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This week we have a guest post from Michelle Kinane ( @MichelleKinane ) on the wonderful Jacobs family stallion Silvano. Michelle is a young pedigree enthusiast based in Ireland and has her own blog which can be found here . Photo: Maine Chance Farms Silvano (Lomitas—Spirit of Eagles, by Beau's Eagle) Owned and bred by Dr. Andreas Jacobs' Gestüt Fährhof, Silvano...
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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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It's no secret that the late German stallion Monsun, who died last September at the age 22, was an outstanding sire. However, even by his standards, he had exceptional day May 26, with 5-year-old Maxios taking the Prix d'Ispahan (Fr-I) and 3-year-old filly Silasol capturing the Prix Saint-Alary (Fr-I), both at Longchamp; and in Milan on the same afternoon, Charity...
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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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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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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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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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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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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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Proud Citizen Photo: Airdrie I well recall in the summer of 2002, taking what was then the short drive to Belmont Park, to take a look at Proud Citizen ( TrueNicks , SRO ) on behalf of a friend who was managing a prominent Kentucky stallion farm. At the time, Proud Citizen was recuperating from an injury suffered in the Belmont Stakes (gr. I)—a condylar fracture...
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Saint Ballado, 1989-2002 There was a moment when the Hail to Reason line through Halo threatened to establish itself as the “third force” in U.S. breeding (behind the inevitable Mr. Prospector and Northern Dancer). Of course we still have the ultra-consistent Southern Halo son More Than Ready ( TrueNicks , SRO ) (whose own son Ready's Image ( TrueNicks , SRO...
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Incredibly, 2011 was the first time in history that all three Triple Crown races were won by horses with double-digit odds, but longshot or not, siring a classic winner is an achievement not to be taken lightly, especially for a young sire. The chart below shows longshot (10-1 or longer) classic winners since 2000 and the resulting effect on their sires' fees...
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It wasn't exactly the best of times or the worst of times, but there were some strange and contradictory contrasts in the two English 1½ mile classics, the Oaks and Derby (both gr. I). In the Oaks, the winner – by a sprinter/miler, out of a mare by a sprinter – was ridden for stamina, while the Derby saw a son of a French Derby winner out of a mare by a French...
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Although he sired champion 2-year-old filly Folklore in his first crop, two-time Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) hero Tiznow ( TrueNicks , SRO ) is generally associated with horses who distinguish themselves in route events, such as Well Armed, Colonel John ( TrueNicks , SRO ), Bullsbay ( TrueNicks , SRO ), Da' Tara, Tizdejavu ( TrueNicks , SRO ), and Informed...
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Having come within a furlong of stealing the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) off very slow early fractions, Shackleford succeeded in capturing the Preakness Stakes (gr. I, video below) after what appeared to be a suicidal first quarter. We’d noted that the victory of the turf-bred Animal Kingdom in the Derby came in a contest which was actually run like a turf race, with...
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Last week was a major one for America's top sires Distorted Humor ( TrueNicks , SRO ) and Giant's Causeway ( TrueNicks , SRO ). The elite pair joined the list of stallions to sire 100 stakes winners, a select group that includes only four other active stallions: Zabeel, Danehill Dancer, Dynaformer ( TrueNicks , SRO ), and Montjeu. The victory of Savvy Supreme...
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