In an earlier blog on the Sportswriter yearlings here is what I wrote.

"Sportswriter is the fastest son of Artsplace and was well received in Ontario. His maternal lines of Jate Lobell and Big Towner make him similar to Major In Art, another Ontario sire whose first crop is racing with limited success to date. In fact the profile for Major In Art is all over the map so far and that is not a sign of a consistent and successful sire. Sires with Jate Lobell dams generally have not been anything special to date with the possible exception of Yankee Cruiser who has an Albatross line second dam to help him out. That is not the case with Sportswriter who will have to depend on the diminishing presence of Big Towner coupled with No Nukes line in the dams to make his mark. A local sire in PEI, Articulator, has done just that although his maternal line is the flip side of Sportswriter being Big Towner - No Nukes. His best to date have either Big Towner and/or No Nukes maternally and that is what I would look for at least in this first crop."

I was somewhat sceptical of his potential as a sire but it appears that he has got a lot of the right mares in his first crop, mares that are predominately No Nukes line as I also expected.

His top three to date including his best in Australia, Sporty Spook, currently number one overall, have strong No Nukes connections being from dams by Village Jasper (Jate Lobell), The Panderosa (Western Hanover) and Western Terror (Western Hanover). His top 10 also includes a couple from mares by Safely Kept (Jate Lobell), two from Western Hanover mares, and one with a double connection maternally through Jate Lobell and Big Towner called Windsong Lightning who bears watching.

There are many more lined up to make their mark in this Fridays Ontario Sires Gold events including fillies like Northern Starlet (Western Ideal dam), Mesmerize Bluechip (Western Hanover), Twin B Honour (The Panderosa), Southwind Mischief (Western Hanover), Code One Hanover (Western Ideal), Business As Usual (Western Ideal), Shesastarreporter (Rambaran).

The Grassroots events this evening (Thursday) should be no less telling if No Nukes line dams are the key to Sportswriter success with the likes of Birdie (Rocknroll Hanover), Southwind Luna (The Panderosa), Art Of The Deal (Western Ideal), Ryans Rockette (Western Hanover), Jinglewriter (Rustler Hanover), and there are several others in tonight that have maternal doubles to Jate Lobell, Western Hanover and Big Towner other than throught the broodmare sire.

To have this many ready this early is a possible sign of great things to come and after the dust settles on Friday evening we will have a pretty good idea of what the future holds and what to look for in the stallion profile of Sportswriter.