All Equine All The Time

 David Tsui's silks (WIkimedia/Zafonic photo) Usually when I look at the pedigrees in European classic races for these pieces one stallion seems to dominate. Farther back on the page it might be Northern Dancer while in the first few generations of classic runners it's usually Sadler’s Wells but in the case of the Investec Derby at this entry stage it’s a mare whose name is seen everywhere. After a racing career that any stallion would be jealous of, Urban Sea (Miswaki) hit the ground running as a broodmare with her first son high weighted as a 3-year-old in Ireland and her first daughter placing in two classics before proving herself as a producer. But it was that third foal that has played the biggest part in her legacy as a producer so far. Galileo was Urban Sea’s first champion and classic winner and these days is making sure her line in passed on. At this stage in the Investec Derby entries, Galileo has played his part extremely well with seven runners by the ...

When El Prado (Sadler’s Wells) was imported to the United States after being purchased from Coolmore by Frank Stronach in the early 1990s, very few breeders were willing to give El Prado a shot.  "No one wanted a son of Sadler’s Wells in America,” Dermot Carty, who bought the horse for Stronach, told Blood-Horse when the stallion died. “Everyone saw him as just a grass horse, but now he’s a broodmare sire, a sire of sires, and he’s made history. It was a gamble … to buy a son of Sadler’s Wells was a major move, but it paid off." But over 20 years later, El Prado has made a major impact on the breed in North America. El Prado started his breeding career at Airdrie Stud in Kentucky for Stronach, who didn’t have a stallion operation at the time. Within a few years, Stronach’s opened up Adena Springs stallion facility and El Prado became one of the cornerstones of the operation.   Video courtesy of Thoroughbred Horses in Kentucky "He put us on the map,...

Nite Train is one of the horses with a North American connection this weekend. With a close-knit international community, it isn’t rare to see horses whose immediate family has a United States connection show up in countries outside North America. Just last month, the United States (Kentucky)-bred Air Force Blue was named Europe’s champion 2-year-old male while many U.S.-based stallions shuttle to southern hemisphere locations every summer after they finish the northern hemisphere season. In Panama on December 12 and 13, some familiar bloodlines will be seen during the Clasico del Caribe weekend of racing at Hipodromo Presidente Remon in Panama City. The five races during the festival make up a small Breeders’ Cup-like racemeet for central America with five countries (Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico and Venezuela) represented by horses in the event. While Blood-Horse’s Stallion Register doesn’t include all the stallions standing in these countries, it does list 117 ...