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Given that the common perception of U.S. commercial breeding would be that the most prized performer is one that is at its best between seven and nine furlongs on dirt, it might be considered something of a paradox that the title of 2013 leading sire came down to a hard-fought battle between a champion turf horse and a champion sprinter. The lead ...

Now you see them, now you don't. There is nothing like the cycles of the racing and breeding industry to make one feel as if the water is careening, rather than flowing under the bridge, and it seems like only yesterday that some of the stars of the first crop of covering sires represented at the November sales—such as champions Frankel, Americain ...

We've always thought that having the right stallion for the prevailing environment is a major key to success, and that's well illustrated by Cause to Believe, who is tearing it up in British Columbia this year. Cause to Believe was represented by only nine first-crop foals in 2010, but seven of them have reached the track and all seven are ...

Hot on the heels of a Goffs Orby sale that saw an 11.8% increase in average, this week sees England's premier yearling auction, the Tattersalls October yearling sale. With that in mind, we thought we'd take the opportunity to review the European sires that have their first yearlings on offer in Book 1, which runs from October 8-10. We probably ...

Although we see relatively few runners from South Africa in the U.S. or Europe, the performances of horses from that country in the Dubai World Cup (UAE-I) meet and in major preps at Meydan have left no doubt that South Africa can produce world-class runners. South African stallion masters have gathered an intriguing and eclectic group of sires, ...

One can't look at the leading Australian and New Zealand freshman sire lists for 2012-13 without an intense sense of loss over Northern Meteor, who died as a result of a colic attack on the very eve of the day that would see him crowned champion freshman sire. Nicknamed ''racing's Usain Bolt'' for his brilliant sprinting performances, the son of ...

The roster of TrueNicks stallions includes some outstanding performers from around the globe, and the latest of these is Brazilian superstar Plenty of Kicks (BRZ) (TrueNicks), who retires to Haras San Francesco for the 2013 breeding season. Plenty of Kicks finished second over seven furlongs on his debut but was to go undefeated in seven ...

Another Keeneland September sale, and another tweaked format. This year, the first catalog encompasses the first four days of the sale, with the whole catalog being of hypothetically relatively even merit and sorted alphabetically by dam as one continuous group. With only 875 cataloged, each session has just over 200 yearlings, which means ...

It goes without saying that it takes an exceptional individual to win Eclipse Awards in three successive years. Among fillies and mares, the feat has only been achieved twice, by Zenyatta (2008-10) and Azeri (2002-04), although Susan's Girl was champion 3-year-old filly of 1972 and then champion older mare in 1973 and 1975. Looking back to the ...

While Redoute's Choice (AUS) (TrueNicks,SRO) has rapidly stamped himself as a sire of sires, his fellow Danehill son and erstwhile stud companion Flying Spur has been awaiting an heir. It now appears as if one may arrived in the shape of Casino Prince (AUS) (TrueNicks), who heads the Australia second-season sires list. He already has a star in the ...