TrueNicks : Products, Announcements

TrueNicks.com Now Serving Classic & Enhanced Reports

Ian Tapp — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Reports can be ordered for any horse or hypothetical mating....(read more)

Announcing the All New Key Ancestors Report

Ian Tapp — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 16:00:00 GMT

Report considers your mare's entire pedigree (all male and female ancestors) and identifies the key ancestors to seek out or avoid in the pedigrees of stallions in prospective matings....(read more)

TrueNicks Broodmare Reports Now a Triple Threat

Alan Porter — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:00:00 GMT

New broodmare reports available to help breeders research mating decisions....(read more)

TrueNicks Celebrates 4 Years

Ian Tapp — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:45:00 GMT

On our 4th anniversary, we take a look back at milestones and our favorite blogs....(read more)

TrueNicks Gets Enhanced!

Ian Tapp — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 17:00:00 GMT

We've launched a new, comprehensive nicking report....(read more)

Updated Cross Notations for TrueNicks

Ian Tapp — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:00:00 GMT

Reports now include more descriptive text for the rated cross....(read more)

TrueNicks Launches Stallion Affinity Report

Alan Porter 1 — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:45:00 GMT

Powerful new report allows stallion mangers to quickly isolate the most productive and promising broodmare lines for their stallions....(read more)

Broodmare Analysis Report Unveiled

sgillies — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:36:00 GMT

The new Broodmare Analysis Report provides an efficient and comprehensive way to analyze the crosses of multiple mares against multiple stallions. ...(read more)

TrueNicks Joins MarketWatch and Owner-Breeder

admin — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:07:00 GMT

Alan Porter recently commented on the newly-announced merger of powerhouse Thoroughbred industry newsletters Owner-Breeder International and TBH MarketWatch.

"Having been publisher of Owner-Breeder International for the last seven years, I'm delighted by the recent merger of the publication with MarketWatch. The move will both bring the work of OBI's current stable of writers to a wider audience, and give OBI subscribers the opportunity to enjoy the unique in-depth statistical analysis that has been a hallmark of MarketWatch."

There are several other new benefits for subscribers of the merged publication. Readers will have the informative Data Digest Select, a market update and guide to the auction that is produced for dozens of sales each year, delivered direct to their e-mail boxes.

They will also receive a pedigree e-newsletter featuring the latest entries from the TrueNicks and The Five-Cross Files blogs plus weekly analysis from pedigree experts Alan Porter and Avalyn Hunter.

Alan was also eager to point out that "through the association with TrueNicks, this valuable resource will also contain a monthly stakes winners report, complete with family connections and TrueNicks ratings. This feature is unique to the e-newsletter, which will be the only publication to supply nick ratings for a comprehensive report of stakes winners worldwide."

Subscribers can also look forward to TrueNicks ratings starting to appearing in wide range of other articles, reports and analysis in the combined MarketWatch/OBI publication.

Moving Houses... And More

admin — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:07:00 GMT

In the upcoming months, TrueNicks has a number of innovations and new products to unveil.

Some will be quite visible while the others more subtle. One of the changes in the latter category will be the migration of this site in a couple of days from the current standalone platform you see today onto the powerful Blood-Horse Community Server where the blog aspect of the site will integrate with other blogs that are produced there. This will mean that the postings made on this site by Alan, Byron, and the growing team at TrueNicks will reach a much wider audience of industry participants than it currently does. BloodHorse.com traffic averages over 150,000 unique visitors per month, with a current peak topping 285,000 unique viewers and an interesting posting within the blog stable on BloodHorse.com has already racked up close to 20,000 page views. That is correct: one post from one blog author has already counted up 19,983 individual views to be precise. Moving the site to the community server has some further benefits. It will allow you, our readers, to make comments on the posts that we make and share these posts with other like-minded individuals. While these will be moderated (mainly to stop spam!) we would love to hear your thoughts on what we post.

The blog is one of the more active parts of our Web site, but it is not the entire focus of the site. Further down the track we are looking at launching a pedigree newsletter which will include the best from this site and other pedigree information sources as well as severalTrueNicks broodmare and stallion products that are being developed in response to demand from our customers.

We are building these products around you, our readers - and (we hope) customers - so if you have any feedback or ideas please don't hesitate to contact us.

A New Look for TrueNicks Reports

admin — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:02:00 GMT

As part of the TrueNicks commitment to ongoing improvement of our product line, we are pleased to unveil a new look for the basic Hypothetical Mating and Named Foal reports (click on the report names to see samples).

The new presentation is designed to be easier to read and interpret, and includes all the same features that users have found on the reports previously.

So, what has changed?

First, you'll notice that the TrueNicks letter grade and variant scores are more prominent. The location in the upper corner of the report assures that the rating is visible on your browser without having to scroll.

Second, the name of the horse (for Named Foal reports) or the sire-dam (for Hypothetical Mating reports) is clearly noted at the top of the report, along with the sire line / broodmare sire line cross used for the report.

Third, the breeder's name and location are included for all Named Foal reports, an enhancement that was suggested by our users.

Fourth, we've changed the notation for listed stakes races from (LR) to (L) in the listing of "Best Horses Bred on This Cross."

If you'd like to compare the reports, you can view the previous formats: view the Hypothetical Mating (older format) or the Named Foal (older format) reports.

The sample reports again feature popular filly Rags to Riches as the named horse, and a Street Sense-Rags to Riches cross for the hypothetical match. You might find it interesting to note the minor changes in variant scores in the five weeks since the previous samples were run. As you can see, the overall rating was unaffected in both cases. Why is this important? It confirms that TrueNicks ratings are always based on the most recent information, and that additional success (or lack thereof) of a given sire line / broodmare sire line cross will affect the ratings. Importantly, though, once a nick rating has been established, new foals bred on the same cross tend to validate the rating over time. The date stamp on the upper right corner of the report lets you know that the rating you're reviewing was calculated with the most recently available data.

Keeneland January Preview: Day Seven

admin — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 10:01:00 GMT

Alan Porter has been asked to preview each day of the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale. His comments appear on BloodHorseNOW.com, including a special page in that publication’s daily PDF newsletter, which is distributed each day at the salegrounds.

As part of Alan’s notes, he has provided a Top 10 list of the short yearlings offered each day, and another Top 10 list of the sale’s “carried foals”–all according to their TrueNicks variant score.

Here’s a free preview: Keeneland January: Day Seven.

Check in each day for the most current Top 10 lists and commentary.

Keeneland January Preview: Day Six

admin — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 10:01:00 GMT

Alan's Day Six preview: Keeneland January: Day Six

Keeneland January Preview: Day Five

admin — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:01:00 GMT

Alan's Day Five preview: Keeneland January: Day Five

Keeneland January Preview: Day Four

admin — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:01:00 GMT

Alan's Day Four preview: Keeneland January: Day Four

Keeneland January Preview: Day Three

admin — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:01:00 GMT

Alan's Day Three preview: Keeneland January: Day Three

Keeneland January Preview: Day Two

admin — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 13:01:00 GMT

Alan's Day Two preview: Keeneland January: Day Two

Keeneland January Preview: Day One

admin — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 13:01:00 GMT

Alan's Day One preview: Keeneland January: Day One

In the Beginning

admin — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 21:12:00 GMT

by Alan Porter

The launch of TrueNicks represents the completion of a full circle regarding my involvement in the Thoroughbred industry.

By age 19 I had completed three years of “hands on” experience working at an English stud farm. Around that time, the English magazine Stud & Stable published an article with a grid showing sire line crosses and the percentage of stakes winners each cross had produced that year. As a student of statistics, it struck me that the calculations of these figures made no allowances for opportunity. In those days it would have been nearly impossible to track down all the foals that made up the population, so I did what seemed to be the next best thing. I dug out a copy of The Register of Thoroughbred Stallions – at that stage it would have included just about every sire of consequence in England and Ireland – and counted up how many stallions were recorded and from there calculated the likely percentage of the population represented by each sire line, taking into account hypothetical opportunity.

Young and brazen, I mailed off my conclusions to the magazine along with a "corrected" version of their grid. Fortunately for me, the criticism was generously received and the letter led to a nine-year job and an association with the company that has continued on to the present day.

Male line crosses or “nicks” have since become a big business, but it has always been in my mind that they have never really been done as they should. Nicks that are based on hypothetical opportunity never accurately reflect what has taken place in reality. Unfortunately, to create nicks that truly reflect opportunity requires knowing all the horses bred on the cross, and for that a comprehensive--and very large--database is required.

In association with Byron Rogers, and partnering with The Blood-Horse magazine, my life's project started to get off the ground. Making use of the historical records of The Jockey Club, the TrueNicks system was born during three years of intensive testing and development. Having waited 30 years, it is immensely satisfying to have been involved in the creation of what I feel is destined to become the new industry standard for measuring nicks and sire line crosses. And of course, with The Jockey Club and The Blood-Horse--the official publication of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association--involved, TrueNicks is very much the industry’s nicking system.

While the TrueNicks rating completes a personal journey, it will also become the departure point for new expeditions, as the next months and years see the introduction of a complete suite of exciting new products.