The People Behind TrueNicks
Alan Porter
Alan Porter has been professionally involved with Thoroughbreds for nearly 35 years. He has authored racing and breeding analyses for three decades, and has been planning matings for a quarter century.
After several years working on a stallion farm in England, Alan turned to journalism, joining Stud & Stable (later Pacemaker), a journal on which Alan worked as Deputy Editor. He then served an eight-year term as advisor for Mr. & Mrs. Bertram R. Firestone’s Catoctin Farm and Gilltown Studs before becoming a freelance pedigree advisor and journalist initially working from Long Island, N.Y., but now from Rienzi, Miss.
Over the years, Alan has written regular columns for Daily Racing Form, Thoroughbred Daily News, Pacemaker, Kieba Book, The Australian Bloodhorse Review, Bluebloods, BloodHorseNOW.com, and Owner-Breeder International, as well as contributing to numerous other publications in Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and North America.
Alan has also authored three books on racing including Patterns of Greatness and Patterns of Greatness II – The Americans (co-written with Anne Peters) and is now publisher of Owner-Breeder International.
A speaker at numerous seminars and conferences around the world, Alan has also provided pedigree commentary on camera for Fox Sports Network and for New York Times Television.
Alan Porter has consulted on breedings that have resulted in more than 150 stakes winners to date. They include four Eclipse Award winners in North America, as well as other champions and classic winners in Canada, Ireland, Germany, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, and the United Arab Emirates, and group and grade I winners in at least 14 different countries. He currently advises leading breeders and owners in the U.S., Europe, and Australia as a partner in Pedigree Consultants LLC.
Alan has been an owner and breeder in both England the U.S., and also owns an off-track Thoroughbred riding horse.
Byron Rogers
Byron Rogers comes from a strong Australian racing background, his family having raced some outstanding racehorses in that country. Byron was, understandably, bitten by the racing “bug” at an early age, attending meetings in his home town of Sydney with regularity. While in college, he worked for leading Australian trainer Les Bridge as well as a period for bookmaker Mark Read. He spent time in Europe at Coolmore Stud in Ireland and Paul Cole’s training yard at Whatcombe before traveling to Hong Kong to work with top trainers Ivan Allan and Peter Ng Bik-Kuen.
Byron spent eight years with Arrowfield Stud in Australia as Stallion Nominations and Bloodstock Manager, part of the team that developed the careers of leading sires Redoute’s Choice, Flying Spur, and Danzero. Byron played an integral part in the relocation of leading Chilean sire Hussonet as well as planning matings for leading racehorses such as Miss Finland, Mentality, Alverta, Fashions Afield, Sunday Joy, Royal Purler, Miss Bussell, El Daana, Spuruson, Keep the Faith, Mr Trickster, Primus, Not a Single Doubt, Provence, etc.
Byron extended his industry experience at Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky, where for three years he served as director of the stallion division. In 2008, he returned to Australia to accept the newly-created post of national sales manager for William Inglis and Son, Australia’s leading Thoroughbred sales company before taking up his post as the managing partner of Pedigree Consultants LLC in 2009.
Byron has written numerous articles for Owner-Breeder International, TBH MarketWatch and The Australian Bloodhorse Review. He co-authored Great Thoroughbred Sires of the World.
As a founding partner of Pedigree Consultants LLC, Byron continues to assist clients with their Thoroughbred breeding plans.
Scot Gillies
Scot Gillies is TrueNicks' product developer and coordinates interaction between Pedigree Consultants LLC, The Jockey Club Information Services, and Blood-Horse Publications.
Scot serves as Research Editor for the Blood-Horse, and his Thoroughbred pedigree analysis and breeding column, The Five-Cross Files, is a charter component of the BloodHorse.com Blog Stable.
In addition to his work with TrueNicks and The Blood-Horse, Scot runs Mare Croft, a small Thoroughbred broodmare boarding operation in Lexington.
Ian Tapp
Ian Tapp is Sales and Marketing Manager for TrueNicks and is the primary point of contact for subscribing farms and customers of the TrueNicks product line.
Ian is a graduate of the Darley Flying Start, an international training program specializing in Thoroughbred breeding and racing sponsored by Sheikh Mohammed. During this program, Ian worked on stud farms and racetracks in Ireland, England, Kentucky, Australia, and Dubai. Ian is an honors graduate of the University of Arizona’s Race Track Industry Program and spent summers working for trainer Todd Pletcher.
Blood-Horse Publications
Blood-Horse Publications is a multimedia publishing company that traces its roots to 1916. Its flagship publication, The Blood-Horse, is the leading weekly Thoroughbred racing and breeding news and information magazine.
In addition, Blood-Horse Publications issues the award-winning monthly magazine The Horse: Your Guide To Equine Health Care, recipient of the 2005 American Horse Publications General Excellence Award; TBH MarketWatch, a newsletter for Thoroughbred investors and recipient of the prestigious Awards for Publication Excellence (APEX) for 2006 and 2005; the official Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup souvenir magazines; Auction Edge; and Keeneland magazine.
Blood-Horse Publications also releases equine-related books and videos under the Eclipse Press banner, and operates a family of award-winning Web sites including Bloodhorse.com, TheHorse.com, StallionRegister.com, and ExclusivelyEquine.com, the official store of Blood-Horse Publications.