In the past few years, the number of stallions who are subscribed to TrueNicks has nearly doubled—in 2010 there were 425 mostly U.S.-based stallions; today there are 820 stallions representing some of the top stud farms internationally.
A major growth catalyst was the TrueNicks Enhanced Report, a two-page report that includes detailed statistics to help describe a hypothetical mating. The report tells breeders, buyers, and stallion managers how many times a particular sire line/broodmare sire line cross has been tried (the number of starters bred on the cross), auction results, surface performance, average winning distance, average distance raced, and the top 15 foals by level of best win. The report also includes percentages for starters from foals, winners from starters, and stakes winners from starters—all indicators of the merits of a potential mating or purchase.
The latest group to join TrueNicks are the stallions of Coolmore Ireland. Coolmore has been a great TrueNicks supporter since the program was launched in 2008, subscribing its Lexington-based Ashford Stud stallions as well as its Hunter Valley-based Coolmore Australia counterparts. With increased interest in TrueNicks from European breeders, Coolmore has now made its Irish stallions available at the Enhanced Report level.
Heading the list is arguably the world's leading sire, Galileo (TrueNicks). His record speaks for itself: 157 stakes winners (17% from starters), 37 group or grade I winners, and earners of $82 million. With all the accolades for Galileo's stud career, we sometimes forget what a great racehorse he was. After all, he was a champion European 3-year-old. Below was his impressive win in the Epsom Derby (Eng-I).
While Galileo has proven successful with a variety of broodmare sire lines, his success in Europe has been driven by his affinity with Danehill mares. We've discussed this mega nick several times on this blog, most recently by Alan Porter in "Galileo/Danehill Revisited" earlier this summer. The A+-rated nick currently has 20 stakes winners from 114 starters (18%), and amazingly 14 of the 20 stakes winners are group winners. There are eight group I winners bred on the direct Galileo/Danehill cross (7% from starters), including undefeated champion Frankel, whose Enhanced Report is shown below.
TrueNicks Enhanced Report for Galileo—Kind (click to view report) |
Coolmore's Irish roster also includes stalwart established sires Danehill Dancer (TrueNicks), High Chaparral (IRE) (TrueNicks), Peintre Celebre (TrueNicks), and Rock of Gibraltar (TrueNicks), plus Australian shuttlers So You Think (NZ) (TrueNicks), Choisir (TrueNicks), and Fastnet Rock (TrueNicks), the latter with his first European 2-year-olds racing this season.
Holy Roman Emperor (IRE) (TrueNicks), Henrythenavigator (TrueNicks), and Dylan Thomas (IRE) (TrueNicks) are all group I sires early in their careers. Footstepsinthesand (TrueNicks), another group I sire, was in the news over the weekend when his daughter Minakshi won the Sept. 15 Canadian Stakes (Can-IIT) at Woodbine.
The Irish roster is completed by young stallions Alfred Nobel (IRE) (TrueNicks), Canford Cliffs (IRE) (TrueNicks), Duke of Marmalade (TrueNicks), Excelebration (IRE) (TrueNicks), Mastercraftsman (TrueNicks), Pour Moi (IRE) (TrueNicks), Power (GB) (TrueNicks), Requinto (TrueNicks), Rip Van Winkle (TrueNicks), Thewayyouare (TrueNicks), and Zoffany (TrueNicks).
