All Equine All The Time

Zoffany's Illuminate has Danzig on both sides of her family. While Galileo took a step back and let War Front shine as the sire of the most QIPCO 2,000 Guineas entries, the stallion made sure to keep a firm hold on the QIPCO 1,000 Guineas this weekend. The 18-year-old Sadler’s Wells (Northern Dancer) son has three daughters competing in this Sunday’s race but that is only the tip of the iceberg for the stallion with sons Sixties Icon and Teofilo also having a runner apiece. Galileo is also represented in the broodmare sire category with his daughter Beyond Compare throwing the Jim Bolger runner Turret Rocks. In all, six of the 16 runners in this fillies’ classic can find Galileo in their pedigrees. Sadler’s Wells’ sons Montjeu and Barathea also have entries in the race with Montjeu’s Motivator siring Midweek and Barathea as both a damsire and the sire of a damsire in the race. But Sadler’s Wells family is far from the only line dominating the pedigrees of this year’s 1...

European Horse of the Year Giant's Causeway has a unique distinction this year With England’s 2,000 Guineas taking place on Saturday, everyone now has a good idea who will be lining up in Newmarket with trainers entering 17 3-year-olds earlier this week. The list may get smaller in the upcoming days but one thing nearly guaranteed: some of the best pedigrees on both sides of the Atlantic will be represented in this weekend’s English classic. Possibly the biggest surprise is that super-stallion Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) is the sire of only one horse on the current entry list. But he still won’t be forgotten in this year’s 2,000 Guineas as he is the grandsire of two entries and the damsire of two others. That of course helps his sire Sadler’s Wells, who is represented by seven horses in the race. In addition to Galileo’s contributions, Montjeu is the damsire of one run while Doyen is the other damsire on Sadler’s Wells list in this race. War Front is a fitting name for the U...

A notable import to the stallion ranks this year is Millennium Farm’s freshman sire Hakassan, a top racehorse in Chile. A champion in his home country he was the winner of five of his seven starts. Showing his versatility, the 7-year-old won Group 1 races in the country from eight to 11 furlongs with a Group 3 win at 7 ½ furlongs and another victory at 6 ½ furlongs just for good measure.  Hakassan’s score in three Group 1s at Hipodromo Chile not only won him champion 3-year-old honors, but also added a Triple Crown victory to his resume. That crowning achievement caught the attention of Green Hills Farm owner Leo Liaskos who imported him to the United States in 2013. Hakassan never raced in the United States and was retired to Millennium Farm in late January to enter his first season at stud.  While his race record was an attraction for the farm, his conformation and pedigree sealed the deal.  “He’s a very attractive horse and obviously from the Seattle Slew and...

Uncle Mo's Nyquist With 18 days until the Kentucky Derby, the field is mostly set with 27 horses currently on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leader board Churchill Downs sent out on Monday vying to get into the field. A maximum of 20 horses will enter the gate for the 2016 Kentucky Derby on May 7, with those runners representing a variety of sires and broodmare sires. Let’s take a look at some common themes seen on the pedigrees of those 27 looking to get in the Kentucky Derby. The story of the Kentucky Derby may come down to Uncle Mo (Indian Charlie) having four horses in the main body in his first crop of 3-year-olds to hit the track. With the defection of Tapit’s Cupid on Monday, Uncle Mo’s Mo Tom moved into the 20 th spot and the second Uncle Mo on the also eligible list – Laoban – is now 23 rd on the list. If all three horses currently in the field run, Uncle Mo will make history (along with Tapit) as the first sire since Equibase put charts online in 1991 t...

Competitive Edge A $750,000 2-year-old purchase, Competitive Edge hit the track running for trainer Todd Pletcher when he debuted at Saratoga in late July 2014. There was no question who was best that day with the bay colt winning by 10 ¼ lengths. Competitive Edge was thrown to the top level of the sport from there when Pletcher entered him in the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes. While the colt didn’t win as easily, jockey John Velazquez still didn’t have to ask him to give everything he had with Competitive Edge winning by 5 ¾ lengths. A hairline fracture forced the colt to miss the rest of his 2-year-old season but he returned on March 27 the next year in the Tamarac Stakes. The time off only seemed to make Competitive Edge even better and he led wire-to-wire to win in what the chart caller wrote was “the handiest of winners.” Next up was an assignment at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May but it came in the newly renamed Grade 3 Pat Day Mile instead of the Kentucky...

Bodemeister Perhaps the deepest crop of first crop sires North America has seen in many years, 2016’s leading first crop sire battle may be one for the ages. With multiple stand outs waiting for their chance to shine, it doesn’t look like 2016 will have an Uncle Mo (Indian Charlie) type stallion to run away with the lead but instead a neck and neck stretch duel all the way around the track. But who should you watch for at the top of the list? And who are some “smaller” stallions who may not have the number of foals needed to rock the rankings but may make some noise this year? Read below to find 10 stallions who answer at least one of the aforementioned questions. A Florida stallion, Biondetti (Bernardini) won the Group 1 Gran Criterium at two and is a half-brother to the dam of multiple champion Royal Delta (Empire Maker). While his turf race record may have been a little iffy for a United States stallion prospect, that family helped him to attract a solid book of 108 ma...