So You Want To Buy a Muscle Hill Yearling.

The 2012 crop of yearling trotters will be headed up by first crop sire Muscle Hill. It is never too early to start looking for one of these soon to be sought for individuals. But what do you look for in the pedigrees to help you narrow down the list?

In my blog on January 4th, 2010 on First year sires I noted that Muscle Hill had a full brother, Diesel Don, standing in Sweden that had yearlings on the ground. I also speculated on which ones might be successful based on other similar sires and predicted a profile as follows:

It would appear that the options for Muscle Hill and Federal Flex boil down to the following priorities

1. Noble Victory line dams that have a double to Speedy Crown maternally.

I would classify this as a Scenario #2 match since it returns the principle lines of the dam of Muscles Yankee i.e. Speedy Crown and Noble Victory which brings us back to Muscles Yankee as perhaps being the key to success.

2. Stars Pride line dams with no Speedy Crown line but with a Noble Victory line maternally.

This is a Scenario #1 to the extent that you can find the same individuals, namely American Winner (Super Bowl) and Hickory Pride in mares for Muscle Hill.

I have just completed an update of European performance including the ones by Diesel Don now racing at four year old and there are very few surprises. For the mst part the best ones fall into the second profile group having Stars Pride line dams through Super Bowl but some share elements of both groups. The Noble Victory line does not seem to be a factor. Here are the top five based on earnings. bear in mind that most are racing in Finland where 2 and 3 year old races carry low purses.

Don Factor  50006 Euro  Dam is by a son of Super Bowl and is also inbred to Speedster/Speedy Crown.

Singing Soul 21950 Euro  Stars Pride line dam with no Speedy Crown maternally. Dam is inbred 3x3 to Hickory Smoke, half brother to Hickory Pride, sire of the second dam of Muscle Hill.

Grainfield Danny  16338 Euro Dam by a son of Super Bowl with no Speedy Crown maternally. Dam is also a double to Margaret Parrish

Sahara Flygirl  13628 Euro  Dam by a son of Speedy Somolli and while this makes the filly linebred 5x3 to that sire there is a strong maternal connection to compensate with both Super Bowl and Hickory Pride 4x4 maternally.

Secret Pilot  13253 Euro  Dam by son of Super Bowl,with third dam also through Stars Pride

There are just 78 yearlings by Muscle Hill registered to date and perhaps a few more to come. One colt you should be interested in is Martiniwithmuscle from the Credit Winner mare Cocktail Hour. Owned by my good friend Dr Doug Hutchins he will sell in Harrisburg. Like the best one to date by Diesel Don he has a dam through Super Bowl and is in fact a 3x3 maternal double to American Winner. The dam is also inbred maternally to Speedy Crown, a big plus, is inbred to Margaret Parrish, an even bigger plus, and has a second dam also through Super Bowl. This pedigree covers all of the profile possibilities. Did I mention also that he is a January foal?

 

Attachment: Sahara Flygirl Pedigree.pdf
Attachment: Martiniwithmuscle Pedigree.pdf
Attachment: Don Factor Pedigree.pdf

Spring

Normally spring in the standardbred world is a time of hopeful expectations. About now the two year olds are showing the promise that was expected in the yearling sales. This year is sadly different. The uncertainty with two year olds has been compounded big time with the political machinations of governments in Ontario and Pennsylvania who seem intent on destroying the standardbred industry in favour of short term revenue gains.

Somebody out there has not been telling the powers that be the real story.

Perhaps it is the nature of our business where horsemen and women  seldom agree on a universal approach to what is good for the industry. This gives the governments of the day all the ammunition they need to arbitrarily change the rules of the game.

First things first. Unity

Everybody in this business has a personal agenda. Forget about it 

The racing industry, standardbred or thorobred, has to constantly prove it has a positive role in society and the common good. Recognize that there are a lot of people out there that could care less. But the  bottom line is that this business, like any other business, provides employment and pays taxes. It is not a sinfull occupation.

If you are serious about this industry then you must do eveything you can to support it. Whether you are in New Jersey, Ontario or PEI the future of standardbred racing depends on you. Let your feelings be known. Politics is all about numbers.