By Alan Porter
The second day of Keeneland’s January sale sees several short yearlings with impressive TrueNicks ratings. The group is topped by hip 397, a filly by Aldebaran out of the multiple stakes-winning and graded stakes-placed Quick Lap, a daughter of the Danzig horse Nicholas. That stallion hasn’t exactly been renowned as a broodmare sire, but a TrueNicks report run on the sale filly reveals that there have already been two stakes winners by sons of Aldebaran’s sire, Mr. Prospector, out of mares by Nicholas. Rather intriguingly, one of those is by Gulch, the broodmare sire of Quick Lap.
Forest Wildcat earned a mention yesterday, and he’s back on the sheets again with hip 421, a short yearling out the Secretariat mare Secret Imperatrice. This colt is a half-brother to stakes winner Sudden Storm (by Forest Wildcat’s grandsire, Storm Bird), in addition to stakes-placed Colonel Bradley (by Rubiano) and High Action (by Theatrical (IRE)). The colt’s dam is also a stakes winner.
Very early on day two comes hip 371, a short yearling colt from the only crop of the ill-fated Horse of the Year, Saint Liam. This is rather an interesting one, in that it is bred on a cross that has generally underperformed – that of Halo-line stallions over Damascus-line mares. However, the TrueNicks system has isolated a specific version of the cross as working very well: that of Halo-line stallions over mares by Time for a Change. This cross has produced at least five stakes winners, among them Portsea, the listed stakes-winning half-sister to hip 371.
Among the "carried foals" on day two, the Storm Cat line runs wild, with two by Johannesburg, and others from the first crops of First Samurai, Grand Reward, and Consolidator. Topping the charts is the Japanese-bred Sunday Silence mare Moere Gold, who is offered in foal to Johannesburg, creating the Johannesburg/Halo cross that has already produced graded winner Teuflesberg and stakes winner Fernando Po.
Not far behind is the stakes-placed Thunder Gulch mare Sean’s Baby, whose foal will be bred on the same cross – Johannesburg/Gulch – as group/graded winners Hamoody and Baroness Thatcher. Sandwiched between the Johannesburg duo is hip 594, the Mazel Trick mare Exclusive Print, who is carrying a foal from the first crop of Sharp Humor. This earns the carried foal an A++ rating on the basis of the Distorted Humor/Phone Trick cross, which has already produced listed winner.
