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The wins of Orb in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) and Princess of Sylmar in the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) further solidified the pensioned Lane's End stallion A.P. Indy as the premier sire line source of classic speed in the North American Thoroughbred. Indeed, with Normandy Invasion (by Tapit ( TrueNicks , SRO )), Dreaming of Julia, and Revolutionary (out of an A.P...
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The death of Dixie Union in July 2010 was a serious loss for commercial breeders. As a mid-priced horse (he stood for $35,000 in his final season) who was an extremely consistent stakes sire, and who also consistently got a physically attractive horse, he was almost a "must use," particularly for the market breeder. At the time, the only thing preventing Dixie...
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Sunland Park's big day turned into a benefit for Bob Baffert and Mike Pegram, who took the Sunland Park Derby (gr. III, VIDEO ) with Govenor Charlie (also bred by Pegram) and the Sunland Park Oaks ( VIDEO ) with Midnight Lucky (owned by Pegram in partnership). The duo—who both scored in track record time—are both from the first crop of the Baffert-trained/Pegram...
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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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This morning I spoke briefly with Brereton Jones of Airdrie Stud, who alerted me to a homebred filly of his with a very clever name. She is by Airdrie stallion Proud Citizen ( TrueNicks , SRO ) out of the winning Langfuhr ( TrueNicks , SRO ) mare Saramar—the exact same cross as Mr. Jones' Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) winner and champion 3-year-old filly Proud Spell...
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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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With Danedream flashing her credentials for a shot at back-to-back victories in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I) with a score in the Grosser Preis von Baden (Ger-I) at the weekend, we thought it was worth a look back at her pedigree from this article we wrote for the International Thoroughbred after her win in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes in...
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Last weekend was an exciting one for bloodstock consultant Gary Hadden ( haddenbloodstock.com ). Gary recommended the mating that produced Reckless Abandon, a son of Exchange Rate ( TrueNicks , SRO ) who won Sunday's Darley Prix Morny (Fr-I) and solidified himself as the top European 2-year-old. The colt previously took the Norfolk Stakes (Eng-II) at Royal Ascot...
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It's still very early in the season for serious juvenile competition, but there is no doubt that one of the most impressive 2-year-old fillies seen to date is Kauai Katie. Successful by 12 lengths on her debut ( video ), the Stonestreet Stable color-bearer returned to action at Saratoga in the Adirondack Stakes (gr. II), and captured the 6 1/2-furlong event by...
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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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Last week brought the news that ace sprinter/miler Caleb's Posse ( TrueNicks , SRO ) would be retiring to stand at Three Chimneys for the 2013 breeding season. Over the weekend, however, it was two Three Chimneys stallions that have departed for greener pastures, Rahy and Dynaformer, that took the headlines with a quartet of graded winners. Like the protagonists...
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It would be reasonable to suggest that while time may prove Coolmore stallion Galileo superior to his breed-shaping sire Sadler's Wells, with the exception of siring a group I winner over 4000m (which Sadler's Wells did in the form of the brilliant Yeats), right now Galileo is every bit as good a classic sire as his father. Like many elite stallions, Galileo...
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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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With two major stakes winners in the space of 10 days, champion turf horse English Channel ( TrueNicks , SRO ) has zoomed up the second season sire charts. First Strait of Dover took the near $1,000,000 Queen's Plate , the first leg of the Canadian Triple crown, and then Blueskiesnrainbows, who had already been third in the Santa Anita Derby (gr. I), led throughout...
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With all the attention currently (and deservedly) lavished on Frankel , it's probably worth giving a perspective on Brigadier Gerard, the horse that he's supplanted as miler of a lifetime. "The Brigadier" had more humble beginnings than Frankel. Bred by John Hislop (an outstanding amateur jockey and noted breeding and racing writer), was by Queen's Hussar (a...
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The Diamond Jubilee Stakes (gr. I) was probably the most eagerly awaited contest of the Royal meet, as it featured Australian wonder-mare Black Caviar, officially rated the world's number one sprinter, trying to extend her undefeated record to 22. Starting for the first time outside her native land, Black Caviar started at 1-6 to defeat her 13 opponents. She...
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The expression "pace makes the race" is a common one in the U.S., but it also sums up the feature race on the fourth day of Royal Ascot, the Coronation Stakes (gr. I), run over a mile for 3-year-old fillies. On soft ground, the 1,000 Guineas (gr. I) winner, Homecoming Queen, made the running from Samitar, who was successful in the Irish version of that race....
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Despite being run over 2 1/2 miles, the Ascot Gold Cup (gr. I) resulted in a three-way photo finish. In a Godolphin one-two, and after surviving a stewards' inquiry, the verdict went to 4-year-old Colour Vision, over Halling's son Opinion Poll, and Saddler's Rock. The defending champion of the race, Fame and Glory, made a smooth move from the rear early in the...
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New Zealand-bred So You Think (NZ) ( TrueNicks ) came to the yard of Aiden O'Brien with a ranking as the official high-weight on the International Classifications in the long-distance category, as well being highly-rated at shorter distances. However, that long-distance rating, which was earned with a brave third under top weight in the Melbourne Cup (gr. I)...
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"He's not a horse, he's a bloomin' steam engine..." We were reminded of that statement, made by the legendary jockey Fred Archer, after being run off with on the Newmarket heath by the mighty St. Simon. Frankel didn't quite bolt off on Ascot heath yesterday, although it did take Tom Queally about half a mile to pull up after the finish of the Queen Anne Stakes...
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A couple of recent observations drew our attention to E Dubai ( TrueNicks , SRO ), who we've noted before as a very good value-for-money sire. One was the upset victory last weekend of the progressive 3-year-old filly My Gi Gi in the Honeymoon Handicap (gr. II). The other was a look at the leading Beyer speed figures, where we noticed that in among some of the...
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A few weeks ago, when looking at the emerging French second year sire Turtle Bowl , we noted that he conformed to something of a recent trend in France, the appearance of a number of good sires with relatively unfashionable pedigrees, other examples that come to mind including Linamix (by Mendez), Muhtathir (by Elmaamul), and Chichicastenango (by Smadoun). The...
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With over 580,000 TrueNicks reports generated so far in 2012, it's always interesting to look at what the numbers are telling us. Logically, the number of TrueNicks reports per stallion fluctuates according to the stallion's popularity among breeders. For example, see the chart below and notice what happened on the week ending 3/25, when Tapit ( TrueNicks , SRO...
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In his first crop, sired at a relatively modest fee of $10,000, Broken Vow ( TrueNicks , SRO ) came up with a very promising colt in Private Vow. Winner of the Futurity Stakes (gr. II) and Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (gr. II), Private Vow might also have gone close in the Breeders' Cup Futurity (gr. I) had a rein not broken in the straight. A leading winter fancy...
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The most recent weekend saw another pair of grade I Kentucky Derby (gr. I) preps, with the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct and the Santa Anita Derby on the West Coast. In New York, two of the leading Derby hopefuls, Gemologist and Alpha, had to finish in the first two to be certain of having sufficient graded earnings to make the field. In the event, they achieved...
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