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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...
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Photo: Daehling Ranch Peppered Cat Not many people outside Northern California have heard of the stallion Peppered Cat , but with current earnings per starter of $36,400 compared to a 2013 stud fee of $2,000, the 13-year-old son of Tabasco Cat is starting to get some attention. Granted, he's had just 16 starters, but that group includes 10 winners and three stakes...
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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...
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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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2011 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I) winner Danedream has been retired and will be bred to Frankel in 2013. Danedream was forced to miss the 2012 Arc when her Cologne, Germany, training base was put under quarantine for swamp fever Oct. 1. The filly remains confined to the facility pending future tests. Owner Teruya Yoshida, whose family also owns top Australian...
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With today's news that Frankel's three-quarter brother Bullet Train (GB) ( TrueNicks , SRO ) is heading to Wintergreen Stallion Station for the 2013 season, it means that the siblings will begin their stud careers under very different circumstances. Frankel (by Galileo) will stand for £125,000 at Juddmonte's Banstead Manor Stud in England, while Bullet Train...
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Calumet Farm is a name that has been associated with history-making stallions since the arrival of English Derby winner Blenheim II in 1936. In that case, Calumet—for whom Blenheim II sired Triple Crown hero Whirlaway—was only part of the investment group that brought the Aga Khan's classic victor to the U.S., Blenheim II's stateside home being Claiborne Farm...
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Checking the TrueNicks website, we were somewhat shocked to find just how many new sires have already been declared for the 2013 breeding season. There is quite a lot to keep track of, so to try and ensure none get overlooked when making breeding plans for 2013, here is a very quick overview of the new sires of 2013 that are currently enrolled on the TrueNicks...
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The weekend saw New Approach (IRE) ( TrueNicks , SRO ) become the first European-based freshman sire of 2012 to be represented by a group I winner when his son Dawn Approach took the Vincent O'Brien National Stakes (Ire-I) by 4 3/4 lengths. This was the fifth win in five starts for Dawn Approach, who had taken the Coventry Stakes (Eng-II) at Royal Ascot on his...
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The 3-year-old crop of 2007 was one of the most contentious of recent years as Street Sense ( TrueNicks , SRO ), Curlin ( TrueNicks , SRO ), Hard Spun ( TrueNicks , SRO ), and Any Given Saturday ( TrueNicks , SRO ) fought it out for leadership of the division. Curlin would emerge with titles as champion 3-year-old and Horse of the Year, and he remained in training...
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It's early—make that very early—to starting reviewing the progress of the 2012 freshman sires , but remarkably at least 40 of them have already been represented by a winner. The surprise leader is Magna Graduate ( TrueNicks , SRO ), who has two winners from seven starters, including Blueeyesintherein, winner of the Debutante Stakes (gr. III). Out of a daughter...
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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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The OBS March 2-Year-Old in Training Sale offers the first chance to get a preview of juveniles by many of the year’s freshman sire crop. Two of the biggest names in that group, the classic-winning champions Big Brown ( TrueNicks , SRO ) and Curlin ( TrueNicks , SRO ) are both represented. Although he only started once at 2 – winning by 11 ¼ lengths on the turf...
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Last year didn’t end well for Airdrie Stud—how could it when you lose a top stallion like Indian Charlie ? Curious to hear how everyone at the farm is adjusting, last week I spoke with Ben Henley , who handles bloodstock services at Airdrie. Ben summed it up pretty well: “Losing Indian Charlie was a terrible blow, not only to everybody here at the farm and his...
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American Lion, a popular son of Tiznow entering stud in 2012 There was no doubt about Tiznow ( TrueNicks , SRO )’s quality as a racehorse. Horse of the Year and champion of his crop at 3, he earned honors a champion older male the following season. He won a quartet of grade I events, and certainly his career highlights were his back-to-back victories in the Breeders...
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