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There is no doubt about who is the early sensation amongst European freshman sires. One Cool Cat has already sired 10 individual winners, but more importantly, has three individual black type winners. His daughter Knavesmire captured the Hilary Needler Trophy at Redcar. Then the colt Icesolator captured the National Stakes at Sandown Park. Finally, at the weekend...
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One stallion that has been on the move, both physically and in terms of his stud fee, is Exchange Rate ( TrueNicks , SRO ). The son of Danzig - Sterling Pound (by Seeking the Gold) retired to Padua Stables in Ocala, Fla., where he stood for as little as $7,500. However, after a flying start, the gray has earned a move to Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Ky., where...
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Vision d'Etat retained his unbeaten record with a head victory in the Prix du Jockey-Club - French Derby (gr. I). Vision d'Etat has a pedigree that is obscure by almost any standard. Chichicastenango - the sire of Vision d'Etat - was one of only two stakes winners for his sire, Smadoun. A son of Kaldoun (by Caro), Smadoun started 63 times over five years, and...
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With the ink barely dry on the announcement of their sire's retirement from active stud duty, the race to assume the mantle of rightful heir to the great Sadler's Wells in European breeding and racing is well and truly underway. With the classic winner Cima de Triomphe (IRE) ( A++ TrueNicks rated) and the classic contenders New Approach (IRE)( A++ ), Leo's Starlet...
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Zenyatta (Street Cry (IRE) - Vertigineux, by Kris S.) further enhanced the burgeoning reputation of her sire on Saturday with a victory in the Apple Blossom Handicap (gr. I). The undefeated 4-year-old follows Street Sense ( TrueNicks , SRO ), Tomcito (a Peruvian Derby winner, who was third in last week's Florida Derby (gr. I) on his U.S. debut), Majestic Roi...
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Previously in this blog we had commented about the strange fact that despite standing at the same farm in Australia, Giant's Causeway never received as many Danehill mares as one would have thought reasonable. By our count, Giant's Causeway has only 16 named foals out of Danehill mares, a stunning number when you consider that Giant's Causeway stood at a high...
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Ashford Stud sire Grand Slam lived up to his name over the Easter weekend with three stakes winners in three days. On March 21, French-raced and Kentucky-bred 3-year-old War Officer earned a first stakes win by capturing the Prix Montenica at Deauville. An A++ TrueNicks rated horse, War Officer is out of the Storm Cat mare Wonder Woman. The next day, and an ocean...
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Cometh the hour, cometh the man... or so the saying goes and in Australia it seems that the hour is arriving for a stallion or sire line to stand up and be counted when it comes to the next leading sire. With a broodmare population that, at least from a commercial aspect, is becoming laden with Danzig and his prolific son Danehill, it is fast becoming a case...
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In a previous post , Alan discussed the success of Honour Devil, a son of shuttle sire Honour and Glory out of a Fitzcarraldo (ARG) mare, and noted that it was part of a broader cross that involved another son of Relaunch in Slew Gin Fizz. On Saturday, the Relaunch/Fitzcarraldo cross, already a TrueNicks A+ rating, came up with its first grade I winner in the...
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Users of TrueNicks, and for that matter any pedigree program, will have already seen a number of examples where the quality of the immediate ancestors in a pedigree can have an impact on the genetic affinity, or lack thereof, that seems to be present. A good example of this is the royally-bred 2-year-old filly Merlene de Lago (AUS), who made a sparkling debut...
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Songandaprayer's ( TrueNicks , SRO ) first crop, sired relatively inexpensively in Florida, made a considerable impact, producing six stakes winners headed by the graded scorers Songster, What A Song, He's Got Grit, and Praying For Cash. That first crop was impressive enough as yearlings that it triggered a move from Florida to Walmac in Kentucky, where he's...
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After a slightly hesitant start to his stud career, champion older horse Lemon Drop Kid has rebounded to establish himself as a very solid racehorse sire. With his first crop having just turned 6, he has 23 stakes winners, eight of them graded and three grade I. He enjoyed a good weekend, with millionaire Cosmonaut winning the Tampa Bay Stakes and Candy Ball...
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Mineshaft and his family were major winners over the Feb. 24-25 weekend. On Saturday, Little Belle took the Busher Stakes at Aqueduct. A daughter of A.P. Indy, she is out of Dubai Belle, a Mr. Prospector mare who is three-parts sister to Prospectors Delite, the dam of Mineshaft (Dubai Belle is by Mr. Prospector out of Flagbird, a grade I winning half sister to...
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We don't hear too much from the Buckpasser sire line these days, the great son of Tom Fool having been a much better broodmare sire than sire of sires. The last 10 days, however, gave us three stakes winners, all from the Buckaroo branch. The Gulfstream Park Turf Stakes (gr. I) went to Einstein (BRZ), a son of Spend a Buck, who sired other U.S. grade I winners...
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One stallion who has been enjoying a great February is More Than Ready ( TrueNicks , SRO ). In the U.S., last week brought stakes wins for Ruff and Ready (who routed the opposition in the Shotintheheart Stakes at Gulfstream on Valentine's Day) and Ready for Fortune (winner of the Dearly Precious Stakes at Aqueduct three days later). Ruff and Ready, out of a mare...
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The very promising start made by the first crop of Harlan's Holiday gained further momentum on Monday, when the undefeated Denis of Cork took the Southwest Stakes (gr. III). Denis of Cork is the sixth stakes winner for Harlan's Holiday, and he follows Hollywood Park's Cashcall Futurity (gr. I) victor Into Mischief, and Sorrento Stakes (gr. III) winner Tasha's...
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Here's a mating which we think represents a first. When Ingrid the Gambler (Johannesburg - Pretty Livia, by Forest Wildcat) took the Wishing Well II Handicap Feb. 10, she became what is almost certainly the first stakes winner (in fact, the first stakes horse) by a Storm Cat-line stallion out of a Storm Cat-line mare. As students of pedigree know, the cross of...
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In a race that saw highly-rated ex-U.S. runners Etched and Numaany finish fourth and fifth, the Honour and Glory colt Honour Devil maintained an undefeated record with a half-length win in the Gulf News UAE Two Thousand Guineas (UAE-III). Foaled in Argentina, Honour Devil won his sole start in his native country in 2006, and in his only other career outing, he...
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Even though the race took place at the "Santa Anita speedway," Bob Black Jack's Sunshine Millions Dash splits of :20.92 and :42.46, which led to a final time of 1:06.53-the quickest ever run on a track other than turf-more than likely makes him "the fastest horse whose pedigree you have never heard of." We have to admit the name of the sire, Stormy Jack, left...
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The 6-year-old Giant’s Causeway horse Angliana, who captured his first stakes with a win in last week's Aqueduct Handicap, has a very clever pedigree pattern. Out of the graded stakes winning Jade Hunter mare Pratella, he earns an A TrueNicks score on the basis of the extremely successful Giant's Causeway/Mr. Prospector cross-one that has also produced grade...
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By Louis Quatorze - a horse very capable of getting a top-class runner, but not the most consistent stallion in the world - out of a South American mare, Repent ( TrueNicks , SRO ) was somewhat difficult stallion to evaluate when he retired to stud in Florida for the 2004 breeding season. The class which saw him win four graded stakes at 2 and 3, and finish second...
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One nick that made a considerable advance at the weekend was that of Awesome Again ( TrueNicks , SRO ) with mares by Seattle Slew and his sons. The broad Deputy Minister/Seattle Slew cross has proved to be a productive one, with grade I winners including Pool Land, Hello Seattle, and Mayo On the Side. Until this weekend, however, it had had only a relatively...
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While the Golden Slipper Stakes (Aus-I) might not mean much to the average North American Thoroughbred breeder, with its AUS$3.5 million purse-which is just on US$3 million today-it is in fact the world's richest race for 2-year-olds. Run at 1200m (about 6f) the Golden Slipper has a long storied history as a race that shapes the Australian breed with Australian...
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As good-looking and talented as he was, Siphon (BRZ) presented something of a puzzle for breeders when he retired to stud. The Brazilian-bred winner of over $3.1 million was by Itajara (BRZ), a son of the French-bred Felicio, from a male line that went back to the storied St. Simon,via the great French sire, Sicambre (FR), and out of a mare by Kublai Khan, with...
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A nick showing great promise that has only emerged very recently is that of Mr. Greeley with Storm Cat-line mares. This is a version of the Gone West/Storm Cat cross that produced champion sprinter Speightstown ( TrueNicks , SRO ), and might be most notable for duplicating Secretariat, the broodmare sire of both Gone West and Storm Cat. For Mr. Greeley, the first...
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