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Monday, September 30, 2019

New Trotting Sires at Lexington

Sires by Muscle Hill are popping up everywhere and there are two with their first crops in Lexington this year. We already have sires like Trixton, E L Titan and Southwind Spirit with foals racing so we can at least see if they have anything in common as far as mare preference.

Bar Hopping and Southwind Frank do not have many in the first session so perhaps that is an omen. Nevertheless there will be good ones as there are for any sire. Their maternal lines are opposite. Bar Hopping's dam is linebred to Super Bowl while the dam of Southwind Frank is linebred to the Speedster line. In either case, though, based on sires with similar maternal lines they both will do best with mares that are linebred or inbred to the Speedster line or mares with no Speedy Crown line maternally. This is backed up by the early profiles of the sons of Muscle Hill at stud.

Of the 20 top ones 18 of them are from mares linebred or inbred to the Speedster line usually through Speedy Crown  himself or Valley Victory. The broodmare sires involved are through Valley Victory (7) incl 6 of the top 10, other Speedy Crown (2), Super Bowl/Stars Pride (4), Noble Victory (4), and Pine Chip (3).The lone exceptions are Golden Trix from a mare that is both linebred and inbred to the Stars Pride line and has a second dam by Speedy Crown and Spoiled Princess who has no Speedy Crown maternally.

19 of the 20 have a Stars Pride line (16) and/or Noble Victory line (3) in their dams. The lone exception here is from a Dream Vacation (Pine Chip) mare that is inbred to Speedy Crown.

The dams that are Stars Pride line are inbred to Speedy Crown or a son of Speedy Crown. A Super Bowl line shows up in 16 of the top 20 but not in the top 3.

The profile then is pretty straightforward. The dams should be

Linebred of inbred to Speedster including at least one line through Speedy Crown.
A Super Bowl line maternally would be preferable for Bar Hopping who like his sire has a dam linebred to Stars Pride.


New Sires at Lexington

Always B Miki will no doubt be the new sire in demand at the Lexington sale and the sales company have loaded the front end of the sale with his first offerings. That does not guarantee their success on the racetrack but certainly will boost their sales prices. Betting Line is another new sire that will draw attention along with Ontario sire Control The Moment.

On the trotting side we will see the first yearlings by Southwind Farnk and Bar Hopping, both being sons of Muscle Hill. I will look at these in my next article.

Always B Miki is a son of Always A Virgin (Western Hanover) whose maternal lines are a combination of Artsplace and Big Towner lines. His pedigree is very similar to that of Big Bad John, an Ohio stallion with several crops racing. That sire is by Western Hanover from a mare that is also Artsplace - Big Towner and was a decent racehorse with over $1 million made. His performance as a sire, however, has been somewhat disappointing at just over 10% winners of over $100K although his best will give us a very good profile to use for Always B Miki.

The profile for Big Bad John is, and was, very predictable since it features mares that have Abercrombie and/or Big Towner maternally with 17 of the top 20 showing this connection. The three exceptions are from mares linebred to the Meadow Skipper line that have one of those lines through Albatross. In fact Albatross is another important feature of the profile since that sire is one of the maternal lines of Western Hanover and of Always A Virgin. An Albatross line, or a line by some other son of Meadow Skipper, shows up in 18 of Always A Virgin's top 20 and his two best also have Abercrombie and Big Towner lines.

One thing to note is that there are no top 20 performers by Big Bad John from Western Hanover (No Nukes) line dams. Another noteworthy feature of Big Bad John and Always A Virgin is that the Abercrombie line dams almost all have another Adios/Abercrombie line or a Big Towner line maternally. The one exception is inbred maternally to Albatross.

The profile I predict for success horses by Always B Miki will show they are from mares that are:

Linebred or inbred to the Meadow Skipper line with at least one line by Meadow Skipper, a son or an Albatross line sire.
Linebred to the Adios/Abercrombie line or a combination of Abercrombie/Big Towner with at least one line by Meadow Skipper, a son or an Albatross line sire.
Preference to Cam Fella line dams or other Meadow Skipper line dams with Cam Fella maternally.
No dams by No Nukes line sires. If there is an exception to the No Nukes line it would likely be through Jate Lobell as is the case for Always A Virgin and No Nukes line dams.

Applying this profile produces just 3 of 31 colts  and 5 of the 27 fillies in the sale that fit the profile.

Betting Line is by Bettors Delight and there are no existing sires that have his particular maternal combination of  Western Hanover and Camtastic (Cam Fella) although there are three sires with Western Hanover dams with foals racing and all three are in Atlantic Canada. Malicious, being by Bettors Delight, is likely our best chance at a possible profile for Betting Line. If you look at all of the active stallions that are sons of Bettors Delight there is a distinct pattern that shows the best from mares that have both Abercrombie and Albatross lines maternally which is not surprising since these are the same lines in the dam of Bettors Delight.

In the case of Malicious his top 5 all have Abercrombie/Albatross line combinations with four of them being from Abercrombie line dams and one from a Western Ideal dam. Looking at the best ones by sons of Bettors Delight generally we see a similar pattern with sires like Mr Apples, Betterthancheddar, Im Gorgeous and Kenneth J  with their best consisting of 3 from Abercrombie line dams and 2 from No Nukes line dams and in each case an Abercrombie/Albatross line combination maternally. The one outlier is the best of all, Lather Up, a horse with a unique pedigree that is probably one of a kind although there is a maternal line by a son of Meadow Skipper. Being from a Direct Scooter line dam, like several others by sons of Bettors Delight opens up the possibility of Somebeachsomewhere mares as long as they have Abercombie and a Meadow Skipper line.

The predicted profile is for mares that are:

Abercrombie, No Nukes or Direct Scooter line and have a maternal combination of Abercrombie or Big Towner with at least one line by Meadow Skipper, a son or an Albatross line sire.

This profile produces 5 of 20 colts and 2 of the 8 fillies on profile.

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Canada Select - Forest City Sale

The 2019 sale roster contains around 300 yearlings, down 40 or so from last year primarily the result of more Canadian horses being sent to Harrisburg and Lexington where the shortage in yearlings and high American dollar makes it more attractive if you have the right pedigrees.

There are, consequently slim opportunities in the entries to the Canadian sale especially for the established sires such as Bettors Delight and Kadabra. There are, however, a couple of new sires worth looking at in Il Sogno Dream, a son of Cantab Hall, and State Treasurer, the fastest son of Real Desire.

Il Sogno Dream made most of his $1.2 million plus earnings as an aged race horse winning the likes of the Allerage in Lexington. His second dam is a full sister to the great Moni Maker. As a son of Cantab Hall he has several other sons of that sire to compare to. One interesting common factor in them so far is their preference for non - Speedy Crown line dams with Noble Victory line dams in particular being the best. Consider that Father Patrick, Explosive Matter, Uncle Peter, and Airzoom Lindy have all produced their best from Noble Victory line dams, primarily through Garland Lobell.

Greenshoe by Father Patrick is from a Donato Hanover mare as are two others in his top six. Eight of his top 10 have the Noble Victory line in the 1st or 2nd dam.
Pinkman by Explosive Matter is from an Angus Hall dam and eight of his top 12 are from mares by sons of Garland Lobell and 14 of his top 20 have a Noble Victory line 1st or 2nd dam.
Super Schissel by Uncle Peter is from an Andover Hall mare
Churita by Airzoom Lindy is out of a mare by Yankee Paco and his next two also are from Noble Victory line dams.
Cassis top two are from mares by sons of Garland Lobell
Dontyouforgetit's second best is out of a Conway Hall dam

If the dam is not Noble Victory line chances are there is a second dam by a Noble Victory line sire which makes yearlings by Il Sogno Dream with such pedigrees the ones to focus on.

In terms of performance rating the top one is Wickenburgh, first foal from an Angus Hall mare that made over $380K who is the top rated trotter in the sale at 96 - 1.51.4

Tristar Dream is another colt that merits inspection. He is the second foal of a Conway Hall mare and rates a more modest 59 - 1.53.4 which makes him a bargain opportunity if he looks the part. Others of interest with respect to pedigree have questionable performance ratings such as Hey Ralphie 55-1.52.4, Iona Dream 51 - 1.54.2 and I Da Princess 46 - 1.53.1

State Treasurer has sixteen entries. A winner of over $2 million and a regular on the Ontario Jockey Club circuit he should be warmly welcomed in his first crop on Ontario soil. His biggest win was in the Canadian Pacing Derby and he also won the United States equivalent US Pacing derby at the Meadowlands taking his record of 1.47m.

As a son of Real Desire he was preceded in the stud ranks by Tell All, a son of Real desire that had a short and marginally successful stud career. Like his sire Tell All had a penchant for mares that had an Albatross line maternally and in fact his best is from an Albatross line dam. Such mares are rare these days and in fact Albatross is getting back in pedigrees past the third generation so that connection will be hard to find. State Treasurer is Western Ideal - Artsplace maternally so mares that have No Nukes and Abercrombie lines as well as, hopefully, Albatross would be the ones to watch for initially.

As expected Albatross lines are rare and the only two I found were from mares with 10 foals or more which I seldom recommend. There are several with No Nukes - Abercrombie maternally but there is an interesting possibility with respect to the special pedigree pattern I call TB which shows up when a sire is bred to a mare that is inbred to the sires own sire line, in this case Abercrombie. There are five such yearlings in the sale and three of them also show the No Nukes connection.

St Lads Yeah Yeah, a colt, is the top rated one at 98 - 1.49.4, then there are two fillies Alumni Seelster at 88 - 1.50.2 and Silhouete Seelster 75 - 1.51.1. Shiatzu Seelster 97 - 1.49.3 and Steelmeatreasure 69 - 1.51.0 are TB but with no line through No Nukes and St Lads Expresso 79 - 1.51.4 and Sorone Seelster 75 - 1.49.3 have No Nukes - Abercrombie lines maternally. All are worthy of inspection.

The full list of recommended yearlings is available on the PM website


Wednesday, February 6, 2019

2019 Stallion Finder

The 2019 Stallion Finder is now available on the PM website .

The document contains all of the significant stallions currently standing in North America with tables listed by stallion name, State/Province and sire lines along with suggested sire lines to look for in matching your mares.

Among the interesting facts shown by the listing :

280 Pacing Sires
276 Trotting Sires
Most Pacing stallion sons at stud - Western Hanover 31, Rocknroll Hanover 18
Most Trotting stallion sons at stud - Muscles Yankee 25, Muscle Hill 24
Oldest Pacing stallion - Dream Away 1994
Oldest Trotting stallion - Giant Hit 1992
Most Pacing Stallions by State/Province - Ohio 41, Ontario 34, Indiana 34
Most Trotting Stallions by State/Province - Indiana 51, Ohio 45, Ontario 32

There are stallions standing in Virginia, Wisconsin, and Kansas for the first time in the Stallion Finder.

Prince Edward Island is down to only one stallion and the Sires Stakes program for trotters will soon be extinct unless we find a couple of additional stallions for this breeding season. If you know of any soon to be retired stallions that may be available for a last ditch lease on life let me know. Stars Pride line or Valley Victory line preferred.