Unbridled’s Song leads the North American sires of 2017 list, primarily on the exploits of his son Arrogate, who has now retired at precisely the time that his sire might finally, posthumously, become a consistent sire of consistent sires.
From a paucity of foals compared to stallions whose sons are all over the place, Dixie Union has emerged as a fairly nifty sire of sires and might become as favorably viewed as a broodmare sire of stallions.
Say what you will about the quality of the fields as the Breeders' Cup approaches, but in this corner the two best racehorses in the world will not be there: Enable and Winx. Each achieved historic status in opposite hemispheres in October.
Mizzen Mast was both a carbon copy of his sire Cozzene (on turf) and an accomplished versatile runner, as seen with his graded stakes wins, on the dirt. He was virtually a throwback in pedigree to what had worked in the last half of the 20th century.
Don’t look now but it appears Distorted Humor has got us surrounded...it’s just a sneaky fact stemming from an examination of a variety of stallion lists over the past few months.
After a trio of yearling sales at which some of the first-crop stallions were represented by a limited number of offspring comes the deluge at Keeneland September sale and the inaugural Fasig-Tipton Turf Showcase sale.
First Samurai, as is the case for most of the other sons of Giant's Causeway, is a bit different from his sire phenotypically in that he is imbued with a good deal more power in his make-up.
The hypothesis here is that there has never been a horse bred in North America that has achieved greater influence as a broodmare sire of line-founding stallions than the son of Bold Ruler (Nasrullah—Miss Disco, by Discovery).
Much like in his racing career, Quality Road’s stud exploits reflect the versatility of both his wide-ranging female family and his sire.
Yes It’s True is quite likely the most prominent manifestation of a sire line that has not deviated from its founder’s racing and breeding aptitudes for more than a half-century, that of Bold Ruler’s brilliant son Raja Baba.
The most impressive performance on the Belmont Stakes card was by a somewhat unheralded New York-bred by the name of Disco Partner.
Smart Strike’s biomechanical profile reveals he was a natural two-turn individual with as much power as stride, the kind of horse that can get out there and stalk and then keep going until the rest are left behind.
Maclean’s Music is a powerful miler-type who closely resembles his sire physically and biomechanically.
That Always Dreaming came home on top in the Derby might not have surprised handicappers. However, the result underscored the importance of this rapidly emerging branch of a line which is often misidentified as that of Fappiano, sire of Unbridled.
One might wonder why the Unbridled sire line has seemed to be spectacular in spurts. Part of the reason could be phenotypical.
A “hidden” sire-line story has emerged in two hemispheres bracketed by one daughter (Winx) and one son (Street Boss). They serve to remind us of how much influence the late Street Cry has exerted on the international breeding scene.
A.P. Indy has a son out there whose own sons have yet to show their potential—and each of the most promising ones has his first foals about to race.
During the past decade Argentina's stallion profile has become overwhelmingly North American, with a paucity of indigenously bred stallions able to succeed as more refined specimens made their way to the Pampas.
Last year, we undertook a review of the prospects of stallions with first 2-year-olds of 2016. The series focused on pedigree and biomechanical values as well as on our impressions of how their offspring performed at the juvenile sales.
What is extraordinary is the number of pedigree interrelationships that bind most of the champions.
Who he really is a son of A. P. Indy, already one of the great American sires.
Munnings the Thoroughbred was bred in the purple and is as traditional in that respect as any young stallion these days.
We looked at the eight stallions in the entire Harlan sire line as well as Storm Cat and Storm Bird and discovered that except for Storm Cat and one descendant of Harlan’s Holiday, this tribe rubs elbows very closely phenotypically.
Halo is still exerting an influence on four continents through just two sons.
In terms of an emerging force as a broodmare sire, 2016 season has been the year of the kid: Lemon Drop Kid, that is.
Passing almost unnoticed in early October was the death of Quiet American, one of the most intriguingly successful, yet somewhat overlooked, members of a tribe whose physical attributes have revolutionized racing and breeding in North America.
The upcoming mixed sales in Kentucky will be the first time we will be able to see a cornucopia of weanlings from stallions that entered stud in 2015.
In order to give some insight into what buyers might expect from how the freshmen sires of 2016 are doing, we’ve come up with some statistical compilations to project where they might be long-term.
Taking a journey into prognostication, we've hypothesized what might happen were mares by Galileo to meet up in the breeding shed with Tapit or his sons.
Freud is the most successful stallion to have entered stud in New York and stayed there, but he cannot escape comparisons with his full brother Giant's Causeway.
In our first installment we focused on the new stallions with a half-dozen or more yearlings in the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July sale. Here we will look at 11 other stallions—those that had 50 or more foals in their first crop.
If your brain can sniff out what you remember about Songbird's third dam Torsion Belle, whose four black-type horses appear as siblings to Songbird’s second dam Beaty Sark (by Deputy Minister), a few bells might have started to ring.
Here we go again, folks. The first yearling sale of 2016 will take place July 12 at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky’s base in Lexington, and of the 347 cataloged, 122 (35%) are by 23 stallions that entered stud in 2014.
There are two overriding theories of how breeders decide on a mating for racing, and possible future breeding success: Paper Pedigree Analysis and Physical Analysis.
Examining a widely held hypothesis that Belmont Stakes (gr. I) winners are not taken as seriously as potential commercial stallions as winners of the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) or Preakness Stakes (gr. I), or both.
The legacy of El Prado, who has emerged as a serious sire-line contender through two sons whose race records and stud accomplishments could not be more diverse.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Triple Crown series of 1966 when one horse almost swept the prize, but another horse who never ran in any of those races was named champion 3-year-old male.
Examining the family of Red Sunset for a look at why Thoroughbred families die.
When compared with all the other stallions that retired in 2011, Kantharos came out on top on our weighted average projections.
Judging by how they looked at Gulfstream and Ocala, the seven by Hansen left little doubt that he will help establish Tapit as an emerging sire-of-sires.
We have a unique opportunity to examine both the completely opposite pedigree patterns and remarkably similar biomechanical structures of three leading classics candidates.
Unbridled was the product of a rather atypical son of Mr. Prospector in Fappiano, whose size and length and driving power came from his broodmare sire, Dr. Fager.
Six stallions that are male-line descendants of A.P. Indy are represented in the upcoming Fasig-Tipton Florida juvenile sale.
When Rock Sand swept the English Triple Crown series in 1903, many thought him lucky not to have faced Zinfandel.
The unpredictable nature of this business is illustrated by Colonel John, a top-class runner whose fee dropped to $7,500 for 2016 and suddenly has a pair of colts on the Derby Trail.
Almahmoud, a fairly successful producer in her own lifetime, has become one of the great influences on the modern Thoroughbred.
Looking back to the weekend of Nov. 21-22, when no less than five sons of Giant's Causeway were represented by stakes winners in North America.
In spite of his tremendous accomplishments as a racehorse, Affirmed went to stud in 1980 with modest expectations compared to those being heaped on American Pharoah.
William 'Scott Billy' Buford, left a significant legacy through the sisters Idlewild and Aerolite.
Scat Daddy, a son of Johannesburg, and a great-grandson of Storm Cat, was represented by his seventh and eighth Northern Hemisphere 2-year-old stakes winners of 2015 in Surfside Tiara and Get Jets.
