Star Power - by Dan Liebman

re: Star Power - by Dan Liebman

ILOVETOGA — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 01:41:02 GMT

Love the article!! Although I am not well versed with the older sires of the past (they were fantastic race horses) I am just waiting to see who puts up the $$$ for a Ghostzapper- Ashado foal!! To me that would make for an unstoppable race horse!! You heard it here folks. If someone out there reads this they will say "Huh, that would be an interesting investment!" It's only a dream though!

re: Star Power - by Dan Liebman

Neon Green — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:25:59 GMT

The source of the data is the big concern. I have a report on a broodmare with two foals by the same stallion in back to back years. The report I bought shows her total number of foals as one. Take the stats with a grain of salt.

re: Star Power - by Dan Liebman

No_Class — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:27:58 GMT

One of my favourite all-time sires/racehorses is the N.Dancer son, Nijinsky II. Brilliance.

www.canadianhorseracinghalloffame.com/.../Nijinsky_II.html

re: Star Power - by Dan Liebman

Whatever — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:37:38 GMT

Get those Storm Cat babies while they're hot.

re: Star Power - by Dan Liebman

Racefan66 — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:29:23 GMT

Are there any studies/articles/books out there that look at the genetic diversity of the current pool of racehorses and breeding stallions? I'm curious about the percentages of breeding stallions and percentages of current/recent Gr I and Gr II racing stock that are descended from the various male lines. I've seen a few articles about dwindling genetic diversity and the fact that all of the quality stallions you discuss are male-line descendants from Northern Dancer got me interested.

re: Star Power - by Dan Liebman

Chris — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:16:30 GMT

Just wanted to add that as cool as I think that Storm Cat was...only having 13% S.W.'s should be another sign of how strange of a time it is in thoroughbred racing.

I mean that, for all of the possibly deserved hype and $500,000 stud fees, 13% is a pretty low percentage when compared to 2 of the all-time greats in Bold Ruler and Northern Dancer both at 23% S.W.'s.

What's that saying about the direction of our breed's success ???

And is there another stallion from history who had a higher percentage than B.R. and N.D. ???

re: Star Power - by Dan Liebman

Chris — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:54:25 GMT

I agree with you about the Percentage of S.W.'s being the main way to track a stallion's success. I think that's what most breeders look for when choosing a sire for their mare. Especially since you can have a royally bred sire who might be a more perfect match for your mare, but whose really a dud as a stud. Then the breeding behind him doesn't even matter.

But, I do have 1 question about percentages for you.

Why is it in the Stallion Register that the percentage of Winners from a sire is determined from the # of Foals and not from the # of Starters ???

I mean we know that the # of Starters from Foals is needed that way as a starting point. But, wouldn't it be more correct in using a percentage of Winners from Starters instead of from Foals ???

Seems kind of backwards in the current way.

Just curious.

re: Star Power - by Dan Liebman

Laura — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:11:32 GMT

Storm Cat has been amazing and has amassed some impressive records--the Keeneland September sale should be very interesting...!

re: Star Power - by Dan Liebman

Wanda — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:30:35 GMT

What's amazing about Northern Dancer and Storm Cat was that both would not have been as sucessful without the vision of their owners. E.P. Taylor could not get his reserve of 25 thou and so kept him to race and breed. and Mr. Young stood a young stallion with no huge race record and supported him with mares he bought. They both had the money behind them to take that chance, not like today where they get in and get out without any thought to improving the breed.