All Equine All The Time

Last weekend was a big one for racing on both sides of the Atlantic as the first major classic races of the year took place in England and the United States. As is usually the case, the classics weren’t the only stakes races on their respective cards with 20 blacktype events taking place over the three days of racing between Churchill Downs and Newmarket. As is often the case in these weekends, some pedigrees looked familiar no matter where you were so s it back and enjoy the show as we take you through some of the bigger points of the weekend. Sire Lines – First, let’s get the overall numbers out on the table. Sixty horses sired by 48 different stallions placed finished in the top three in the stakes over the weekend with those 48 stallions hailing from seven different sire lines. Not surprisingly, Northern Dancer led everyone with 28 placers, including six winners (21.4%), followed by Mr. Prospector with 14 (six winners – 42.8%), and A.P. Indy with seven – including two win...

As of Thursday, the 2017 Group 1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe has attracted a field of 18 runners at Chantilly for an exciting race that has Nathaniel’s Enable looking to verify that she’s the best horse in Europe. While the field may change in the coming days, I couldn’t help but dig into the pedigrees of the current entrants as we prepare for one of the biggest races of the year. Like nearly every big race in Europe, Sadler’s Wells rules the entries. The late Coolmore stallion is the sire or grandsire of the sires of nine of the 18 entries in the race. His son Galileo has sired six of those entries and is the grandsire of one other (Enable) with the majority owned by the Coolmore partners. Galileo had the trifecta in 2016, led by Found. Enable, who is sired by Galileo’s son, also has the distinction of being the only runner in the race with Sadler’s Wells as her broodmare sire. Sadler’s Wells is featured prominently in her pedigree as the sire of her dam Concentri...