Got it!
Thanks to Bradford Duplisea for supplying this photo.
Scratch that itch part 2 – photo supplied by Bradford Duplisea.
Archive for January, 2015
Another itch
Posted in Horses, My photo of the week on January 13, 2015| 1 Comment »
My photo of the week
Posted in My photo of the week, Standardbred breeding, tagged Pegasus Spur, Sun Isa on January 10, 2015| 1 Comment »
When you got an itch, you gotta scratch it!
Ahhhh….
Sun Isa is 16 hands herself, and leaves striking looking tall foals. The filly is no exception. She is a full sister to Flying Isa, being by Pegasus Spur. Sun Isa is back in foal to Angus Hall.
Sun Isa and her Pegasus Spur filly foal
Yearling sales pedigree matches – your picks please
Posted in Pedigree matching, Standardbred breeding, tagged virtual yearling stable on January 9, 2015| 9 Comments »
Usually with the virtual yearling stables competition I ask you to pick a certain number of yearlings from the sales that you think will do well, and then we follow their progress.
But this time I want to develop a combined virtual stable based on interesting breeding. So this is a collaborative effort, not an individual competition.
The ‘pool” of yearlings includes the 2015 Sales of the Stars sales in New Zealand (the Australasian and the Premier), and also the APG sales yearling sales in Australia (Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney), and the South Australia Yearling Sales. All the catalogues are available online (see links below) as well as hard copies.
Maximum of two yearlings per person please. Give their Lot Number and either APG or Sales of the Stars.
I’m looking for yearlings that have an interesting breeding match. By interesting I mean the match is trying something “outside the square”, or perhaps involving close double ups or following a pedigree matching theory which is more than just “breed the best to the best and hope for the best”.
I would also like us to have some newish sires (or newish damsires) in the stable, where you think the match is particularly interesting or well thought out.
Please include a short explanation for your choices. There must be something about the match that is interesting or intriguing.
You can include yearlings you have bred yourself so long as they fit the other criteria.
And your name, please.
Nominations close 31 January 2015.
Send to bee.raglan@xtra.co.nz
Or you can post via “Leave a comment” at the bottom of this blog (if you view on mobile you may need to open this blog by clicking on its title to get the “Leave a reply” form at the bottom.)
Catalogues at APG website and PGG Wrightson Sale of the Stars website and SA Yearling sale (only 16 yearlings) http://www.saharness.com/2015-sa-yearling-sale.html
My nominations
I’ll start the ball rolling with:
- APG Lot 467 A filly by Major In Art out of the Perfect Art mare Sunopal. That makes the full brothers Art Major and Perfect Art 2×2 in the pedigree and Artsplace and Perfect Profile both 3×3. As far as I can see, that is the first time such a combination has been tried.
- Sale of the Stars Lot 417 A Muscle Mass colt by the good trotting broodmare Princess Della whom I have written about previously. She is by Last Lord (a son of Lordship, who was one of the last remnants of the Johnny Globe/Globe Derby siring line in New Zealand) and is the only Last Lord mare who is breeding. Princess Della is now 25 years old and this is her 10th foal. The match is complete outcross of sturdy colonial lines with the latest American trotting speed.
Harnessed magazine articles
Posted in Harness racing, Pedigree matching, Standardbred breeding, tagged Harnessed magazine on January 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Over the past 6 months I have written a series of articles for Harnessed magazine, which I have now posted as part of the list under the Articles section of this blog. You can find the Articles section on the tabs across the top of my blog.
The articles track the breeding performance of fillies and mares who participated in some of the great races of 10 or 20 years ago, and the last one of the series (which I will post up when it has been published in Harnessed) does the same for the sires who first stood here 10 years ago.
Researching these articles was both inspiring and depressing. Depressing because there are so many descending lines from mares which either end poorly or never even start. There are mares who are hardly given a chance in terms of quality sires, and mares that are given many, many chances for little reward. There are mares who miss or slip repeatedly, and mares that breed almost entirely one sex or the other. There are many top race mares who leave nothing nearly as good as themselves.
But the research was also inspiring, because there are mares (often brought cheaply) who have excelled on the race track and in the breeding barn, and mares who have kick-started a fading maternal line and given it two or three strong branches for the future. There are breeders who have upgraded families, and breeders who have successfully taken chances rather than played it safe.
It all shows just how tricky it is for a maternal line to continue on successfully over a decade or more, and how challenging it is to be a good breeder.
When you read these articles, remember that the statistics for progeny were correct at the time of writing. Many of the mares’ progeny will have raced and hopefully won since I wrote the articles, new foals will have been born, and yearlings sold for big or small prices at the 2015 or future yearling sales.
You are welcome to update, correct or add to the articles in the “Leave a comment” area at the bottom of the Harnessed magazine articles page.
Finally I urge you to subscribe to Harnessed magazine as a top quality monthly publication about harness racing and standardbred breeding in New Zealand, and insights from further afield. It is the official publication of Harness Racing New Zealand. You can subscribe here
b4breeding 