Home

0561727

Ratings Generated in 2012

Marsh Side

Featured Stallion

1. Flower Alley

This Week's Most Popular Stallions

2. Proud Citizen

This Week's Most Popular Stallions

3. Tapit

This Week's Most Popular Stallions

1. Proud Citizen

Smart Strike -- Striking Fast and Early

Written by Alan Porter 1 | Aug 13, 2009 | 14 Comments

With runners like Curlin (TrueNicks,SRO), English Channel (TrueNicks,SRO) , and Labatt Woodbine Oaks winners Eye of the Sphinx and Gold Strike, Smart Strike (TrueNicks,SRO) is generally considered a horse whose runners do their best work when given some time, and often over middle-distance.

That consensus, however, overlooks another side to his character, so to speak -- something we were reminded of by events of the last two weekends. His son Fabulous Strike is a truly superior sprinter, and he underlined that fact again in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (gr. II) running down the courageous Go Go Shoot to score by a length while running six furlongs in 1:08.69. Out of a mare by that "sneaky good" broodmare sire Lost Code, Fabulous Strike is TrueNicks-rated B+. Smart Strike has also actually sired a sprint champion (Soaring Free, rated A), earning that honor in Canada, where he took the Nearctic Handicap (gr. IIT). During his Canadian Horse of the Year campaign one year later, he stretched out to capture the Atto Mile (gr. I).

Smart Strike has sired Canadian champion juvenile Added Edge (A++) and last year's Lane's End Breeders' Futurity (gr. I) winner Square Eddie (A+), but he's certainly not noted for his early 2-year-olds. However, this year he is sire of Zanzibari, a colt who took last week's Prix de Cabourg (Fr-III) over six furlongs at Deauville, and Lookin at Lucky, who won this weekend's Best Pal Stakes (gr. II). Both are out of mares by sons of Danzig, Zanzibari from a daughter of Zieten, and Lookin at Lucky out of a mare by Belong to Me. Zanzibari is rated A+ by TrueNicks on the basis of the broad Smart Strike/Danzig cross, and Lookin At Lucky is rated A++ on the specific Smart Strike/Belong to Me cross that has already produced grade II winner Papa Clem and stakes winner Striking Tomisue. Of course this was one nick that was rather predictable, Danzig having sired champion Dance Smartly out of the dam of Smart Strike.

Filed under: Recent Winners, Emerging Nicks, Sires

14 Comments:

I have always liked Smart Strike as a sire and broodmare sire, but I am not sold on him as a sire of sires.......Yet. Curlin got a great book of mares, as did English Channel, so they have every chance. Curlin is a little light on his bottom line after his broodmare sire, but Deputy Minister is no averge broodmare sire, and his strength may move Curlin up. My only hope is that Curlin is not "married" to Rachel Alexandra. Since Curlin is Mr P on top of Northern D, and Rachel is Northern D on top of Mr P, the mating might not produce much. Then again it might unlock lightning in a bottle. As usual.......another great article.

ROBERT 13 Aug 2009 12:58 PM

Hi Robert: Thanks. Actually, the Mr. Prospector/Northern Dancer over Northern Dancer/Mr. Prospector (or reverse) works OK (its really four crosses of Nearco/Native Dancer and Native Dancer/Nearco).

With Rachel Alexandra, you also get a double Northern Dancer/Sir Ivor, and a lot of Sir Ivor's family. I suspect it is just fortuitous, but on paper I quite like it.

Alan Porter 13 Aug 2009 4:48 PM

A great article indeed!

Both CURLIN and ENGLISH CHANNEL are descendants from bay parents (actually, their grandparents are bay too); but they are chestnut, which means that two recessive genes are responsible for their color coat and these come from chestnut individuals who could have been great runners, champions, or even legends of the past.

Regarding FABULOUS STRIKE and SOARING FREE, a linebred (or more) to a great sprinter might have something to do with their ability to run better the short distance races.

When it comes to ZANZIBARI and LOOKIN AT LUCKY, also the presence of TURN-TO (IRE) on the pedigree of ZIETEN (Blue Note – Habitat – Sir Gaylord – Turn-To) and BELONG TO ME (Belonging – Straight Deal – Hail to Reason – Turn-To) drew my attention because this precocious ancestor is also shown on SMART STRIKE’s pedigree (Classy ‘N Smart – Smarten – Cyane – Turn-To)

Thank you Mr. Porter for giving us the chance to participate.

DOBLESE 13 Aug 2009 6:42 PM

Smart Strike truly is an amazing

sire for example one of his sons Tungsten Strike won the important

Sagaro Stakes over 2 miles at Ascot

and as we know he has had many top class sprinters and middle distance runners.If I were the owner of Rachel Alexandra I would,nt even hesitate on mating her with Smart Strike.

John T. 13 Aug 2009 9:23 PM

Smart Strike has worked his way up from a modest beginning to the top and, the best may still be coming. He did not really catch everyone's eye until English Channel and Curlin hit big. Since then his book has improved in numbers and quality of mares. He is possibly the highest ranked sire at improving his mares, so, if he improves the mares he has been bred to the past couple of years he will have some outstanding runners. He is also the up an coming broodmare sire poster child ranking high with very few runners. It does remain to be seen if he will produce any quality sires but I wouldn't bet against him.

Jim 13 Aug 2009 11:53 PM

I also loved Smart Stike from the beginning. Yesterday his daughter Smart Seattle won at Saratoga and she overcame a bad trip to do it. I think she has a great future in front of her and maybe a trip to the Breeders Cup Juvinile grass race's winners Circle...just maybe.

RGGC 14 Aug 2009 8:51 AM

He had another very promising two-year-old win over 5 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga yesterday (8/13) - Smart Seattle.

Alan Porter 14 Aug 2009 10:52 AM

Had the exacta and tri with Smart Seattle over the favorites. Will have to see a couple more races to see how good she is.

Jim Caper 14 Aug 2009 8:45 PM

Doblesse: thanks for the interesting comments. I have seen studies relating color and ability - it may be in some cases beneficial genes are in the same haplotype (gene group) as the coat color genes.

What is fascinating is that Smart Strike seems to be a conduit for class, rather than dominating for a particular type of runner ...

Alan Porter 14 Aug 2009 9:13 PM

Hi Alan,

In your comment above to Robert, you stated that the Mr.P/ND over ND/Mr.P works "OK". Can you quantify OK for me or provide an average TrueNick rating. I am also interested in ND/Mr.P over Mr.P/ND.

This may sound overly simplistic but this is exactly what we try to accomplish in our breeding. We try to create as many Native Dancer crosses (in creative patterns) as possible. We just created a breeding that produced seven Native Dancer crosses. In addition to Native Dancer, we also like the In Reality on the sire side crossed with Roberto on the dam side.

Thank you!

P.S. Have you given any additional thought about our discussion of the thoroughbred evolving into a hardier higher endurance breed over time that keeps running faster and faster?

Ryan 15 Aug 2009 1:33 PM

Thanks to you Mr. Porter!

Yes sir, he has clearly demonstrated the ability to sire top-notch performers.

DOBLESE 18 Aug 2009 11:59 AM

I can only comment on what I have been told, I have never seen Smart Strike in person. However it is interesting to hear how crooked he is, how crooked his foals are, yet look at performance. We own a Smart Strike daughter that lives up to the reputation!

Greg R. 25 Aug 2009 12:40 AM

why has nobody said breed zenyatta to SMART STRIKE ITS THE BEST MATCH

dan 10 Jan 2011 1:54 PM

dan,

Why is it the best match?

One reason no one is suggesting Smart Strike-Zenyatta is because of the Mr. Propector inbreeding. Another reason is because there's no success yet on the cross. Seems like a stretch.

Ian Tapp 10 Jan 2011 3:36 PM

All comments are moderated and must be approved before they are posted. The blog author reserves the right to edit or omit any comment.

Home

Smart Strike -- Striking Fast and Early

14 Comments:

Leave a Comment

Archives

Blog Categories