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It's no secret that Seattle Slew and Mr. Prospector have been combining well in pedigrees for a considerable amount of time (and probably no coincidence that both go tail-female to the Myrtlewood branch of the family of the great tap-root mare Frizette, who is incidentally doubled in Seattle Slew's granddam). One of the most successful versions ...

While Day One at Royal Ascot was dominated by Mr. Prospector-line horses, Day Two was a Danzig day, that line capturing four of the five stakes events on offer. First off the mark was Aqlaam (Oasis Dream - Bourbonella, by Rainbow Quest), who was making only the third start of his career when capturing the seven-furlong Jersey Stakes (Eng-III). ...

As a grandson of Mr. Prospector, Distorted Humor (TrueNicks, SRO) has been given plenty of opportunity with Northern Dancer-line mares, even though he himself is out of a mare by Northern Dancer son Danzig. Some versions have proved better than others, but overall, the broad Distorted Humor/Northern Dancer cross gets a TrueNicks rating of C+ and ...

The first day of the Royal Ascot meeting produced some remarkably international results. The opening race - the Queen Anne Stakes (Eng-I) for 4-year-olds and up over a mile - saw Australian-foaled Haradasun narrowly get the better of last year's classic fillies Darjina (by Zamindar) and Finsceal Beo (by Mr. Greeley). Haradasun, the Australia's ...

Why do racing fans coalesce around one horse and not another? Favorability can be as simple as a catchy name (Smarty Jones) or backing an underdog (Funny Cide). Unfavorability, since horses themselves don’t usually rub us the wrong way, is tied to the animal’s human connections.Nobody should question Big Brown's talent. Yet, other than vying for ...

There is no doubt about who is the early sensation amongst European freshman sires. One Cool Cat has already sired 10 individual winners, but more importantly, has three individual black type winners. His daughter Knavesmire captured the Hilary Needler Trophy at Redcar. Then the colt Icesolator captured the National Stakes at Sandown Park. ...

One stallion that has been on the move, both physically and in terms of his stud fee, is Exchange Rate (TrueNicks, SRO). The son of Danzig - Sterling Pound (by Seeking the Gold) retired to Padua Stables in Ocala, Fla., where he stood for as little as $7,500. However, after a flying start, the gray has earned a move to Three Chimneys Farm in ...

It's just 35 years since Mill Reef stamped himself as one of the best horses to race in Europe during the 20th century. Paul Mellon's son of Never Bend went on to prove himself an outstanding sire, too, so it's something of a surprise to find that his male line is already in danger of extinction. Recent weeks, however, have indicated that the line ...

Japanese racing seems to have a new star in the shape of Deep Sky, who followed up his win in the NKH Mile Cup (Jap-I), by producing a blistering finish to land the Japanese Derby.Deep Sky is by Agnes Tachyon. A son of the almost inevitable Sunday Silence, Agnes Tachyon scored his most important triumph in the Japanese Two Thousand Guineas (gr. ...

Vision d'Etat retained his unbeaten record with a head victory in the Prix du Jockey-Club - French Derby (gr. I). Vision d'Etat has a pedigree that is obscure by almost any standard. Chichicastenango - the sire of Vision d'Etat - was one of only two stakes winners for his sire, Smadoun. A son of Kaldoun (by Caro), Smadoun started 63 times over ...