Bloodlines

Just finished reading the top picks for the juvenile sires (Who Will be the Leading Freshman Sire of 2026? and More Predictions), and rubbing more than two nickels together over calling Essential Quality as top second-crop sire and having clients with mares already under that horse, I thought I would take a crack at the 2023 sires. Top Pick: Life Is Good ($60,000, WinStar) The classic Into Mischief-over-Distorted Humor has proven to be a winner and that nick will unabashedly continue to produce runners. The horse was fast, and his...

With the first major 2-year-old sale, OBS March, now in the books, and the next round, the OBS April sale, right around the corner, it's time for some predictions. We asked the experts who their pick is for leading freshman sire and also asked them for a "sleeper pick," or a stallion that will perform beyond expectations. Here's what they had to say: STEVE VENOSA Top Pick: Jackie's Warrior (Spendthrift Farm, $25,000) Training them this year, I think the obvious two horses are Jackie's Warrior and Drain the Clock. They...

The intuitive platform Stallion Match might be based in Australia but their expertise and client list don't emanate from a single national boundary. The site is a dedicated global resource where breeders anywhere can hypothetically mate their mares for free with any stallion on the planet. Matthew Ennis is the managing director and he says that Stallion Match is all about providing fast and practical decision-making support. "Stallion Match was born out of G1 Goldmine," Ennis said. "For more than a decade, we've provided a service where farms can promote...

Florence, KY--"Okay, I'm coming!" said Kaitlin Free. Bursting into a small room sandwiched between the announcer's booth and Free's broadcast studio at Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky, the Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI) analyst was only halfway through applying her mascara and eyeliner, but that wasn't going to stop her from watching Flood Zone (Frosted) take the GII Gotham Stakes. With half her face on and the other 'au naturel,' Free's eyes were glued to the screen as she watched intently, offered an assessment as the field blazed for the far...

The only rule is that there are no rules. Some of our most expensive freshmen are entering precisely the end game that drove their purchase: Arabian Knight (Uncle Mo) and Muth (Good Magic) cost $2.3 million and $2 million respectively, as juveniles; Prince of Monaco (Speightstown) was a $950,000 yearling. Yet the GI Kentucky Derby remains as likely to be won by a $30,000 claim like Rich Strike (Keen Ice) or, most recently, a son of the $10,000 cover Goldencents. Last week, we saluted the advent of a $2,500 yearling...

Fasig-Tipton has released the first group of supplemental entries for its Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale--adding 27 head to the auction--which will take place on Monday, Feb. 3, beginning at 10 a.m. ET in Lexington, Kentucky, the company said via a press release on Wednesday. These latest entries, catalogued as hip 349-375, include: Greavette (Astern {Aus}) (Hip 356): 4-year-old MSW is consigned as a racing/broodmare prospect by Grovendale Sales, agent. R Harper Rose (Khozan) (Hip 364): Four-year-old who won the GIII Forward Gal Stakes last year. Consigned as a racing/broodmare prospect...

Whatever Next? It's as big a question for the throwback gelding of that name as for his sire, both standing at an exciting crossroads in their respective careers. Next's domination of a niche division of the American Turf is now such that he may now try to adapt to a more competitive, mainstream discipline at the Breeders' Cup. But whether this switch concerns distance or surface, in the Classic or Turf respectively, nobody should be surprised if the gray proves equal to the challenge. For his sire Not This Time...

If you are a student of pedigrees, you'll know of Franco Varola and Abram S. Hewitt. If not, take my word for it that they were two giants in the field of pedigree research, and both were excellent writers. Varola, an Italian whose first name was Francesco, is known for two iconic books, "Typology of the Racehorse" and "The Functional Development of the Thoroughbred," both of which examined influential stallions by aptitude and classified them as "chefs-de-race" within the dosage framework originally developed by Lt. Col. J.J. Vuillier at the...