Freshman Report Card for Keeneland April Sale

Alan analyzes first-crop sires of 2-year-olds represented at the Keeneland April sale in a featured article in The Blood-Horse Data Digest (preview below). If you’d like to follow along in the Keeneland catalog while reading, it’s available here.

Coming into the Keeneland April 2-year-olds in training sale, TrueNicks turns its eye on the freshman sire class of 2008. Below are notes on all hips by freshman sires that rate B+ or higher.

Graded stakes-winning sprinter Canadian Frontier (Gone West – Borodislew, by Seattle Slew) will be hoping to enhance his sire’s considerable reputation as a sire of sires. He has an A+ rated daughter in Hip 10, a filly out of the Desert Wine mare Desert Victress. She is rated on the basis of the Gone West/Desert Wine cross that has also produced grade I winners Maryfield and Celtic Melody. She is half sister to graded winner Desert Digger (by Mining, who is from the same Mr. Prospector line as Canadian Frontier). The dam is half sister to four stakes winners, including the multiple graded winning sprinter Explicit.

One of horses who looks sure to be in the thick of the fight for the freshman sire race is Lion Heart (Tale of the Cat – Satin Sunrise, by Mr. Leader)… Download the free Data Digest to continue

TrueNicks Top 10 for OBS March

Topping the charts is hip #308, a colt from the second crop of Zavata (TrueNicks, SRO), out of the Pine Bluff mare Fair Miss, a half sister to Irish stakes winner Steaming Home, from the family of Corporate Report. Bred on the Phone Trick/Pine Bluff cross that has also produced stakes winners Who’s Happy and Call Me Wild, this colt is also inbred to Mr. Prospector.

A couple of breeders seem to have had crystal balls in operation, as they sent Wild Again mares to Tapit, a son of Pulpit. This is rather opportune, since Pulpit now has Kentucky Derby prospect Pyro out of a Wild Again mare. The mating also gives the second highest variant score of the OBS March horses. The first of these is hip #160, a filly out of stakes-placed Wild and Icy, already dam of the stakes-placed Storm Boot daughter Ice Storm Coming. A half sister to stakes winner Native Russian, Wild and Icy is out of Native Paster, a stakes winner who set a new world record for 6 1/2 furlongs. Not long after comes hip #169. She has an even closer connection to Pyro, as her dam, the stakes winning Your Call, is three-parts sister to the dam of Pyro.

Hip #290 is a Florida-bred filly by Trippi out of Drymytears, a daughter of Pentelicus and half sister to $445,700 earner Castlebrook. There have already been two stakes winners by End Sweep (sire of Trippi) and a son out of Pentelicus mares, and this one has a clever twist, as both Trippi and Pentelicus are bred on a Mr. Prospector/In Reality cross. Trippi has another representative in hip 66, a filly out of the Cox’s Ridge mare Sennen Cove. This half brother to stakes winner and graded stakes-placed Ensign Ray is bred on the same cross as Trippi’s juvenile star Green Vegas. (More…)

Top 10 at Barretts March Sale

With the Barretts March Sale of 2-year-olds in training coming up next week, TrueNicks turns the spotlight on the West Coast, with some notes on the TrueNicks top 10 rated horses in the sale.

The highest rated sale horse, hip #49, is bred for speed, being a son of grade I winning sprinter Trippi. Out of Meteoric, a daughter of Pentelicus who set a track-record for 4 1/2 furlongs at Delaware Park. Both Trippi’s sire, End Sweep, and that stallion’s son Precise End have sired stakes winners out of daughters of Pentelicus. There is an extra twist here, as both Trippi and Pentelicus are Mr. Prospector/In Reality crosses. (More…)

Sky Mesa Colt’s Speed is No Surprise

Fastest work at the under tack show for Tuesday’s Fasig-Tipton Calder 2-Year-Old in Training sale was a colt by Sky Mesa (TrueNicks, SRO) out of Secondary School, by Honor Grades.

The colt — who broke the 10-second mark — is rated an A+ by TrueNicks on the basis of the Pulpit/Danzig cross, but has several other interesting pedigree features. (More…)

Keeneland January Preview: Day Seven

Alan Porter has been asked to preview each day of the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale. His comments appear on BloodHorseNOW.com, including a special page in that publication’s daily PDF newsletter, which is distributed each day at the salegrounds.

As part of Alan’s notes, he has provided a Top 10 list of the short yearlings offered each day, and another Top 10 list of the sale’s “carried foals”–all according to their TrueNicks variant score.

Here’s a free preview: Keeneland January: Day Seven.

Check in each day for the most current Top 10 lists and commentary.

Keeneland January Preview: Day Six

Alan’s Day Six preview: Keeneland January: Day Six

Keeneland January Preview: Day Five

Alan’s Day Five preview: Keeneland January: Day Five