Russell asks : Why are the ratings found in the Stallion Affinity Report not the same as the ratings obtained by running an individual mating? As an example, Storm Cat over Yonaguska gets a TrueNicks rating of A+ according to the sample affinity report shown for Storm Cat. I ran my Yonaguska mare, Bella...

With close to 500 responses, the TrueNicks community overwhelmingly picked Horse of the Year Curlin to top the potential matings for super mare Rachel Alexandra. Some would say that it was an unsurprising result given the ownership of the two horses, but it was a very competitive voting process and there...

Ok, so we have run the feature a little longer than we'd planned, but we figured that with Rachel Alexandra's outstanding win in the Haskell Invitational (gr. I) on the weekend, it was worth a little more time for readers to come up with some suggestions for us to consider before we start creating the...

The title of this post is a bit misleading. The great racemare Flawlessly won nine grade I contests and $2,572,536 during her multiple-championship career -- but her produce record is too short to judge, with only two Storm Cat fillies produced. Of them, the 1996 Flawlessness was a maiden winner who...

A mare that earns $1 million in a season is one thing -- one that can come back the next year and repeat the feat is an entirely different league of greatness. The back-to-back Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I) victress Bayakoa (ARG) accomplished that and more during her six-year campaign that banked more...

When discussing a Thoroughbred racehorse, it's customary to rattle off a list of its biggest victories. In the case of Serena's Song, that list would fill up my word count for the entire article. Suffice it to say, few fillies have ever recorded double-digit grade I victories or come close to her on...

With a year and a half of the TrueNicks blog and 300-plus posts behind us, it has not escaped our attention that there are some passionate horsemen and pedigree analysts who frequent this corner of the Web. Indeed the "TrueNicks Community" has at times both intrigued and informed us and we are certainly...

I was poking around a couple of the online Thoroughbred listing sites last evening and a name jumped out at me. Charedi's Gold ( pedigree ) has been in my Virtual Stable for years because her pedigree incorporates several of my favorite bloodlines. (If "Virtual Stable" is new to you, check out this post...

Less than a month after a surprising second-place finish in her season-opening prep race, champion filly Proud Spell ( profile ) was retired, moved home, and put into broodmare service. A homebred for Airdrie owner Brereton Jones, the multimillionaire daughter of Proud Citizen ( SRO ) was sent to Airdrie...

Just about anyone starting out as a Thoroughbred breeder perceives himself as a near-expert. After all, it's just horses, right? No brain surgery here. Whether it's because of a lifelong love of horses or a family background in racing or the self-assuredness of having succeeded at another enterprise...