All Equine All The Time

One of the biggest weeks on the racing calendar has come and gone with the five day Royal Ascot meeting concluding on Saturday after 30 entertaining – and interesting – races. From stallions dominating throughout the week to broodmares making their mark on the meet and racehorses running more than five miles, Royal Ascot had a little bit of everything for both racing and pedigree fans. By The Numbers – Over the five day, 30 race Royal Ascot meeting, 157 stallions had at least runner entered in a race during the final entry stages over the week. Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) led all sires with 26 runners, while Scat Daddy (Johannesburg) led all sires by winners with four. Forty-eight stallions had at least one horse finish in the top three with 21 having at least one winner. The average age of those winning sires is 16 years of age with an average stud fee of £50,741. Breeders can still breed to all but three of the winning sires with the most expensive advertised fee being Dubawi (Duba...

When Tapwrit crossed the line first in Saturday’s Grade 1 Belmont Stakes, he put the 2017 Triple Crown season firmly in the rearview mirror. With the 30 races run in the series (in this blog, the series being the 27 official Kentucky Derby points races run this year and the three Triple Crown races) now behind us, I decided to look back at the 2017 Triple Crown season to see if any common themes appear. As always, it looks like the answer is yes. WinStar Farm – Over the past three years, WinStar Farm has been a powerful part of the Triple Crown. They stand American Pharoah’s sire Pioneerof the Nile (Empire Maker), they raced last year’s Belmont Stakes winner Creator (Tapit), and they stand Always Dreaming’s sire Bodemeister. Of the 27 Kentucky Derby prep races run this year, three of the winners were sired by WinStar stallions, one other was owned by WinStar Farm, and another two winners were by sons of WinStar stallion Tiznow (Cee’s Tizzy). Pioneerof the Nile A.P. Indy – ...

On Saturday, the racing world turns its eyes to Belmont Park for the final leg of the Triple Crown. The Belmont Stakes has a 12 horse field though it is missing the winners of the first two legs of the Crown and Lookin At Lee (Lookin at Lucky) will be the only horse to compete in all three legs of the series this year. But while the Belmont Stakes may not be all that people hoped for after the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes the New York Racing Association has put together an interesting 13 race card that includes 10 stakes, with all but one being graded. Ninety-four horses will enter the gate in those 10 races in a sort of mid-year Breeders’ Cup preview. So instead of focusing on just the Belmont Stakes, we did a little bit of digging into the pedigrees on display during a top notch card of racing. Stallion Numbers – Sixty-eight stallions have runners in Saturday’s stakes at Belmont Park. Of those, all but six are still active sires with two from that group pensione...