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Gainesway Stallions Sign on for Enhanced Report

The latest farm to sign up to allow users to run complimentary TrueNicks Enhanced reports is Gainesway Farm, located in Lexington, Kentucky. Gainesway owns a proud history having been home to such as Vaguely Noble, Blushing Groom, Riverman, Lyphard, Cozzene, Broad Brush, and Mr. Greeley. However, with a roster of exciting young horses, the focus is now firmly on the future.

The Gainesway team is currently lead by the remarkable Tapit (TrueNicks,SRO). A Wood Memorial Stakes (gr. I) winning son of Pulpit from the family of Rubiano and Relaunch, Tapit retired to stud at a relatively modest stud fee. However, that didn’t stop him coming up with 14 first crop stakes winners, including Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Stardom Bound, and grade I winners Careless Jewel and Laragh. Six more stakes winners, including graded scorers Concord Point and Touching Beauty appeared in Tapit’s second crop. His third crop, conceived at a fee of $12,500, is only now three, but has produced some remarkable numbers with 15 stakes horses; seven stakes winners; and four graded stakes winners, including grade I winners Zazu and Tell a Kelly.

Hoping to follow Tapit’s example is his fellow Pulpit son Corinthian (TrueNicks,SRO). A superior dirt miler, Corinthian captured the Metropolitan Handicap (gr. I), Gulfstream Park Handicap (gr. II), and Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Like Tapit, he comes from a stallion family, as his third dam, Number, is a graded stakes winner who is closely related to Nureyev, Sadler’s Wells, and Fairy King. Corinthian’s first crop are 2-year-olds of 2011, and they are off to a bright start with 70 of them selling as yearlings for an average of over $83,000.

One crop year behind Tapit is Champion 3-Year-Old Colt Afleet Alex (TrueNicks,SRO). The son of Northern Afleet will always be remembered for his remarkable Preakness Stakes (gr. I) triumph, where he scored by 4½ lengths after being almost brought down at the head of the stretch. However he won four other stakes at 3, including the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) by seven lengths, and Arkansas Derby (gr. II), and was third in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I). Meanwhile as a 2-year-old, he’d captured the Hopeful Stakes (gr. I) and Sandford Stakes (gr. II). Currently the Leading Third Crop Sire, Afleet Alex has sired 14 stakes winners, six graded, in his first two crops, headed by the Travers Stakes (gr. I) victor Afleet Express, Hopeful Stakes (gr. I) victor Dublin, Afleet Again, successful in the Withers Stakes (gr. II), and the 2011 grade II-winning filly Harissa. Among his second crop are a pair of colts who have shaped as if they have classic potential in Sway Away and Elite Alex. Incidentally, Afleet Alex is by a stallion who is a Mr. Prospector/Northern Dancer cross, but has an outcross pedigree himself, and we note that he’s doing well with returns of the combination of Mr. Prospector (or his sire Raise a Native) and Northern Dancer (or his sire Nearctic).

Retired to second Afleet Alex at Gainesway is his son Afleet Express (TrueNicks,SRO), who stands his first season in 2011. Winner of his only start at 2, Afleet Alex trained on to annex the Pegasus Stakes (gr. III) and Travers Stakes (gr. I), accounting for a field which included Super Saver, Ice Box (the first and second in the Kentucky Derby), First Dude, and Fly Down.

Another Travers Stakes (gr. I) hero at Gainesway is Birdstone (TrueNicks,SRO), who of course also defeated Smarty Jones in the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) and took the Champagne Stakes (gr. I) at 2. Birdstone made a remarkable start to his stud career with his first crop, which included Champion 3-Year-Old Summer Bird, who emulated his sire with wins in the Belmont and Travers, and also defeated his elders in the Jockey Club Stakes (gr. I), and Kentucky Derby (gr. I) winner Mine That Bird. Birdstone’s first crop sired after that exceptional start are foals of 2011, so there should be a lot to look forward from this quarter in the near future.

On a different tack from classicists Afleet Alex and Birdstone, Gainesway is also home to a pair of Champion Sprinters in Smoke Glacken (TrueNicks,SRO) and Orientate (TrueNicks,SRO). Smoke Glacken is sire of 46 stakes winners, including Persistently, who upset Rachel Alexandra in last year’s Personal Ensign Stakes (gr. I); grade I winner Irish Smoke; millionaire Smok’n Frolic; and grade II winners Smokey Fire, Read the Footnotes, Smokume, Bachelor Blues, and Frolic’s Dream. Orientate already has 22 stakes winners to his name, including the grade I-winning fillies Lady Joanne and Intangaroo.

The Gainesway roster on TrueNicks is rounded out by Whywhywhy (TrueNicks,SRO). The son of Mr. Greeley was one of the top 2-year-olds of his crop, capturing the Futurity Stakes (gr. I), Sanford Stakes (gr. III), and Flash Stakes (gr. III). He sired inaugural Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf victor Nownownow, also successful in the San Fernando Stakes (gr. II), in his first crop, and his other stakes winners include the Mr. Prospector Stakes (gr. III) victor Ikigai.

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