposing product
scores Maram as only a C, and on the
basis of the Mr. Prospector/Rainbow Quest cross. The reason for the marked
difference is, we believe, TrueNicks'
access to the comprehensive and continually updated database of The Jockey
Club Information Services. This enables TrueNicks
to make a valid calculation one generation closer, on the basis of the cross of
Mr. Prospector sons over Quest For Fame mares, rather than for Mr. Prospector-line stallions with Rainbow Quest mares, and thus deliver a far more accurate
mating.
Incidentally, before leaving
Maram, we can also note that her pedigree was assisted by the fact that
she has Mr. Prospector (Raise a Native/Nasrullah cross) in her sire line, and
that her third dam, Only a Native, is by Raise a Native out of a Nasrullah-line
mare.
The second filly to look at is Dream Empress, who moved to a
position near the head of her division with a tally in the Darley Alcibiades Stakes
(gr. I). Dream Empress follows Doremifasollatido (TrueNicks A++), winner of the Matron Stakes (gr. II), and West Side
Bernie (TrueNicks A+), who took the
Kentucky Cup Juvenile (gr. II), as the third juvenile graded stakes winner of
the year for the resurgent Bernstein. Out of the stakes-winning Nijinsky II
mare Chinese Empress, Dream Empress is rated A++ by TrueNicks. Rather oddly, despite Bernstein
having sired graded winners Dream Empress and Doremifasollatido out of a handful
of starters out of mares by Nijinsky II and his sons, Dream Empress earns no
better than a D from the competing
program!
comments powered by