TrueNicks : Products, Hypothetical Matings

What's the Difference?

aporter — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:30:00 GMT

A TrueNicks user asks why there are sometimes differences between the ratings shown on the new TrueNicks Stallion Affinity Report and individual nicks....(read more)

Research is a Mare Owner's Best Investment

admin — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 20:03:00 GMT

Amy from Lexington asks Alan: I work for a small farm in Lexington and have been helping to plan matings. I really enjoy pedigree research and learning all the theories behind different nicks / crosses inbreeding / outcrossing, etc. The main problem I have run into had been finding a way to figure out what lines broodmare sires cross with. I was hoping you could shed some light on finding a good approach to look at a mare's sire and gather information on what that horse has accomplished as a broodmare sire, and with what lines he has made those accomplishments. I would appreciate any advice you can give me.

I also wanted to tell you that I love your website. It is very informative, and makes for an easy read. Thank you for your time.

Alan responds: Hi Amy, thank you for your question.

The Jockey Club's equineline.com has several products that will help you analyze a mare and find out the stallions that have worked best with her broodmare sire.

Product 61 (view sample) gives all the foals out of mares by a broodmare sire, along with the sire of those foals, and their race records (including whether or not they are black type performers). Product 62 gives the best performers out of a mare by a chosen broodmare sire, along with their sire.

Another report, product 91 (view sample) allows you to enter a mare and obtain a list of all sires out of mares by her sire, and number of foals, starters, winners, black type winners, total earnings and AEI, all with percentages.

Using these products will enable you to tell the sires that have worked with the broodmare sire. From there it is possible to consider one of the stallions that have worked, or another horse from the same sire line (The Blood-Horse Stallion Register lists stallions by sire, and has charts of stallions arranged by sire lines).

Of course, when the possible horses have been selected, the potential matings can be run on TrueNicks hypo-mating (with many leading commercial stallions subscribing to give breeders complimentary access to nick ratings, and others available for a $20 report fee - a wise purchase when considering that most stud fees are five figures).

In the coming months TrueNicks will be releasing products that enable a broodmare owner to enter a mare and obtain a list of stallions in a chosen price range and location, sorted by TrueNicks rating.

In the Beginning

admin — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 21:12:00 GMT

The launch of TrueNicks represents the completion of a full circle regarding my involvement in the Thoroughbred industry.

By age 19 I had completed three years “hands on” experience working at an English stud farm. Around that time, the English magazine Stud & Stable published an article with a grid showing sire line crosses and the percentage of stakes winners each cross had produced that year. As a student of statistics, it struck me that the calculations of these figures made no allowances for opportunity. In those days it would have been nearly impossible to track down all the foals that made up the population, so I did what seemed to be the next best thing. I dug out a copy of The Register of Thoroughbred Stallions – at that stage it would have included just about every sire of consequence in England and Ireland – and counted up how many stallions were recorded and from there calculated the likely percentage of the population represented by each sire line, taking into account hypothetical opportunity.

Young and brazen, I mailed off my conclusions to the magazine along with a "corrected" version of their grid. Fortunately for me, the criticism was generously received and the letter led to a nine-year job and an association with the company that has continued on to the present day.

Male line crosses or “nicks” have since become a big business, but it has always been in my mind that they have never really been done as they should. Nicks that are based on hypothetical opportunity never accurately reflect what has taken place in reality. Unfortunately, to create nicks that truly reflect opportunity requires knowing all the horses bred on the cross, and for that a comprehensive--and very large--database is required.

In association with Byron Rogers, and partnering with The Blood-Horse magazine, my life's project started to get off the ground. Making use of the historical records of The Jockey Club, the TrueNicks system was born during three years of intensive testing and development. Having waited 30 years, it is immensely satisfying to have been involved in the creation of what I feel is destined to become the new industry standard for measuring nicks and sire line crosses. And of course, with The Jockey Club and The Blood-Horse--the official publication of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association--involved, TrueNicks is very much the industry’s nicking system.

While the TrueNicks rating completes a personal journey, it will also become the departure point for new expeditions, as the next months and years see the introduction of a complete suite of exciting new products.