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For Zenyatta's eventual first year in the breeding shed, which of these high-profile, proven Kentucky stallions would you select? Explain your choice in the comments section below. Healthy debates are encouraged. Which stallion would you choose for Zenyatta?customer surveys Below are links to TrueNicks reports for each hypothetical ...

Believe it or not, guys and gals, there are other Breeders' Cup related things we can talk besides Rachel vs. Zenyatta (although no matter what the new topic is I'm certain it will inevitably come back to that). There are other divisions out there shaping up nicely, including the intriguing older turf females, which has three legitimate ...

When Newsells Park Stud sent Dahlia’s Krissy, a stakes-placed Kris S. mare out of a stakes-placed daughter of the great runner and producer Dahlia to the court of Giant's Causeway (TrueNicks,SRO), we doubt that they expected the resulting foal would start his career at four in a bumper (a National Hunt Flat race, run under jump rules, but without ...

We are often asked why we assign a No Rating designation to some crosses. Well, it's quite simply that sometimes the most honest answer to a question is “We don't know – there isn’t enough evidence to give a verdict.'' Click for Conveyance's pedigree, an example of a No Rating. In assessing a cross, the TrueNicks algorithm tries to calculate a ...

By Laura Pugh, of Horsin' Around Well, last blog certainly drew a crowd; let’s see what kind of reviews I get for this one.For this blog I have several things I would like to discuss, so sit back and please try and keep awake. First on the list is the creation of teams. This topic will tie into the rest as the post continues. Every sport has ...

By William Shanklin  Pari-mutuel wagering on U.S. horse racing peaked in 2003 and has been stagnant or deteriorating ever since, with precipitous drops during the economic slowdown of 2008 and 2009. In 2009 pari-mutuel wagering fell by 9.8%, compared with a 5.5% dip for casino gaming. Though the rate of decline has slowed in 2010, the decay ...

The big race on Wednesday, the ten-furlong Prince of Wales’s Stakes (gr. I), saw a Juddmonte one-two, as Byword scored from Twice Over. The result paid a further compliment to Tuesday’s Queen Anne Stakes (gr. I) heroine, Goldikova, who had defeated Byword by a ½ length in the Prix d’Ispahan (gr. I) on her seasonal reappearance. Byword (TrueNicks ...

Since it looks like Blame has edged Quality Road and Battle Plan in our Stallion Pedigree Poll, let's take a look back at Special, Blame's influential third dam. Special (Forli - Thong, by Nantallah) was a full sister to Irish and English Champion Thatch. She made only one racetrack appearance (chart below). On February 24, 1972, at Santa Anita ...

The first day of the Royal Ascot meeting featured five stakes events, four group, and three group I. The highlights were the Queen Anne Stakes (gr. I) for older horses on the straight mile, and the St. James’s Palace Stakes (gr. I) – which our colleague Bill Oppenheim has appropriately called the “European 2,000 Guineas” – for three-year-olds on ...

Four and a half months. Is there any possible way we can make it through that length of time with the nation's top older horses healthy and still racing? Given the fragility of today's Thoroughbreds and the almighty dollar being the ultimate factor in all decisions, the chances of that happening is iffy at best. But if the horse racing Gods let ...