Browse by Tags
The summer of 2017 saw the publication of a scientific paper titled "Y Chromosome Uncovers the Recent Oriental Origin of Modern Stallions" with the outcomes found in this paper covered by Eric Mitchell in the Blood Horse that year. The paper at the time, while generally a broad discussion about the origins of the equine breed, did raise some questions about our...
Read More...
Last week saw the running of the Epsom Oaks (Eng-I) and Derby (Eng-I), two of the longest existing classic races in the world and for many the barometer of the Thoroughbred breed. The Derby was won in devastating fashion by the royally bred Australia. A son of the good racehorse and now leading sire Galileo ( TrueNicks ), Australia is out of Ouija Board, one...
Read More...
Among the questions that we are most frequently asked with regard to suggest matings is "what about the inbreeding to....?" or "is inbreeding to x a good thing?" Unfortunately, as a generalized question, there is no simple straightforward answer, and so our reply usually starts with a "Well, it depends...." While this might appear to be equivocating, it is not...
Read More...
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...
Read More...
At TrueNicks we are continually trying to improve the data in our reports in order to help you make a more informed and intelligent decision in your breeding and selection efforts. In that regard, in response to feedback we received from our customers, earlier this year we launched the TrueNicks Key Ancestors Report , a report that considers the entire pedigree...
Read More...
Photo: Three Chimneys Flower Alley , who is inbred 3x3 to Mr. Prospector, has had success with mares carrying Mr. Prospector or Raise a Native. There are plenty of examples in racehorse breeding when popular opinion turns out to be wrong. I was looking through an old racing book, The Spell of The Turf (1926) by Hildreth and Crowell, and found an interesting passage...
Read More...
15.33%. That's the coefficient of relatedness between Frankel and Chrysanthemum, the first mare scanned in foal to the champion racehorse during his first season at stud. As a point of comparison, first cousins are 12.5% related and half siblings are 25% related. Chrysanthemum, owned by the Coolmore team of Tabor, Magnier, and Smith, won a pair of group III races...
Read More...
TrueNicks' Ian Tapp sits down with Alan Porter, the creator of the TrueNicks rating, to discuss strategies and commercial considerations for using the new Key Ancestors Report. Up for discussion is Oregon Lady ( click for report ), a graded stakes-winning Shamardal mare who recently sold for $475,000 at Keeneland January in foal to Elusive Quality ( TrueNicks...
Read More...
There are few topics in the world of pedigree theory—and for that matter in the Thoroughbred community as a whole—that are more emotive than the subject of inbreeding. On one hand, inbreeding, and what is perceived as a consequential decline in genetic variety, is blamed for all manner of ills including a supposed decline in soundness. On the other, it has been...
Read More...