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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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With the William Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale (from April 8-10) just over the horizon, it's worth a look at the very eclectic mix of stallions that will be represented here by their first yearlings. It's an unusually mixed bag, including Northern Hemisphere shuttlers, both proven and unproven in their part of the world, as well as domestic stars ranging...
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The breeding maxim " Return to the sire the best blood of his dam " has been attributed to longtime Darby Dan Farm manager Olin Gentry. Gentry wasn't the first to suggest this breeding theory, indeed there is evidence to suggest that it first came into livestock management via the Bedouins in upgrading Arabian stock centuries ago. The theory is that when mating...
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Complimentary TrueNicks Enhanced Reports are available below for the Oct. 12 Caulfield Guineas (Aus-I) at Caulfield Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia. The Caulfield Guineas has a long history in Australia racing. First held in 1881, the Guineas is regarded as a stallion-making race for the winner, and has been won by a host of star gallopers who have gone on...
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One can't look at the leading Australian and New Zealand freshman sire lists for 2012-13 without an intense sense of loss over Northern Meteor, who died as a result of a colic attack on the very eve of the day that would see him crowned champion freshman sire. Nicknamed "racing's Usain Bolt" for his brilliant sprinting performances, the son of Encosta de Lago...
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While Redoute's Choice (AUS) ( TrueNicks , SRO ) has rapidly stamped himself as a sire of sires, his fellow Danehill son and erstwhile stud companion Flying Spur has been awaiting an heir. It now appears as if one may arrived in the shape of Casino Prince (AUS) ( TrueNicks ), who heads the Australia second-season sires list. He already has a star in the shape...
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For much of the second half of the first decade of the 21st century, the Australian sire's premiership was fought out between Encosta de Lago (AUS) ( TrueNicks ) and Redoute's Choice (AUS) ( TrueNicks ), the duo eventually claiming two titles apiece. Now New Zealand breeders will have the opportunity to breed to a stallion who combines bloodlines tied to both...
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Australian media outlets have reported that undefeated two-time Australian Horse of the Year Black Caviar's first mating will be to Darley stallion Exceed And Excel (AUS) ( TrueNicks , SRO ). Photo: Darley Exceed And Excel (Danehill—Patrona, by Lomond) Exceed And Excel was, like Black Caviar, a sprinter. His first of two group I wins at 3 came in the seven-furlong...
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While he is now considered an "elder statesman" of the Coolmore Australia stallion roster, there can be no doubt that Encosta de Lago (AUS) ( TrueNicks , SRO ) is one of the premier stallions standing in Australia this year. The son of Fairy King has amassed a sensational record at stud with 6.3% stakes winners to foals and 7.6% stakes winners to runners (up...
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As Andrew Bensley tweeted, Australian champion More Joyous has been retired. The More Than Ready ( TrueNicks , SRO ) mare earned $4.5 million while racking up eight group I wins, capped off by her impressive run in the 2012 Queen Elizabeth Stakes shown below. Owner John Singleton will send More Joyous to England in July or August to be covered by Frankel, who...
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Yesterday Coolmore purchased multiple group I-winning filly Sea Siren , a daughter of Coolmore's champion sire Fastnet Rock (AUS) ( TrueNicks , SRO ). Below is a conformation video of the 4-year-old. Sea Siren will make her final start for her previous connections May 11 in the BTC Cup (Aus-I) at Doomben, a six-furlong race that she won last year. If she runs...
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Today brought the news of Black Caviar's retirement from racing. The big question now is which stallion will have the privilege of serving the great mare in her first season at stud? But first, to reflect on Black Caviar's remarkable record, her unbeaten 25-race career included 15 group I victories and spanned six consecutive calendar years. She was the world...
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It might be a bit too early to say that "The Winds of Change are Blowing Through the Nation," but with frequently expressed concerns about the durability and stamina of the U.S. Thoroughbred, there appears to be a move that indicates stallion masters and breeders are willing to at least consider standing or breeding to something other than stretching-out sprinter...
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Four-time group I-winning filly Mosheen, who fractured a hind leg in the Oct. 20 Yellowglen Tristarc Stakes (Aus-II), has been retired and is scheduled to be bred to leading Japanese sire Deep Impact in 2013. Katsumi Yoshida, who stands Deep Impact at his family's Shadai Stallion Station, purchased a 50% share in the Fastnet Rock ( TrueNicks ) filly in January...
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Triassic, the dam So You Think, in April 2012 I recently had the opportunity to interview Cecile Smith, owner of Piper Farm and co-breeder of Australian champion and 10-time group I winner So You Think (NZ) ( TrueNicks ). Cecile owns So You Think's dam, the 22-year-old Tights mare Triassic, who is currently in foal to Medaglia d'Oro ( TrueNicks , SRO ) and is...
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The weekend past saw the 56th running of the world's richest 2-year-old race, the AAMI Golden Slipper (Aus-I), run over 1200m (6 furlongs) at Rosehill in Sydney with the victor being the undefeated Gai Waterhouse-trained Pierro (Gai had touted Pierro strongly leading up to the race as seen in this pre-race video ). Traditionally the race that decides the champion...
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More Than Ready Photo: Vinery Hindsight is always 20/20, but when the Vinery Stud stallion More Than Ready ( TrueNicks , SRO ) shuttled to Australia, he looked to be a ‘lock’ to suit mares by then-leading sire Danehill. Invariably within breeding populations, the next great sire establishes himself with the daughters of a previously great sire. Just as Danehill...
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While we are only in the first few weeks of the Northern Hemisphere breeding season, stallion masters in Australia are already at work on recruiting new stallions to their rosters for the 2012 breeding season, which begins in the Northern Hemisphere summer. The first of these to appear on TrueNicks is Smart Missile ( TrueNicks ), who will be standing at Arrowfield...
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Over two years ago, we ran a TrueNicks Broodmare Report for the O'Reilly (NZ) ( TrueNicks ) mare Rare Insight. The report was ordered by Rare Insight's part-owner Neil Hoar, who gave a copy to his trainer, leading Australian trainer John O'Shea. After reading the report, the trainer told us: "I'm impressed that the report has Danehill Dancer as a top pick. I...
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The brilliant victory of Black Caviar in the MRC C.F. Orr Stakes (gr. I, video below) - which took her record to 18 wins in 18 starts - gives us an excuse to post an article of her pedigree that ran in the Australian publication Inside Breeding last year, which explored the potential reasoning behind the mating that led to her. Why is Black Caviar brilliant?...
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While horseman in the Northern Hemisphere are working their way through the dark, damp days of winter, a significant portion of the Australasian breeding and racing community were enjoying the sunshine at the Gold Coast in Queensland. From a racing standpoint, the highlight was the A$2,000,000 BMW Magic Millions Two-Year-Old Classic, run over six furlongs. In...
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After a weekend that saw Darley's impressive Elusive Quality ( TrueNicks , SRO ) colt Sepoy take the Golden Slipper (gr. I), the Inglis Easter yearling sale got underway on April 5th. Lot 226, a filly by Redoute's Choice out of Dowry (Bahhare) sold to Anton Koolman Bloodstock for $500,000. The Inglis venue at Newmarket is not an expansive property—certainly not...
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Back in New South Wales, the TrueNicks tour moved to the Hunter Valley, Australia's Thoroughbred breeding center. Here Byron and I visited a who's who of Australian stud farms, including Arrowfield, Coolmore, Darley, Patinack, Vinery, and Widden. Arrowfield, the original home of breed-shaping stallion Danehill, now stands top Danehill sons Redoute's Choice, Flying...
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As our TrueNicks tour continues, Byron and I traveled north out of the Waikato region to Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand. Here we visited Russell Warwick at Westbury Stud and Shannon Taylor at Haunui. The Westbury stallions have now joined TrueNicks for the first time, and Haunui – a longtime TrueNicks supporter – announced Showcasing , their exciting...
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The weekend of March 12-13 was a good one for some emerging sires in Australia and New Zealand. Magic Albert comes from a branch of the Nearco sire line that has been a purely Australian one for several generations. He is a son of Champion 3-Year-Old and successful sire Zeditave, who is turn is by The Judge, by Showdown (Champion English 2-Year-Old, and twice...
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