All Equine All The Time

The month of May be walking out the backdoor this week but classic fans worry not, the next two weeks are full of classic races on both sides of the Atlantic. This week two of the most important races in the world, the Epsom Derby and Oaks, take place on Friday and Saturday in England with participants from multiple countries running. While “Keeping It In the Family” has focused on one race per blog this year, this week’s observations will combine both races as they have some very interesting similarities. Note: Due to publishing date and time, the Derby entry stats reflect runners before the final entry stage. Scat Daddy was a Coolmore stallion at the time of his death. Coolmore – It’s not unusual to see Coolmore stallions dominate races around the world with the Oaks and Derby being no different. While their ace stallion Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) has seven entries between the two races (six in the Derby at this entry stage and one in the Oaks), he isn’t the only Coolm...

War Front After a classic-heavy month around the world, Ireland takes its place in the spotlight this weekend with the Irish 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas. The 2,000 Guineas attracted a small field of six for Saturday’s race but Galileo isn’t the man in charge with multiple runners here. U.S. sire War Front has the most runners with two in the field with four other stallions also having entries. Galileo – Galileo only has one runner here but it’s a good one with his son Churchill winning the Qipco 2,000 Guineas three weeks ago and now going for the Irish equivalent. He also has one grandson in the race, sired by Teofilo. Galileo has had a decent amount of representation in classics as a broodmare sire the last few years but neither he or his sire, Sadler’s Wells, have any daughters with runners here. War Front – War Front (Danzig) has been a huge hit in Europe and this year has sired the most Irish 2,000 Guineas runners of any sires. Not surprisingly, both War Fronts are owned ...

Mr. Prospector (WikiMedia Commons/Pawneese photo) It seems like it’s only been days since Always Dreaming (Bodemeister) crossed the line first in the Kentucky Derby but it’s time to get back on track for the Preakness Stakes. The field attracted 10 horses with five familiar faces from the Kentucky Derby and five fresh faces who sat out the run for the roses out. With new horses comes a new set of pedigrees to analyze and there are a few interesting points to know as we head into the second leg of the United States’ Triple Crown. Mr. Prospector – If you like Mr. Prospector and sons, this is the race for you. Mr. Prospector (Raise a Native) is responsible for the sire lines of five of the entries (50 percent) and three of the damsires. Recently repatriated Empire Maker is responsible for the morning line favorite and second choice with son Bodemeister siring Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming and another son, Pioneerof the Nile, siring last year’s champion 2-year-old ...

If you’ve been on social media the last few years, you’ve probably seen people complain about the lack of good young sires in the U.S. gene pool. After Bodemeister (Empire Maker) became the second consecutive first-crop sire to produce a Grade 1 Kentucky Derby winner last Saturday, I decided to dig into the data to see if the younger stallion pool is as weak as some claim. I looked at the top three finishers in every Kentucky Derby from 2010 to 2017, since that’s often theoretically where you should find the best-of-the-best routing sires in North America represented, to see if the young guns stack up. What I found actually looks pretty decent for the younger generations. In the time period that was reviewed, 24 different stallions had a horse hit the board in the Kentucky Derby with no stallion having more than one horse hit the board in that time. Sixteen of those 24 stallions (67 percent) produced that on-the-board finisher in one of his first four crops. Of the eight s...