It is rare when a stallion, even the best of stallions, sires three SWs during the same week, or even during the same month, for that matter. But, that is exactly what Cheveley Park Stud’s Pivotal accomplished, not in a week or a month, but on the same Day when his First-Time SWs Heaven Sent (WNR: A), Jazz Jam (WNR: A), and Il Warrd (WNR: B+) won listed stakes in Great Britain on April 12. To make this feat even more unique, all of them won at the same distance (one mile) and on all-weather surfaces. Not done yet, just four days later Pivotal’s 3yo daughter Infallible (WNR: A++) won the G3 Nell Gwyn Stakes. Pivotal stands for 85,000 euros (about $150,000) and is considered one of Europe’s premier stallions.

Pivotal was not alone in producing three SWs that day. Daughters of Rahy were also responsible for three SWs — Rutherienne (WNR: A++), winner of the G2 Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland, as well as the previously mentioned Jazz Jam and Heaven Sent.

While Rahy has done little as a sire of sires, he has become a broodmare sire extraordinaire. So far in 2008, he is the second leading broodmare sire of unrestricted SWs with seven. To date, daughters of Rahy have produced 44 unrestricted SWs, including five G1 winners. As a complete outcross to Northern Dancer and Raise a Native, Rahy should prove to be a major player in the production of high-class stakes performers for years to come, especially considering that he’s still active at stud.

The Pivotal/Rahy nick certainly looks to a mega-nick in the making. In addition to Jazz Jam and Heaven Sent, G1 winner Megahertz is by Pivotal out of the Rahy mare Heavenly Ray. In fact, three of the four Pivotal/Rahy foals of racing age are SWs! Even the most ardent detractor of the power of the nick would have difficulty dismissing this one.

Considering the Pivotal/Rahy strike rate to date, it will be very interesting to follow the careers of the only two registered Pivotal/Rahy 2yo’s this year - the colt Count Paris (Pivotal-Dearly, by Rahy), and the filly Funhouse (Pivotal-Fun and Games, by Rahy.

(This article appeared in the April 25, 2008 issue of Thoroughbred Daily News and is reprinted here with their permission) WNR: the Werk Nick Rating

Note: On May 3, Heaven Sent won the G3 Dahlia Stakes in Great Britain!

Longtime WTC client Mike Ueltzen, who races under Germania Farms, was featured in the Washington Post last week. His homebred 3YO Gattopardo had placed 1st or 2nd in all six of his starts, including a victory in the Miracle Wood Stakes, prior to the G3 Bay Store Stakes at Aqueduct Park last Saturday. While Gattopardo didn’t win after running into the lone front-running J Be K, he did place 2nd with ease, keeping his 1-2 record intact. By the way, Gattopardo has a Werk Nick Rating of A+ and is a five-generation outcross. This Maryland-bred should be fresh and waiting in the weeds at Pimlico come Preakness day!

If you’d like the read the complete Washington Post article, go to:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/04/AR2008040403198_pf.html

In my March 28th blog, I said I would be making three major announcements this month with regards to Werk Thoroughbred Consultants and eNicks.com. Since then, I’ve announced strategic partnerships with TDN/Thoroughbred Daily News, and the Australian Bloodhorse Review & www.stallions.com.au.  Now, number three:

I feel that the Thoroughbred Times online stallion directory is the most informative and user-friendly national (actually international) stallion register in the industry. Now it’s even better with an eNicks link for enrolled stallions. When viewing the Times online directory page for a stallion, breeders can now click the eNicks button and match their mares with the farms stallion, much the same way as they do now at the farm websites.

Conversely, when breeders retrieve the Werk Nick Rating for a prospective mating at www.enicks.com, a Thoroughbred Times link displays, allowing breeders to view the Times online directory page for that stallion.

I am particularly pleased to have formed these strategic partnerships with three such highly-respected industry organizations.

The Thoroughbred Daily News and Werk Thoroughbred Consultants have added two new features to their respective websites.

WTC’s eNicks.com now displays a TDN Stallion Progeny PP’s link for eNick-enrolled stallions that are also enrolled in TDN’s Stallion Progeny and Sales PP’s. This allows breeders to get instant access to that stallion’s recent progeny performance stats including charts, video, etc. while doing prospective matings.

Conversely, an eNicks link is now included on TDN’s enrolled stallions Progeny PP’s pages allowing users to do prospective matings and view the Werk Nick Rating and 5-cross pedigree for them.

The current list of leading sires of unrestricted SWs could be signaling a changing of the guard. Five of the top 10 stallions are under 13-year-old. Indian Charlie and Tribal Rule are 12, Giant’s Causeway and Malibu Moon are 11, and Johannesburg is just nine.

Two of these five, Ashford Stud’s Giant’s Causeway and Johannesburg, are tied for second place with four unrestricted SWs after coming off from big weekends. Giant’s Causeway’s son Heatseeker (Werk Nick Rating: A+) won the G1 Santa Anita Hcp., while Johannesburg was represented by two SWs – Ten Meropa (Werk Nick Rating: A), winner of the G3 Baldwin Stakes, and Gattopardo (Werk Nick Rating: A+), winner of the Miracle Wood Stakes.

To date, Giant’s Causeway is Storm Cat’s best son at stud. There are many ways to measure the success of a stallion. One of the factors I consider when evaluating higher-priced stallions is the number of G1 winners he’s sired. Giant’s Causeway’s star shines bright in this category. With four crops to race, he’s had seven G1 winners, or 1.75 per crop. Granted, he’s done this with very large crops. In fact, his first two crops totaled 303 foals, but he’s sired 10% SWs from those two crops, a remarkable percentage in this day and age. As Bill Oppenheim has pointed out several times in TDN, yesterday’s 10% SWs is today’s 6% SWs with the large foal crops. With these kind of numbers and two colts on the Derby Trail (undefeated Giant’s Moon and Tropical Park Derby winner Cowboy Cal), his $125,000 stud fee should look very, very attractive to breeders right now.

Johannesburg was a truly remarkable racehorse. He was a perfect seven for seven at two, while winning six stakes and named champion 2-year-old colt in England, Ireland, France, and the U.S. By recently-deceased Hennessy, another of Storm Cat’s best sons, and out of a strong Claiborne-family mare-line, he has the right ingredients to become a major stallion, and he’s showing all the rights signs from his first two crops to race. He was a very close second to Street Cry for leading freshman sire honors in 2006. He’s sired 11 first-crop SWs to date (from 143 foals), including G1 winner Scat Daddy and G2 winner Teuflesberg. His smaller second crop (114 foals) just turned three and includes four SWs. The star of the crop is G2 winner and Kentucky Derby candidate Eaton’s Gift. Another important factor is the class of the SWs a stallion produces. Johannesburg excels in this arena as 10 of 15 SWs are graded.

In the next few years it will be interesting to see which of the young lions replace the aging elite. I’m betting Ashford’s dynamic duo will be two of them!

NO. AMERICAN SIRES OF 2008 UNRESTRICTED SWS (Thru 3/2/08)

UNBRIDLED’S SONG (Unbridled) - KY - 6 SWs

GIANT’S CAUSEWAY (Storm Cat) - KY - 4 SWs

JOHANNESBURG (Hennessy) - KY - 4 SWs

A.P. INDY (Seattle Slew) - KY - 3 SWs

EL PRADO (Sadler’s Wells) - KY - 3 SWs

INDIAN CHARLIE (In Excess) - KY - 3 SWs

MALIBU MOON (A.P. Indy) - KY - 3 SWs

SMOKE GLACKEN (Two Punch) - KY - 3 SWs

TRIBAL RULE (Storm Cat) - CA - 3 SWs

I’m very pleased to announce that we’ve formed a partnership with Australia’s Andrew Reichard to offer our entire eNicks program to Australian and New Zealand breeders and stud farms. Reichard is the publisher of The Australian Bloodhorse Review, Australia’s No. 1 thoroughbred publication, and co-owner of www.stallions.com.au/ Australia’s No. 1 thoroughbred website. He also published Great Thoroughbred Sires of the World in 2006, the definitive book on great thoroughbred stallions.

For those readers of the industry’s premier daily, Thoroughbred Daily News, you probably noticed over the weekend that the Werk Nick Rating is now included with their listed stakes winner results, along with a link to each winner’s eNick report and 5-cross pedigree. Considering the popularity of the Werk Nick Rating among breeders and buyers, and phenomenal growth of www.enicks.com, TDN and WTC felt the time was right to make this information available to TDN readers. WTC will be making several more important announcements in March. Stay tuned!

After ending a record year for eNicks in 2007 with over 750,000 Werk Nick Ratings™ retrieved, our enicks.com website has started out 2008 with a bang - recording new record months for January and February with nearly 200,000 WNR retrievals. With over 600 stallions now enrolled and our new “View SWs on this cross” feature, the Werk Nick Rating continues to be the industry standard for thoroughbred nicks. But, rest assured we are not resting on our laurels. March should be a month to remember as we will be making three major announcements that will benefit users and stud farms alike. Stay tuned!

February 8, 2008 marked the 25th anniversary of, possibly, the most horrific act in the annals of horseracing — the kidnapping of Shergar, winner of the 1981 English Derby by a record 10 lengths! Most of the industry old-timers still have a vivid memory of the event, but I doubt that many of the new-comers to the business know the story. One of my clients emailed me a fascinating article that appeared in on the Telegraph.co.uk titled “The truth about Shergar racehorse kidnapping” by Andrew Alderson, which solves the mystery of Shergar’s final hours. Since I haven’t seen anything about this in the American press, I thought I’d share it with our readers. Read the story

With the overpowering dominance of the Kentucky stallion market, it is an uphill battle for regional stallion markets to compete for the better stallions. And, when a regional stallion makes a national impact, the big Kentucky dollars usually win out. While has been a particularly big problem for Florida dating all the way back to the days of Mr. Prospector, no state has been immune.

Nevertheless, regional markets do give stallions a chance to flourish when they would probably never have gotten the opportunity in Kentucky. Like “horses for courses,” it’s pretty clear that there are “stallions for regions.” These are stallions whose produce progeny excel in particular racing environment for a variety of reasons, everything from climate to track surfaces. Examples include Vice Regent and Bold Ruckus in Canada; Knights Choice and Slewdledo in Washington; Flying Paster and Pirate’s Bounty in California; Smarten and Caveat in Maryland; Valid Appeal and Baldski in Florida; and Talc and Cormorant in New York.

So, who might be New York’s next Talc or Cormorant? A review of New York’s leading active sires by progeny earnings for 2007 might give us a clue. The current leader as well as leading New York sire in 2006 is Catienus, Unfortunately for New York breeders, Catienus is now headed back to Kentucky for the 2008 breeding season.

Ranked No. 2 is Golden Missile, who has moved from Adena Springs Kentucky to Milfer Farm for the 2008 breeding season. With all of the A.P. Indy’s at stud in Kentucky, Golden Missile may have gotten lost in the shuffle. At $7,500, he looks to be good value for New York breeders when you consider he’s sired seven stakes winners from his first four crops, including G1 winner In the Gold, G2 winner Cobalt Blue, and G3 winner Inspiring. In addition, he is averaging $36,819 per starter.

Ranked No. 3 in 2007 is another Kentucky transplant — Empire Stud’s Chief Seattle. After standing his first four years at Spendthrift Farm, Chief Seattle moved to Empire Stud in 2006, with his first New York crop running in 2009. With three crops to race, Chief Seattle sired nine stakes winners, including G2 winner Seafree, and G3 winner Shillelagh Slew. With average earnings per starter a healthy $38,892, he looks like a good bet for New York breeders at $5,000.

Currently ranked No. 4 after finishing third in 2006 is yet another Kentucky transplant, Artax. With five crops to race, Artax has sired six stakes winners, one of them being NYRA G1 winner Friendly Michelle. And, his progeny are getting average earnings of $40,904 per starter. Unfortunately, Artax has been a bit of vagabond, standing first at Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky, then Metropolitan Stud in Pine Plains, NY, and most recently at Keane Stud in Armenia, NY.

Both Golden Missile and Chief Seattle have no New York crops running yet so it remains to be seen how they will do in New York, but their stats to date are very encouraging. In the case of Artax, it’s a mute point as his connections are moving him again to parts unknown.

Sequel Stallions’ Freud is ranked No. 5 in 2007, after coming in No. 10 in 2006. Freud is the top-ranked stallion this year among those who have actually stood their entire careers in New York.

As a full brother to Giant’s Causeway, Freud has impeccable credentials from a pedigree standpoint. While he did not live up to his big brother on the racetrack, he did manage to become a G2-placed winner.

With just three crops racing, Freud’s No. 5 ranking is even more impressive, especially considering his three crops total just 127 registered foals. He has four stakes winners to date plus another 17 stakes-placed winners, giving him an amazing 16.5% stakes horses from foals! Couple that with average earnings per starter of $45,420 (highest of the top five-ranked New York stallions), and Freud appears to be a serious contender to become New York’s next Talc or Cormorant.

Ranked No. 6 in 2007 is Highcliff Farm’s Western Expression. Like Freud, has stood his entire career in New York and has four crops racing. His pedigree is outstanding. He’s by Gone West, who is making a reputation for himself as a sire of sires with the likes of Mr. Greeley, Elusive Quality, Grand Slam, Proud Citizen, etc. in Kentucky. and Zafonic and Zamindar in Europe. His bottom side isn’t bad either - he’s out of a daughter of Con Game, making her a half sister to Seeking the Gold.

His runners are proving to be hard-knocking’ and competitive. They’ve averaged $39,345 per starter, third-best among the top six New York stallions. With three stakes winners and eight stakes-placed winners to date from four relatively small crops, Western Expression looks to be poised to become a force among the New York stallion ranks.

Currently No. 7 in 2007 after ranking No. 5 in 2006 is venerable old-timer Regal Classic, who has already proven to be one of New York’s finest. Standing first in Canada and then Kentucky, he took up residence at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in 2002, where he has been a mainstay at or near the top of the New York stallion ranks ever since. With 15 crops to race, his stats are amazing – 81% starters, 62% winners to foals, average earnings per starter of $61,228, 50 stakes winners, 48 stakes-placed winners, and three champions. Enough said!

Ranked No. 8 is Eltish. Eltish stood his first five seasons in Florida before moving to Saratoga Glen Farm and relocating to Keene Stud for 2008. He was a versatile runner, winning on the dirt and turf, long and short. Though his sire Cox’s Ridge has not excelled as a sire of sires, both Eltish and Out of Place, also by Cox’s Ridge, have proven to be solid sires. With seven crops to race, Eltish has sired 74% starters, 55% winners to foals, average earnings per runner of $42,968, 10 stakes winners, and nine stakes-placed winners. His first New York-bred crop will race in 2010, and he certainly looks like good value at $3,500 based on his runners to date.

Ranked No. 9 is Prime Timber. Coincidentally, he is a grandson of Cox’s Ridge. He retired to Sez Who Thoroughbreds North in Stillwater, NY in 2002. He’s off to a strong start with three crops to race – 85 starters from 120 registered foals (71%) of racing age, 57 winners (48%), three stakes winners and four stakes-placed winners, and average earnings per starter of $40,645.

Rounding out the top ten active New York stallions is Sugar Maple Farm’s A. P Jet. He now has eight crops to race and they are all New York-breds, which is probably why he is No. 1 among the top ten with average earnings per runner of $50,710 His other numbers aren’t bad either – 77% starters, 55% winners to foals, 11 stakes winners and 14 stakes-placed winners. A. P Jet’s average earnings per runner underscore the financial benefits of racing New York-breds.

There are several other young stallions to keep an eye. Sequel Stallions Hook and Ladder has his first crop are racing in 2007 they’re off to an eye-catching start. Two of his seven winners to date are stakes winners and another is G3-placed. All of this is good enough to have him ranked No. 22 among New York’s active leading sires while just having two-year-olds running!

Another freshman sire to watch is McMahon of Saratoga’s Desert Warrior. A multiple stakes-placed winner, Desert Warrior is by sire of sires Deputy Minister out of a Secretariat mare (as is A.P. Indy, Storm Cat, and Gone West) who is a full sister to Terlingua, the dam of Storm Cat. What a stallion prospect! He’s had four juvenile winners to date and I expect to see him highly ranked among New York stallions in the not too distant future.

Among the New York stallions with first runners in 2008, there are two in particularly I like. The first is Questroyal Stud’s Roaring Fever, a stakes winner and multiple graded stakes-placed winner of over $219.000. He’s by leading sire of sires Storm Cat and out of the Seattle Slew mare Pennant Fever, dam of three Storm Cat stakes winners. He’s a full brother to the successful young stallion Stormin Fever, standing at Airdrie Stud in Kentucky, who’s had 14 stakes winners, including two G1 winners, from five crops to race. Best of all for New York breeders, he is reasonably priced at $5,000.

The other is Sequel Stallions Read the Footnotes. He had a short but brilliant racing career, winning five of eight lifetime starts, including the G2 Remsen Stakes and G3 Nashua Stakes at two. At three, he won the G2 Fountain of Youth Stakes before an injury ended his racing career. He stood his first two seasons at Sequel Stallions Florida division, before moving to New York for the 2007 breeding season. He excelled at the New York tracks and I suspect his progeny will do the same.

Who will follow in the footsteps of Talc and Cormorant? It’s almost impossible to predict. It is difficult enough just to predict the leading sires of the future, let alone knowing if they will stay put should they succeed. Having said that, if I had a gun at my head and had to chose, I’d probably go with Freud, Hook and Ladder, Roaring Fever, and Desert Warrior, with Prime Timber as my dark-horse.