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Even the most forgiving critic would have to agree that the iron horse Giant’s Causeway has proven a disappointment in his stud career in Australia. Serving some outstanding matrons at his base at Coolmore Australia, his four seasons at stud there resulted in 256 foals of racing age for just 6 stakes winners to date, a far cry from his ...

While most second-season colts with classic hopes are just taking their first steps on the Triple Crown Trail, one possible candidate is already a Derby winner. That horse is the remarkable Tomcito. A $7,500 Keeneland September yearling purchase, Tomcito was shipped to Peru where, despite being up to six months younger than his Southern Hemisphere ...

We were recently investigating the pedigree of the up-and-coming juvenile Vincent Mangano (NZ), who is by No Excuse Needed (GB) (by Machiavellian) out of a mare by Housebuster. Based on the Machiavellian/Blushing Groom (FR) cross, this resulted in a TrueNicks rating of D. Out of curiosity, we looked at the mating on another nicking system and ...

A few days ago we answered a a query about the Dynaformer/Mr. Prospector cross. The crux of the question was why a mating of a son of Dynaformer with a Mr. Prospector-line mare would rate differently (in this case higher) than Dynaformer himself with the same mares. Our answer was that overall, Dynaformer (TrueNicks, SRO) and his stallion sons had ...

On a weekend which saw 85% of the stakes winners scoring B or above TrueNicks scores, there were several interesting pedigrees last week that are worth a quick mention. The Santa Monica Handicap (gr. I) was won by Intangaroo (by Orientate out of a mare by the Fappiano stallion Tasso), who followed 2007 Alabama Stakes (gr. I) heroine Lady Joanne ...

Darley announced this week that two-time champion Ashado, whose $9-million price at Keeneland's November sale in 2005 was then a record for a broodmare or broodmare prospect sold at public auction, will be bred this year to Street Cry (IRE) (TrueNicks, SRO) (a stallion who is subscribed to TrueNicks complimentary hypothetical mating ...

Continuing on yesterday's search for the best potential matches for recently-retired Australian sprint star Gold Edition (AUS)... Broadening our scope to look to other parts of the world raises a number of intriguing prospects. Starting in the U.S., we have Street Cry (IRE) (TrueNicks, SRO), the Machiavellian son who has made such a ...

The retirement of the brilliant sprint filly Gold Edition (AUS) engendered some speculation in Australia as to what might be her ideal mate, especially as she is by a son of Danehill, which naturally rules out some of Australia's most illustrious sires. With the help of the mating tool TrueNicks, we were able to indulge in some speculation about ...

We had an interesting inquiry from a reader who used TrueNicks to look at a Carson City mare with both Dynaformer (TrueNicks, SRO) and his newly-retired grade I winning son, Purim (TrueNicks, SRO) (Three Chimneys, which stands Dynaformer, and Richland Hills, which stands Purim, provide complimentary hypothetical matings for these ...

U.S. and European invaders pointing toward the Dubai World Cup (UAE-I) look as if they will have a tough home-trained opponent to overcome in the shape of Asiatic Boy. Bred in Argentina, the son of Not For Sale won a maiden in his native country and finished second to the Hussonet colt, Husson, in the Gran Criterium (Arg-I). Following that effort, ...