The Globetrotter software has been designed by horsemen and with the input of some of the best pedigree minds in the Standardbred business. Beginning in 1994 with the first version available on 12 floppy discs the program has evolved from a database of 85,000 horses to what it is today - the largest, and only truly international, Standardbred database in the world with over 1.5 million horses and counting. The original program was called PM95 and was converted to CD in 1998 and renamed PM99. Then in 2005, as a result of the input of our many users, we introduced Globetrotter as a brand new version with many added features.
We continue to develop new applications for the program and now you can get our latest innovation Pedigrees To Go, a netbook based system that is dedicated for use solely for pedigrees. No more struggling with a desktop or laptop loaded with everything you don't need getting in the way. No more waiting for access with your family members on the family computer.
The portable, lightweight (approx 4 lbs) Pedigrees To Go netbook is about the size of the Harrisburg sale catalog but many times more valuable to your purchase and breeding decisions.
You can get your copy of Globetrotter in several forms. You can download for installation on your current computer from the internet through our Pedigree Matching site, or have it sent to you on a CD-Rom or flash drive, or obtain a download link by contacting Pedigree Matching directly. Payment can be made by credit card through our secure Order page or by mailing or faxing an order form available on this site, or you can, again, call us directly and place your order for Globetrotter or any of our other products or Pedigree Matching services.
Whichever way you choose you have several days to try Globetrotter out before buying your unlock key in order to continue using the software.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Pedigree Camp Registration
2010 Pedigree Camp Schedule
June 11th – 13th, 2010
Charlottetown, PEI – The Kentucky of Canada
Friday June 11th
6.00 pm
Registration – Quality Inn On The Hill
6:30 pm
Reception and Lobster Supper
Saturday, June 12th
8:00 am – Noon
Session 1 – Practical Pedigrees - Breeding The Best
12:00 noon
Downtown walkaround and lunch
1:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Session 2 - Practical Pedigrees - Buying The Best
7:30 pm
Racing at the Charlottetown Driving Park
Sunday, June 13th
8:00 am – Noon
Session 3 – Practical Pedigrees - Doing Your Homework
12:00 noon
Working Lunch
12:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Session 4 - Review
3:00 pm
Tour of PEI North Shore
5:30 pm
Reception at Norman's cottage in Cavendish
7:30 pm
Return to Charlottetown
Registration Fee is $400 for sessions 1-4 and includes all course materials, lunches where scheduled and Lobster supper (other menu choices available). Fee for non registrant spouses or partners who wish to attend lunches, lobster supper and reception is $50. Limited to 30 participants so early advanced registration is recommended and is required no later than May 1st. All sessions are at The Quality Inn On The Hill. Registrants are responsible for own accommodations and transportation.
A block of rooms is being held for attendees to Pedigree Camp at The Quality Inn On The Hill. Room rate is $99 and must be booked by May 12th. Larger rooms and family suites are available. 1-800-466-4734. For information on other accommodation and PEI in general go to http://www.gov.pe.ca and click on Visitors Guide
E-mail to norman@pedigreematching.com or call to register by phone or leave a message at
1-902-367-3495 or 1-902-368-2340 or fax to 902-367-3610
Pedigree Camp
2010 Pedigree Camp
The 2010 Pedigree Camp is scheduled for June 11-13th in Charlottetown, PEI, Canada. For the past five years we have welcomed up to thirty attendees from all over North America to the event. We have even had overseas interest with visitors from Denmark and Finland. Some of our regulars have been to every camp to date and make it a regular highlight of their season.
This year will feature our usual blend of working sessions and recreational activities with the latter including a welcoming lobster dinner and reception, a night at the Red Shores Casino and racetrack in Charlottetown, a Sunday afternoon tour of the Island’s North Shore beaches and gift shops, and our graduation social at Norman’s Surfside cottage in Cavendish.
Details on the Camp Agenda and the registration form are available HERE. Spouses and partners are welcome to attend the social activities.
Special guests this year will again include Dr Paul Spears of Hanover Shoe Farm as well as Dr Moira Gunn, former President of Armstrong Bros.
Registration deadline is May 1st but attendance is limited to the first thirty so don’t leave it too late.
The 2010 Pedigree Camp is scheduled for June 11-13th in Charlottetown, PEI, Canada. For the past five years we have welcomed up to thirty attendees from all over North America to the event. We have even had overseas interest with visitors from Denmark and Finland. Some of our regulars have been to every camp to date and make it a regular highlight of their season.
This year will feature our usual blend of working sessions and recreational activities with the latter including a welcoming lobster dinner and reception, a night at the Red Shores Casino and racetrack in Charlottetown, a Sunday afternoon tour of the Island’s North Shore beaches and gift shops, and our graduation social at Norman’s Surfside cottage in Cavendish.
Details on the Camp Agenda and the registration form are available HERE. Spouses and partners are welcome to attend the social activities.
Special guests this year will again include Dr Paul Spears of Hanover Shoe Farm as well as Dr Moira Gunn, former President of Armstrong Bros.
Registration deadline is May 1st but attendance is limited to the first thirty so don’t leave it too late.
Pedigree Links
As a customer of Pedigree Matching, PedigreeGuru or the Globetrotter software we want you to be as informed as possible of all developments in the Standardbred breeding industry. Below you will find links to pedigree resources worldwide as well as to Norman’s blog where you can ask for online advice on sire selection, and any other related matter. Here are some useful links: * Partially free **Subscription required
Norman’s Blog http://www.pedmat.multiply.com
*All Breed Del Mar http://www.allbreedpedigree.com
*Australia http://www.harness.org.au
Finland http://www.hippos.fi/hippos/jalostusoriit/lvorijalk.php
France http://www.trot-pedigree.net
Germany http://www.hvt.de
**Great Britain http://www.standardbred.org/amember/member.php
Italy http://www.anact.it
New Zealand http://www.hrnz.co.nz
Norway http://www.travsport.no
**Canada https://trackit.standardbredcanada.ca
Sweden http://www.travsport.se
**United States http://pathway.ustrotting.com
Canadian Stallions http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/stallion_directory
N.A. Stallions http://stars.ustrotting.com
We are always interested in your comments on, and suggestions for, our products and services and welcome your input.
Norman’s Blog http://www.pedmat.multiply.com
*All Breed Del Mar http://www.allbreedpedigree.com
*Australia http://www.harness.org.au
Finland http://www.hippos.fi/hippos/jalostusoriit/lvorijalk.php
France http://www.trot-pedigree.net
Germany http://www.hvt.de
**Great Britain http://www.standardbred.org/amember/member.php
Italy http://www.anact.it
New Zealand http://www.hrnz.co.nz
Norway http://www.travsport.no
**Canada https://trackit.standardbredcanada.ca
Sweden http://www.travsport.se
**United States http://pathway.ustrotting.com
Canadian Stallions http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/stallion_directory
N.A. Stallions http://stars.ustrotting.com
We are always interested in your comments on, and suggestions for, our products and services and welcome your input.
Pedigree Matching Services
Our Services and Fees
Yearling and Broodmare Purchase Reports
Basic Sale Report contains list of ratings for all yearlings or broodmares within requested criteria.- Cost $2 per page reviewed plus $50/report.
Purchase Recommendation Report includes evaluation and commentary based on statistical analysis of pedigree match, cross and performance rating. - Cost $50 per specified yearling or broodmare
Broodmare Reports
Breeding Recommendation Report - $75 per mare
Other Reports
Requested opinion on any topic. - $50 per page
Retainer Fees
Annual retainer packages on per hour basis at $50/hour.
Basic 20 hours $1,000 / year
Priority 60 hours $2,500 / year
No Limit $5,000 / year
Priority and No Limit are 24 hour reply guaranteed. Basic and Priority retainer packages cover all reports based on time required and remaining retainer time available.
To request reports call Norman at (902) 367-3495 or norman@pedigreematching.com
Yearling and Broodmare Purchase Reports
Basic Sale Report contains list of ratings for all yearlings or broodmares within requested criteria.- Cost $2 per page reviewed plus $50/report.
Purchase Recommendation Report includes evaluation and commentary based on statistical analysis of pedigree match, cross and performance rating. - Cost $50 per specified yearling or broodmare
Broodmare Reports
Breeding Recommendation Report - $75 per mare
Other Reports
Requested opinion on any topic. - $50 per page
Retainer Fees
Annual retainer packages on per hour basis at $50/hour.
Basic 20 hours $1,000 / year
Priority 60 hours $2,500 / year
No Limit $5,000 / year
Priority and No Limit are 24 hour reply guaranteed. Basic and Priority retainer packages cover all reports based on time required and remaining retainer time available.
To request reports call Norman at (902) 367-3495 or norman@pedigreematching.com
Pedigree Matching Works
The proof of the pudding, they say, is in the eating and if the following stories don’t whet your appetite for trying the Pedigree Matching Globetrotter program then you can’t be very hungry for success in the business.
There have been many success stories in the short 12-year history of Pedigree Matching clients and customers.
Many times the horse in question is the best that the customer has ever bred or bought. Hearing about these successes is always rewarding because it reinforces our belief that what we promote – the need to do your homework – is the path to success, in addition, of course, to using the tools and information that we can provide.
Here are just a few of the stories that we have heard from past customers:
Alan McNeill, Nova Scotia
Alan was a young trainer just starting out on his own in 2003 after working for different trainers in the United States. He was a classmate of one of my sons and they played hockey together. His father Bill and I were acquainted through work.
Bill called me in the fall of 2003 to see if I could help Alan pick out a yearling in Lexington and give him a list of affordable yearlings to look at. Now Lexington is not what I would call an affordable place to buy a yearling but Alan had a partner, Andy Willinger, another young man who lived in Kentucky. They set off on their great adventure with $10,000 and a short list of bargain possibilities. The colt they bought after checking out the list for conformation, was by Cambest. He cost $12,000 and they had to borrow the extra $2,000 from Andy’s mother to get the colt home. It was on the list because it had a great pedigree but was by a sire that had lost favour in the marketplace.
Alan broke and trained the colt and raced him through the early part of his four year old year. In the process the colt won several stakes and earned almost $400,000 for his young owners. They sold him for another $400,000 and he went on to race for one of the top trainers in North America and won over $2,270,600 lifetime with a record of 1:47.3. That colt was Lis Mara who now stands in Ontario
SSG Stables, Ontario
Just ask Ed James of Ontario
In 1993 Ed James had twenty plus racehorses in Alberta and Ontario and was not having much success. I met him by chance on a golf course on PEI and he asked me to help him clear out the horses and find him some young horses with top calibre potential. Five years later he still has a dozen horses racing but among them are two that race in the Open class at Woodbine on a regular basis plus two others that are more than paying their way on that tough circuit.
Between them they have earned over $2,210,000 and counting since they were purchased. All four were bought as green two year olds at Harrisburg and have lived up to the potential in their pedigrees despite being given up on by their first owners.
Valvec 1:53.3 by Mr Lavec was bought in 2003. Unraced at two he is now an Open class trotter on the OJC with 36 wins and $587,561 made lifetime and $95,610 made in 2008.
Hyperion Hanover p.1:49.1 by Camluck was bought in 2005 and is an Open Class winner at Woodbine with 27 wins and $861,343 in earnings and $277,550 in 2009.
Indiana Hall 1:55.3 by Striking Sahbra was bought in 2005 and has 24 wins and $505,831 made lifetime and races at the Preferred level on the OJC.
Tuck was bought privately in 2005 for $15,000 and has 16 wins and $261,542 lifetime with $58,650 in 2008.
These and other young horses and future stars developing in Ed’s stable are under the care of Rob Fellows who, largely due to the success of the SSG horses, is now one of the top conditioners on the Ontario Jockey Club circuit.
Irwin Stables, Ontario
Just ask Gord Irwin of Ontario
I first met Gord Irwin in Harrisburg in 1999 where we had our Pedigree Matching booth to demonstrate the program. He was an old-timer in the business having trained and raced horses for over thirty years, mostly on the B-circuit in Ontario. He had just got rid of all of his racing stock and invested the proceeds in one good racemare who was racing in the Preferred ranks in Toronto. As he put it he wanted to have at least one good horse in his lifetime as a trainer.
Just in case the mare did not work out he asked me which sire in Ontario to breed her to. I checked the possibilities and recommended Camluck. Gord’s first reaction was “Can’t do it – too expensive”. I told him that the stud fee of $10,000 may seem expensive but if it’s the right cross then it would be the best investment he could make. “You can’t afford not to breed to him” I told Gord.
Three and a half years later Gord called me out of the blue. “Guess what, Norm, I bred that mare to Camluck just like you said and I got a pretty nice two year old filly. She has made almost $100,000 already. You were right about the stud fee.” Not only did he accept my recommendation but he found a way to pay for the stud fee. He was one of the first to try embryo transfer in Canada and raced the mare to pay for it.
The filly was Invitro who made $2,283,947 in her career racing almost exclusively in Ontario. She is now bred to Somebeachsomewhere, again on my recommendation. Gord may just strike gold again.
Gord Irwin spent a lifetime racing cheap horses and going nowhere. On one fateful day he made two decisions that changed his life. Now he enjoys the winters in Florida and can truly say he had that one great horse that everyone dreams of.
Hollylaine Island Farms, PEI
Just ask Dr Bob Webster of Hollylaine Island Farm, PEI.
Bob Webster has owned Hollylaine for almost thirty years and has bred several hundred yearlings along the way. He used to be happy to get two or three racing out of his annual crop of 10-15 yearlings – but no longer.
I began doing Bob’s matches for him six years ago, showing him what to look for and how to do his homework on sire selection. Like many breeders he stood his own stallions and made the fatal mistake of breeding all of his mares to them. That was the biggest reason for his low success rate despite the fact that he gave them the best of care and turned out great looking yearlings for the annual sale..
Now he stands just one sire and the number of mares has dropped to a dozen or so with most having been at the farm for quite a while. He knows now that selecting the right sire for his mares, even if it means going off the farm, is the best breeding strategy for success.
He swaps breedings with the other sire owners whenever possible so there is no net cost but there definitely is a major net gain. How does he know this ?
For three consecutive crop years in 2004 through 2006, every single one of his yearlings made it to the races at two or three and his 2007 yearlings are well on their way to doing likewise with three two-year-old stakes winners and three others taking records in 2008 from just eight yearlings in 2007. The fact that he is doing this with a group of older mares and in many cases getting the best foals ever from these mares, makes his success even more remarkable.
It just goes to show its never too late to learn how to do your homework.
Joan Ellafrits, Michigan
Just ask Joan Ellafrits of Greenville, Michigan.
Joan owned one broodmare by the name of Davita Hanover. For convenience she had bred her to the sire down the road from her and had, not surprisingly, no success in four breedings.
She called me in 1997 after seeing an article on Pedigree Matching in Hoof Beats.
I recommended she breed to a Michigan sire called Super Star Ranger. The result was a colt she named Winsum Ranger. At three he was the winner of the Michigan State Championship and went on to earn over $542,000 with 38 career wins and a record of 1:56.2 taken at Woodbine.
Winsum Ranger was the first really good horse that Joan ever bred or owned.
She did it again with a full brother now with over $120,000 and still racing. She also has a filly called Keyanna Rose from a full sister to Winsum Ranger. That filly is also a winner of the Michigan Championships, and was the best of her three year old year in Michigan with over $243,000 made. Keyanna Rose is by Keystone Nordic, another Pedigree Matching sire choice.
Joan, like many others who have experienced Pedigree Matching in action, has shown that you don’t have to be a big farm to produce top horses. Anyone can produce or buy a great horse if they do their homework or at least get someone to help them with it..
Shaun MacIsaac, PEI
Just ask Shaun MacIsaac of Charlottetown, PEI.
In 1999 we attended Harrisburg as usual and again as usual we had several trainers from PEI on hand looking for bargain yearlings. Earl Smith had a couple of owners he was shopping for and he used my list to shop from. Near the top of the list was a filly by Cams Card Shark, whose first two crops were not that well thought of by the trainers, but she still figured to be expensive because of her pedigree. Earl decided to look at her anyway and came back with the report that the filly was not the greatest, conformation wise, being back on her knees. He thought she would sell cheap but was not sure if he would take a chance. My opinion was that for the quality of the pedigree she would be well worth the chance, just give her time to mature.
Earl bought the filly for $4,500 and took her back to PEI. The prospective new owner, Shaun MacIsaac, was not sure if the price for the filly, now $10,000 with transportation, exchange and finder’s fee included, was worth the risk. I gave him the same advice and he bought her. She was trained down by Earl, qualified and then turned out. Brought back at three she showed enough promise to be sent to Marcel Barrieau in Montreal. She won her first three starts then finished second in a stakes series beaten a head in a track record for three year old fillies.
She was promptly sold for six figures to a group from Toronto with Shaun keeping a share. She went on to make over $775,000 and set a World record for a four year old mare of 1:49.1 at the Meadowlands.
Another horse high on my list in the previous 1998 sale in Harrisburg was turned down by a client of mine because he was by Cams Card Shark – the reason being the client’s trainer claimed that “all the Cams Card Sharks are lame” That horse was Bettors Delight p.3,1:49.4 ($2,581,461). He sold for $65,000.
So much for the advice of trainers.
St Lads Farm, Ontario
Just ask Bob Ladouceur of St Lads Farm
He started in the Pedigree Matching program six years ago after several years breeding and raising yearlings with little success. His first fully matched crop were two year olds in 2008.
Bob came to Pedigree Camp in 2007 to find out if he was doing his homework the right way. It looks like he has from the following report by Standardbred Canada on their website on January 8th, 2009
“In the fall of 2008, Bob Ladouceur of St Lads Farm was truly excited. He had good reason to be, given the overwhelming success of juvenile Twin B Champ filly St Lads Popcorn, although the filly's success wasn't the only reason why '08 will go down as a banner season for the 65-year-old Ontario breeder. In 2007, Ladouceur's St Lads Farm sold 10 yearlings. By the fall of 2008, eight of those 10 made it to the races in their freshman campaigns.
When St Lads Bling and St Lads Nano recorded charted miles in late November and early December, respectively, all 10 of St Lads Farms 2006 foals had made it to the races in their juvenile seasons, a rarity in the business to say the least.
St Lads Popcorn led the charge in '08, assembling a slate which read 12-1-0 from 15 starts, a mark of 1:52.2 over Mohawk Racetrack and purse earnings totaling $602,669. The standout campaign made St Lads Popcorn a finalist for an O'Brien Award as Canada's top two-year-old pacing filly of 2008.
The nine other St Lads Farm two-year-olds that made it to the races in '08 were St Lads Nano, St Lads Gracie, St Lads Boomer, St Lads Supersonic, St Lads Gabby (now named Paid In Silver), St Lads Rave, St Lads He Man, St Lads Adonis and St Lads Bling.”
There have been many success stories in the short 12-year history of Pedigree Matching clients and customers.
Many times the horse in question is the best that the customer has ever bred or bought. Hearing about these successes is always rewarding because it reinforces our belief that what we promote – the need to do your homework – is the path to success, in addition, of course, to using the tools and information that we can provide.
Here are just a few of the stories that we have heard from past customers:
Alan McNeill, Nova Scotia
Alan was a young trainer just starting out on his own in 2003 after working for different trainers in the United States. He was a classmate of one of my sons and they played hockey together. His father Bill and I were acquainted through work.
Bill called me in the fall of 2003 to see if I could help Alan pick out a yearling in Lexington and give him a list of affordable yearlings to look at. Now Lexington is not what I would call an affordable place to buy a yearling but Alan had a partner, Andy Willinger, another young man who lived in Kentucky. They set off on their great adventure with $10,000 and a short list of bargain possibilities. The colt they bought after checking out the list for conformation, was by Cambest. He cost $12,000 and they had to borrow the extra $2,000 from Andy’s mother to get the colt home. It was on the list because it had a great pedigree but was by a sire that had lost favour in the marketplace.
Alan broke and trained the colt and raced him through the early part of his four year old year. In the process the colt won several stakes and earned almost $400,000 for his young owners. They sold him for another $400,000 and he went on to race for one of the top trainers in North America and won over $2,270,600 lifetime with a record of 1:47.3. That colt was Lis Mara who now stands in Ontario
SSG Stables, Ontario
Just ask Ed James of Ontario
In 1993 Ed James had twenty plus racehorses in Alberta and Ontario and was not having much success. I met him by chance on a golf course on PEI and he asked me to help him clear out the horses and find him some young horses with top calibre potential. Five years later he still has a dozen horses racing but among them are two that race in the Open class at Woodbine on a regular basis plus two others that are more than paying their way on that tough circuit.
Between them they have earned over $2,210,000 and counting since they were purchased. All four were bought as green two year olds at Harrisburg and have lived up to the potential in their pedigrees despite being given up on by their first owners.
Valvec 1:53.3 by Mr Lavec was bought in 2003. Unraced at two he is now an Open class trotter on the OJC with 36 wins and $587,561 made lifetime and $95,610 made in 2008.
Hyperion Hanover p.1:49.1 by Camluck was bought in 2005 and is an Open Class winner at Woodbine with 27 wins and $861,343 in earnings and $277,550 in 2009.
Indiana Hall 1:55.3 by Striking Sahbra was bought in 2005 and has 24 wins and $505,831 made lifetime and races at the Preferred level on the OJC.
Tuck was bought privately in 2005 for $15,000 and has 16 wins and $261,542 lifetime with $58,650 in 2008.
These and other young horses and future stars developing in Ed’s stable are under the care of Rob Fellows who, largely due to the success of the SSG horses, is now one of the top conditioners on the Ontario Jockey Club circuit.
Irwin Stables, Ontario
Just ask Gord Irwin of Ontario
I first met Gord Irwin in Harrisburg in 1999 where we had our Pedigree Matching booth to demonstrate the program. He was an old-timer in the business having trained and raced horses for over thirty years, mostly on the B-circuit in Ontario. He had just got rid of all of his racing stock and invested the proceeds in one good racemare who was racing in the Preferred ranks in Toronto. As he put it he wanted to have at least one good horse in his lifetime as a trainer.
Just in case the mare did not work out he asked me which sire in Ontario to breed her to. I checked the possibilities and recommended Camluck. Gord’s first reaction was “Can’t do it – too expensive”. I told him that the stud fee of $10,000 may seem expensive but if it’s the right cross then it would be the best investment he could make. “You can’t afford not to breed to him” I told Gord.
Three and a half years later Gord called me out of the blue. “Guess what, Norm, I bred that mare to Camluck just like you said and I got a pretty nice two year old filly. She has made almost $100,000 already. You were right about the stud fee.” Not only did he accept my recommendation but he found a way to pay for the stud fee. He was one of the first to try embryo transfer in Canada and raced the mare to pay for it.
The filly was Invitro who made $2,283,947 in her career racing almost exclusively in Ontario. She is now bred to Somebeachsomewhere, again on my recommendation. Gord may just strike gold again.
Gord Irwin spent a lifetime racing cheap horses and going nowhere. On one fateful day he made two decisions that changed his life. Now he enjoys the winters in Florida and can truly say he had that one great horse that everyone dreams of.
Hollylaine Island Farms, PEI
Just ask Dr Bob Webster of Hollylaine Island Farm, PEI.
Bob Webster has owned Hollylaine for almost thirty years and has bred several hundred yearlings along the way. He used to be happy to get two or three racing out of his annual crop of 10-15 yearlings – but no longer.
I began doing Bob’s matches for him six years ago, showing him what to look for and how to do his homework on sire selection. Like many breeders he stood his own stallions and made the fatal mistake of breeding all of his mares to them. That was the biggest reason for his low success rate despite the fact that he gave them the best of care and turned out great looking yearlings for the annual sale..
Now he stands just one sire and the number of mares has dropped to a dozen or so with most having been at the farm for quite a while. He knows now that selecting the right sire for his mares, even if it means going off the farm, is the best breeding strategy for success.
He swaps breedings with the other sire owners whenever possible so there is no net cost but there definitely is a major net gain. How does he know this ?
For three consecutive crop years in 2004 through 2006, every single one of his yearlings made it to the races at two or three and his 2007 yearlings are well on their way to doing likewise with three two-year-old stakes winners and three others taking records in 2008 from just eight yearlings in 2007. The fact that he is doing this with a group of older mares and in many cases getting the best foals ever from these mares, makes his success even more remarkable.
It just goes to show its never too late to learn how to do your homework.
Joan Ellafrits, Michigan
Just ask Joan Ellafrits of Greenville, Michigan.
Joan owned one broodmare by the name of Davita Hanover. For convenience she had bred her to the sire down the road from her and had, not surprisingly, no success in four breedings.
She called me in 1997 after seeing an article on Pedigree Matching in Hoof Beats.
I recommended she breed to a Michigan sire called Super Star Ranger. The result was a colt she named Winsum Ranger. At three he was the winner of the Michigan State Championship and went on to earn over $542,000 with 38 career wins and a record of 1:56.2 taken at Woodbine.
Winsum Ranger was the first really good horse that Joan ever bred or owned.
She did it again with a full brother now with over $120,000 and still racing. She also has a filly called Keyanna Rose from a full sister to Winsum Ranger. That filly is also a winner of the Michigan Championships, and was the best of her three year old year in Michigan with over $243,000 made. Keyanna Rose is by Keystone Nordic, another Pedigree Matching sire choice.
Joan, like many others who have experienced Pedigree Matching in action, has shown that you don’t have to be a big farm to produce top horses. Anyone can produce or buy a great horse if they do their homework or at least get someone to help them with it..
Shaun MacIsaac, PEI
Just ask Shaun MacIsaac of Charlottetown, PEI.
In 1999 we attended Harrisburg as usual and again as usual we had several trainers from PEI on hand looking for bargain yearlings. Earl Smith had a couple of owners he was shopping for and he used my list to shop from. Near the top of the list was a filly by Cams Card Shark, whose first two crops were not that well thought of by the trainers, but she still figured to be expensive because of her pedigree. Earl decided to look at her anyway and came back with the report that the filly was not the greatest, conformation wise, being back on her knees. He thought she would sell cheap but was not sure if he would take a chance. My opinion was that for the quality of the pedigree she would be well worth the chance, just give her time to mature.
Earl bought the filly for $4,500 and took her back to PEI. The prospective new owner, Shaun MacIsaac, was not sure if the price for the filly, now $10,000 with transportation, exchange and finder’s fee included, was worth the risk. I gave him the same advice and he bought her. She was trained down by Earl, qualified and then turned out. Brought back at three she showed enough promise to be sent to Marcel Barrieau in Montreal. She won her first three starts then finished second in a stakes series beaten a head in a track record for three year old fillies.
She was promptly sold for six figures to a group from Toronto with Shaun keeping a share. She went on to make over $775,000 and set a World record for a four year old mare of 1:49.1 at the Meadowlands.
Another horse high on my list in the previous 1998 sale in Harrisburg was turned down by a client of mine because he was by Cams Card Shark – the reason being the client’s trainer claimed that “all the Cams Card Sharks are lame” That horse was Bettors Delight p.3,1:49.4 ($2,581,461). He sold for $65,000.
So much for the advice of trainers.
St Lads Farm, Ontario
Just ask Bob Ladouceur of St Lads Farm
He started in the Pedigree Matching program six years ago after several years breeding and raising yearlings with little success. His first fully matched crop were two year olds in 2008.
Bob came to Pedigree Camp in 2007 to find out if he was doing his homework the right way. It looks like he has from the following report by Standardbred Canada on their website on January 8th, 2009
“In the fall of 2008, Bob Ladouceur of St Lads Farm was truly excited. He had good reason to be, given the overwhelming success of juvenile Twin B Champ filly St Lads Popcorn, although the filly's success wasn't the only reason why '08 will go down as a banner season for the 65-year-old Ontario breeder. In 2007, Ladouceur's St Lads Farm sold 10 yearlings. By the fall of 2008, eight of those 10 made it to the races in their freshman campaigns.
When St Lads Bling and St Lads Nano recorded charted miles in late November and early December, respectively, all 10 of St Lads Farms 2006 foals had made it to the races in their juvenile seasons, a rarity in the business to say the least.
St Lads Popcorn led the charge in '08, assembling a slate which read 12-1-0 from 15 starts, a mark of 1:52.2 over Mohawk Racetrack and purse earnings totaling $602,669. The standout campaign made St Lads Popcorn a finalist for an O'Brien Award as Canada's top two-year-old pacing filly of 2008.
The nine other St Lads Farm two-year-olds that made it to the races in '08 were St Lads Nano, St Lads Gracie, St Lads Boomer, St Lads Supersonic, St Lads Gabby (now named Paid In Silver), St Lads Rave, St Lads He Man, St Lads Adonis and St Lads Bling.”
About Pedigree Matching
Did you ever wonder why even the best of sires have so many "ordinary" performers or why a mare of modest breeding can suddenly produce a champion? The answer may well be in the "match" of the bloodlines of the sire to those of the dam. The concept of matching bloodlines as a way to develop champions has proven it's worth over the years and serious breeders would do well to study the theory and results to see if they can improve their chances of coming up with the right match for their mares. The success of a particular mating does not have to be subject more to luck than good management.
With the growing acceptance of semen transport small breeders can aspire to breed to any active sire listed in the United States Trotting Association publication The USTA Sires and Dams. Gone are the days when breeding to the stallion up the road, because he had a couple of good ones to the races last year, was a convenient way to handle your breeding requirements. Breeders cannot afford to take a chance that such an impromptu mating will succeed. They must make informed decisions based on pedigree and like any decision the chances of being right can be greatly improved with good research and a study of past statistics.
Successful breeders will spend time to research the best matches for their mares and can get most of the information they want through computer reports from the USTA or CTA (Canadian Trotting Association). The information they receive, though, is based on established sires and may be of little help if the boundaries of time, distance and cost make the "perfect" match unavailable or if the sire of interest is a new and unproven sire.
Among small breeders who stand their own stallion there is the tendency to breed all the farm mares to that one stud regardless of the pedigree match. Such matings will, in the long run, result in low success rates and lower prices for yearlings that far offset the short term savings involved. Smart stud owners will trade breedings with other farms to get the match that gives their mares the best chance of success.
Articles on breeding tend to focus on individual sires that have played a dominant role in recent breeding history. Matings are commonly described in terms of being Meadow Skipper 3 x 4 x 3, or Speedy Crown 5 x 4 x 4 x 5, a nomenclature which serves as much to confuse as it does to edify. The numbers relate to generations in the pedigree in which the sire of note appears. We must also contend with classifications such as line bred, inbred and incestuously bred as well as the much sought after outcross.
James C Harrison in his authoritative chapter on bloodlines and breeding in the USTA's book Care And Training Of The Trotter and Pacer, noted that " All the foundation sires of the breed were relatively short bred maternally in the sense that none of the female families that produced them ever established lasting maternal lines of their own". This would seem to infer that if you want to improve on something you must focus on the weaknesses, real or perceived, and that is where "Pedigree Matching" comes into play.
Pedigree matching presents an opportunity to improve on the bloodlines of a sire where he may be perceived to be deficient, that is in his maternal line, by returning to him bloodlines from a mare of similar lineage that have shown themselves to be genetically stronger through performance.
The goal of Pedigree Matching then is to find a way to match up the bloodlines in the maternal lines of the sire with the lineage in the bloodlines of the dam. In the words of the experts this is called "Returning to the sire the best blood of his dam". Pedigree matching is not to be confused with "line breeding" which occurs when the top line of the sire matches the top line of the broodmare sire. This is a simple concept that ignores, however, the impact of the maternal line of both the sire and the dam on the mating.
Pedigree matching is new in name only as the original basis for the theory is to be found in Wallace’s American Trotting Register published in 1871, a publication that was the first attempt of its kind to document the history of the trotter in North America. Wallace was of the opinion that "like begets like" and that breeders would be wise to seek "to unite again two streams that originate in the same fountain, but that had been separated for a few generations." His theories have stood the test of time and are as valid today as they were over 130 years ago.
Successful breeders in the thoroughbred industry such as the Aga Khan and the legendary Federico Tesio derived their success from practising "balanced breeding", a concept that evolved from evidence that inbreeding and line breeding to selected ancestors through sons and daughters was far more successful than through sons alone or daughters alone. This finding confirms in a general way the basis for Wallace’s "two streams from the same fountain" theory.
The practice of Pedigree Matching or balanced breeding or whatever name you may want to give it would automatically provide the opportunity for the right genes to express themselves and result in top performers.
Breeding Or Buying the Best
The horse racing world is full of pedigree theories, beliefs, old wives tales and opinions when it comes to making the most important decisions that breeders or buyers must make – What to breed and what to buy with respect to pedigree. The success or failure of an investment in a race-horse hinges on these crucial decisions and a wrong decision can be, at the least, very expensive.
One fact that the reader should be aware of is that the pedigree of the horse, once chosen and delivered in the form of a foal, cannot be changed. The breeder can change the environment within which the foal is raised using best practices, the buyer can retain the best trainer available and protect his investment in other ways. The end result, however, if the pedigree is incorrect, is that best practices in breeding and ownership cannot reverse a bad stallion choice, making that decision the most important one a breeder can make, and the buyer recognize.
A breeder has limited opportunity to make correct stallion decisions for each mare since after several failed matings the damage to the mare and to the breeders reputation is essentially done and the future success of both is compromised. Success is the result of all of the confident decisions you make. Confidence comes from knowing the facts and being able to sort out fact from fiction.
Another fact that is indisputable is that less than 5% of the foals produced in North America will pay for themselves over their lifetime based on the ability to earn $100,000 or more. Such a return on investment is clearly inadequate to sustain the interest in both breeding and buying standardbreds. It is little wonder that we see that the number of industry participants is shrinking.
If, as someone once said, the pedigree is only 18% of what makes a great horse is true, then also consider the fact that it is the first 18% and if it is incorrect the other 82% is a waste of everyone’s time, effort and money. The most important percentage in the purchase or breeding of a top performer is the first 18%, the correct pedigree.
There are many horses that have high speed but make little or no money. Similarly there are many horses that judging by their parents should be world champions but are complete failures on the track and in the breeding shed. An examination of the pedigree will allow you to avoid such horses and focus on the ones with true earnings potential. Pedigrees can be presented in several ways and indeed can also be interpreted in different ways. Most people who attend harness racing are probably familiar with wagering on the races and the variety of ways there are to handicap the horses and try to pick the winners. Evaluating pedigrees is much the same process. Numbers, statistics and patterns are what you look at and the relative importance you put on these in combination is a very individual thing.
Patterns Of Success and Percentages
A Pattern of Success can be as simple as the position in the pedigree tree of certain ancestors or as complicated as counting up the number of times the pedigree traces back to some obscure ancestor that you consider important. In fact when you get familiar with pedigrees you will find that, just as in handicapping the races, the patterns of success inevitably have exceptions. It is important to remember, however, that success in owning Standardbreds, like all other sports, is a game of percentages and those who play the percentages in their favour will be the ones to succeed.
To play the percentages you have to know them. One key measuring stick to use in assessing pedigrees is the percentage of performers by a sire that earn $100,000 or more. Typically a successful sire or broodmare sire will average 15% or better. A yearling is clearly much more than just a combination of a sire and a broodmare sire and indeed every sire has a profile, or pattern, in relation to the mares with which he has most success.
Doing Your Homework
Like any other serious investment your chances of success are greatly improved when you understand the fundamentals of the business and make use of all the tools and information at your disposal to make the confident decisions needed to improve your percentages. The most important percentage in my mind, however, is the first 18%, the right pedigree.
The only factor that can be used with confidence is the correctness of the pedigree – does it fit the stallion’s profile - the proven or predicted pattern of success?
It is a relatively easy process to find out once you have learned how to do your homework. In today’s world of computers, high-speed communications and the Internet, we have a wealth of information upon which to make better, smarter, more confident decisions. Homework has never been easier and failing to do yours guarantees failed decisions.
I am a great fan of the great thoroughbred breeder Tesio and also of Marg Neal, a famous Canadian pedigree researcher, who was quoted in Hoofbeats as follows –
“The purpose of doing the paperwork is to produce the individual. Once the individual is on the racetrack, it doesn’t matter what the pedigree is. I’ve always talked about breeding for dominance – finding the individual that is the strongest aspect of the mare’s pedigree, then finding the stallion that has that individual in a certain place in his pedigree.”
“We have been conditioned by the restriction of catalogues and advertising to view our horses, at most, as three generation animals.There are a great many people out there today that will tell you there is no reason to look beyond the grandparents of any animal. I disagree. It is, however, a handy position to take for those unwilling to do their homework. There is a model of breeding that is like a pattern, and the pattern persists over generations, although, of course, the names change. I like to see a mare that is inbred, and a sire that is not.”
A friend of mine has won several lottery prizes while I have seldom won more than a free ticket and the occasional $5. The difference? He checks the frequency and patterns of successful numbers and buys his tickets accordingly. Even in a lottery you can improve your odds if you take the time to do your homework. The same applies to breeding and buying Standardbred horses. Then again you can sit back, play the guessing game and get what fate allows.
With the growing acceptance of semen transport small breeders can aspire to breed to any active sire listed in the United States Trotting Association publication The USTA Sires and Dams. Gone are the days when breeding to the stallion up the road, because he had a couple of good ones to the races last year, was a convenient way to handle your breeding requirements. Breeders cannot afford to take a chance that such an impromptu mating will succeed. They must make informed decisions based on pedigree and like any decision the chances of being right can be greatly improved with good research and a study of past statistics.
Successful breeders will spend time to research the best matches for their mares and can get most of the information they want through computer reports from the USTA or CTA (Canadian Trotting Association). The information they receive, though, is based on established sires and may be of little help if the boundaries of time, distance and cost make the "perfect" match unavailable or if the sire of interest is a new and unproven sire.
Among small breeders who stand their own stallion there is the tendency to breed all the farm mares to that one stud regardless of the pedigree match. Such matings will, in the long run, result in low success rates and lower prices for yearlings that far offset the short term savings involved. Smart stud owners will trade breedings with other farms to get the match that gives their mares the best chance of success.
Articles on breeding tend to focus on individual sires that have played a dominant role in recent breeding history. Matings are commonly described in terms of being Meadow Skipper 3 x 4 x 3, or Speedy Crown 5 x 4 x 4 x 5, a nomenclature which serves as much to confuse as it does to edify. The numbers relate to generations in the pedigree in which the sire of note appears. We must also contend with classifications such as line bred, inbred and incestuously bred as well as the much sought after outcross.
James C Harrison in his authoritative chapter on bloodlines and breeding in the USTA's book Care And Training Of The Trotter and Pacer, noted that " All the foundation sires of the breed were relatively short bred maternally in the sense that none of the female families that produced them ever established lasting maternal lines of their own". This would seem to infer that if you want to improve on something you must focus on the weaknesses, real or perceived, and that is where "Pedigree Matching" comes into play.
Pedigree matching presents an opportunity to improve on the bloodlines of a sire where he may be perceived to be deficient, that is in his maternal line, by returning to him bloodlines from a mare of similar lineage that have shown themselves to be genetically stronger through performance.
The goal of Pedigree Matching then is to find a way to match up the bloodlines in the maternal lines of the sire with the lineage in the bloodlines of the dam. In the words of the experts this is called "Returning to the sire the best blood of his dam". Pedigree matching is not to be confused with "line breeding" which occurs when the top line of the sire matches the top line of the broodmare sire. This is a simple concept that ignores, however, the impact of the maternal line of both the sire and the dam on the mating.
Pedigree matching is new in name only as the original basis for the theory is to be found in Wallace’s American Trotting Register published in 1871, a publication that was the first attempt of its kind to document the history of the trotter in North America. Wallace was of the opinion that "like begets like" and that breeders would be wise to seek "to unite again two streams that originate in the same fountain, but that had been separated for a few generations." His theories have stood the test of time and are as valid today as they were over 130 years ago.
Successful breeders in the thoroughbred industry such as the Aga Khan and the legendary Federico Tesio derived their success from practising "balanced breeding", a concept that evolved from evidence that inbreeding and line breeding to selected ancestors through sons and daughters was far more successful than through sons alone or daughters alone. This finding confirms in a general way the basis for Wallace’s "two streams from the same fountain" theory.
The practice of Pedigree Matching or balanced breeding or whatever name you may want to give it would automatically provide the opportunity for the right genes to express themselves and result in top performers.
Breeding Or Buying the Best
The horse racing world is full of pedigree theories, beliefs, old wives tales and opinions when it comes to making the most important decisions that breeders or buyers must make – What to breed and what to buy with respect to pedigree. The success or failure of an investment in a race-horse hinges on these crucial decisions and a wrong decision can be, at the least, very expensive.
One fact that the reader should be aware of is that the pedigree of the horse, once chosen and delivered in the form of a foal, cannot be changed. The breeder can change the environment within which the foal is raised using best practices, the buyer can retain the best trainer available and protect his investment in other ways. The end result, however, if the pedigree is incorrect, is that best practices in breeding and ownership cannot reverse a bad stallion choice, making that decision the most important one a breeder can make, and the buyer recognize.
A breeder has limited opportunity to make correct stallion decisions for each mare since after several failed matings the damage to the mare and to the breeders reputation is essentially done and the future success of both is compromised. Success is the result of all of the confident decisions you make. Confidence comes from knowing the facts and being able to sort out fact from fiction.
Another fact that is indisputable is that less than 5% of the foals produced in North America will pay for themselves over their lifetime based on the ability to earn $100,000 or more. Such a return on investment is clearly inadequate to sustain the interest in both breeding and buying standardbreds. It is little wonder that we see that the number of industry participants is shrinking.
If, as someone once said, the pedigree is only 18% of what makes a great horse is true, then also consider the fact that it is the first 18% and if it is incorrect the other 82% is a waste of everyone’s time, effort and money. The most important percentage in the purchase or breeding of a top performer is the first 18%, the correct pedigree.
There are many horses that have high speed but make little or no money. Similarly there are many horses that judging by their parents should be world champions but are complete failures on the track and in the breeding shed. An examination of the pedigree will allow you to avoid such horses and focus on the ones with true earnings potential. Pedigrees can be presented in several ways and indeed can also be interpreted in different ways. Most people who attend harness racing are probably familiar with wagering on the races and the variety of ways there are to handicap the horses and try to pick the winners. Evaluating pedigrees is much the same process. Numbers, statistics and patterns are what you look at and the relative importance you put on these in combination is a very individual thing.
Patterns Of Success and Percentages
A Pattern of Success can be as simple as the position in the pedigree tree of certain ancestors or as complicated as counting up the number of times the pedigree traces back to some obscure ancestor that you consider important. In fact when you get familiar with pedigrees you will find that, just as in handicapping the races, the patterns of success inevitably have exceptions. It is important to remember, however, that success in owning Standardbreds, like all other sports, is a game of percentages and those who play the percentages in their favour will be the ones to succeed.
To play the percentages you have to know them. One key measuring stick to use in assessing pedigrees is the percentage of performers by a sire that earn $100,000 or more. Typically a successful sire or broodmare sire will average 15% or better. A yearling is clearly much more than just a combination of a sire and a broodmare sire and indeed every sire has a profile, or pattern, in relation to the mares with which he has most success.
Doing Your Homework
Like any other serious investment your chances of success are greatly improved when you understand the fundamentals of the business and make use of all the tools and information at your disposal to make the confident decisions needed to improve your percentages. The most important percentage in my mind, however, is the first 18%, the right pedigree.
The only factor that can be used with confidence is the correctness of the pedigree – does it fit the stallion’s profile - the proven or predicted pattern of success?
It is a relatively easy process to find out once you have learned how to do your homework. In today’s world of computers, high-speed communications and the Internet, we have a wealth of information upon which to make better, smarter, more confident decisions. Homework has never been easier and failing to do yours guarantees failed decisions.
I am a great fan of the great thoroughbred breeder Tesio and also of Marg Neal, a famous Canadian pedigree researcher, who was quoted in Hoofbeats as follows –
“The purpose of doing the paperwork is to produce the individual. Once the individual is on the racetrack, it doesn’t matter what the pedigree is. I’ve always talked about breeding for dominance – finding the individual that is the strongest aspect of the mare’s pedigree, then finding the stallion that has that individual in a certain place in his pedigree.”
“We have been conditioned by the restriction of catalogues and advertising to view our horses, at most, as three generation animals.There are a great many people out there today that will tell you there is no reason to look beyond the grandparents of any animal. I disagree. It is, however, a handy position to take for those unwilling to do their homework. There is a model of breeding that is like a pattern, and the pattern persists over generations, although, of course, the names change. I like to see a mare that is inbred, and a sire that is not.”
A friend of mine has won several lottery prizes while I have seldom won more than a free ticket and the occasional $5. The difference? He checks the frequency and patterns of successful numbers and buys his tickets accordingly. Even in a lottery you can improve your odds if you take the time to do your homework. The same applies to breeding and buying Standardbred horses. Then again you can sit back, play the guessing game and get what fate allows.
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