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The battle for the leading freshman sire crown in Australia and New Zealand for 2014-15 may well come down to Fastnet Rock vs. the rest. Fastnet Rock While there is plenty of interest among the current freshman crop, there is no doubt that one of the more intriguing developments to watch will be the progress of the first contingent of sons of Fastnet Rock ( TrueNicks...
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Earlier this week Breeders' Cup announced a new Juvenile Sprint , thereby expanding its suite of races to 15. The $500,000 race will be run at six furlongs on the dirt and is open to colts, geldings, and fillies. I'll admit my first reaction was " do we really need another Breeders' Cup race? ", but considering the race's potential to identify good stallion prospects...
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Last year, when Offlee Wild ( TrueNicks , SRO ) emerged as Champion Freshman Sire, his credentials fit an interesting profile: His biggest win came as a 5-year-old in the 10-furlong Suburban H. (gr. I) His sire line is not known for precocious two-year-olds His first crop had only 72 two-year-olds His initial stud fee was a moderate $15,000 High-priced stallions...
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It’s hard to believe, but we’ve already had the first U.S. juvenile stakes of the new season. Winner of the colt’s division of the Copper Top was Verny. His sire, Gold Case (by Forty Niner), was 3-for-3, all at two, including the Old Hickory Stakes and Sugar Bowl Handicap. He’s now in New Mexico, but has been a very useful stallion wherever he has stood, getting...
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The TrueNicks Auction Guide pages are now available for the upcoming Two-Year-Old in Training sales at Keeneland and OBS. The Keeneland April sale will be conducted on Monday, April 5 while the OBS Spring auction runs from April 19-22. Both sales produced juvenile champions last year with Champion 2yo Colt Lookin' at Lucky emerging from the '09 Keeneland April...
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Wildcat Heir ( TrueNicks , SRO ) ended 2009 with the frankly-staggering total of 39 individual juvenile winners. Despite this, he’d reached November before a stakes winner appeared. But surely enough, time has begun to reveal quality among Wildcat Heir’s great quantity of winners. On November 13, Karmageddon took the Jersey Juvenile Stakes, and the very next...
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With Tapit ( TrueNicks , SRO ) , Sky Mesa ( TrueNicks , SRO ) and the over-achieving Stroll ( TrueNicks , SRO ) (now back at Claiborne from a sojourn in Italy), Pulpit ( TrueNicks , SRO ) has made quite a start as a sire of sires. Another Pulpit son, freshman sire Purge ( TrueNicks , SRO ) , has a smart performer in Macias. He scored a first stakes victory when...
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There was a 'lucky' ending to the last major two-year-old contests of the year with Looking At Lucky taking the Cashcall Futurity (gr. I) and Blind Luck the Hollywood Starlet Stakes (gr. I). Lookin At Lucky is a son of Smart Strike ( TrueNicks , SRO ) , who won’t repeat his Leading Sire titles of 2007 and 2009, but who has had enjoyed another excellent season...
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Wildcat Heir ( TrueNicks , SRO ) , a speedy grade I winning son of Forest Wildcat leads all North American freshman with a record-setting 38 individual winners. Five of his runners have earned blacktype so far. The Carson City son Hear No Evil ( TrueNicks , SRO ) has only 11 foals in his first crop but two of them are stakes winners, Jackson Bend. who swept the...
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Out of the Silver Deputy mare, Silvery Swan, El Corredor ( TrueNicks , SRO ) (by Mr. Greeley ( TrueNicks , SRO )) was the second grade I winner inbred to Mr. Prospector when he took the 2000 edition of the Cigar Mile (gr. I). He was also the first notable runner with such inbreeding to retire to stud and he quickly dispelled fears that his pedigree pattern would...
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Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey have done a tremendous job with their stallion, Catienus, a Storm Cat son whom they claimed, then sent out to win a minor stakes, run second in the Suburban Handicap (gr. II), two renewals of the Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap (gr. II) and place third in the Whitney Handicap (gr. I). Catienus has never been a fashionable stallion, but...
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The juvenile filly grade I races over the weekend (including Friday) both went to stallions who made their names in a regional market before moving to Kentucky. The Frizette Stakes (gr. I) went to Devil May Care, who was making only her second start. She is by Malibu Moon ( TrueNicks , SRO ), who initially started very cheaply in Maryland, and out of Kelli's...
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The surprising Pollard's Vision ( TrueNicks , SRO ) had leapt to the head of the Freshman class following the victory of Blind Luck in the Oak Leaf Stakes (gr. I) last weekend. That lead was short-lived, however, and Hill 'n' Dale's Roman Ruler ( TrueNicks , SRO ) now has the top spot after his son Homeboykris (TrueNicks A++) captured the Champagne Stakes (gr...
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We've tracked the progress of freshman Pollard's Vision ( TrueNicks , SRO ) in several previous posts, but we must admit we didn't expect him to vault to the top of the Freshman Sire table. However, that's what happened when his daughter, Blind Luck, emerged from the Oak Leaf Stakes (gr. I) with a 2½ lengths victory. She is the fourth stakes winner from the first...
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The Kentucky Juvenile Stakes (gr. III) to be run April 30 at Churchill Downs offers the first shot at serious black-type for 2-year-olds, and as such we thought it interesting to have a look at the TrueNick ratings for a field of stakes contenders that have yet to earn black type. Topping the likely runners with an A++ rating is Mission Impazible , a son of Unbridled...
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With the first Northern Hemisphere 2-year-old races set to get underway shortly, we thought that this year we would do something that allowed us to follow TrueNicks as a predictor of racetrack success . We debated a couple of ways we could do this, with the primary goals of offering a statistically sound study and one that is trackable in 2009. An ideal solution...
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One of the best juveniles of his crop, Whywhywhy (Mr. Greeley--Thorough Fair, by Quiet American), made a promising start to his stud career. He ended 2007 as a top-six freshman sire, and was represented by inaugural Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Nownownow. Whywhywhy ( TrueNicks , SRO ) rather flew under the radar in 2008, but he lit up the screens recently...
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Storm Cat's well-bred son Bernstein made a very good start to his career. From a first crop sired when he stood at Doug Arnold's Buckpond Farm, Bernstein was represented by just 37 foals, of which 32 have started and 26 have won. Five of these captured stakes events, their number being headed by the Astarita Stakes (gr. III) victress Toll Taker; the Providencia...
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We happened to be studying a Saint Ballado mare the other day for a client, and noticed that to date, the only two graded stakes winners out of mares by that stallion are Saint Afleet (TrueNicks A ), who took the Palos Verdes Handicap (gr. II) and this year's Futurity (gr. II) winner, Charitable Man (TrueNicks B ). The speedy Saint Afleet is a son of Northern...
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Given that he never raced at 2, Pulpit would seem to be an unlikely influence for precocity, but we are noting that seems to be a trait associated with his stallion sons. A few weeks ago, we mentioned his son Stroll, a middle-distance turf horse, who already has three 2-year-old stakes winners from his first crop. Pulpit has another first-crop freshman son in...
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