Taking Stock

[Editor's note: Gary and Mary West are clients of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, of which Sid Fernando is president and CEO. WTC recommended the 2014 purchase of Maximum Security's dam, Lil Indy, for $80,000 at Keeneland January for the purpose of breeding her to New Year's Day, a stallion owned by the Wests at that time and the sire of Maximum Security.] "Just the facts, ma'am." The iconic line "just the facts, ma'am" is associated with the character of Sgt. Joe Friday from the 1950s cop show "Dragnet" starring actor Jack...

A few weeks ago, I was a guest on the weekly Going In Circles podcast, which is hosted by Chuck Simon, the former trainer who's also a top-notch writer at his blog, and Barry "The Sniper" Spears, an excellent handicapper and well-known figure on Twitter. Simon asked for my opinion on which stallion I'd consider to be the most influential of the past 50 years. You can listen to a nine-minute clip of the conversation here. My answer? Claiborne's iconic Mr. Prospector, of course. The clip generated quite a bit...

In just over a week, Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's Forte (Violence), bred by South Gate Farm and trained by Todd Pletcher, will be crowned the champion 2-year-old male of 2022. He traces in tail-female to the imported La Troienne (Fr), one of the most influential mares in the Stud Book. So many champions and high-class racehorses trace to her that it would be futile to try to list them all here. La Troienne was foaled in 1926 and bred by Marcel Boussac. Her sire, Teddy (Fr), had a...

There's a lot that can be gleaned from the freshman sires and leading sires of 2-year-olds lists. Last year, Coolmore America's Practical Joke (Into Mischief) was second to Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}) on the freshman sire list by progeny earnings, $2,339,717 to $4,315,980. Those numbers were good enough to make Gun Runner the leading sire of 2-year-olds and Practical Joke third, with leading sire Into Mischief splitting the newcomers with $2,971,018. That Practical Joke tied Gun Runner by number of black-type winners with six, tops among all freshman sires,...

When it comes to "sire-making races," the Gl Metropolitan H. is usually the first that's thrown into the conversation. Quality Road, the 2010 winner, is the most notable recent example, and before him it was Ghostzapper in 2005, but that's about it for the past 20 years despite the race's vaunted reputation. The Gl Florida Derby is a better recent gauge for making stallions: Nyquist (won in 2016), Constitution (2014), Dialed In (2011), Quality Road (2009), Scat Daddy (2007), Empire Maker (2003), and Harlan's Holiday (2002) are a stronger group...

With about a month and a half to go to the end of the year, Coolmore America's Justify (Scat Daddy) is in a three-way battle with Spendthrift's Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) and Hill 'n' Dale's Good Magic (Curlin) for the freshman sire championship, which is measured by progeny earnings. Through Monday, Bolt d'Oro led narrowly with $2,122,968 to Justify's $2,065,556 in second place and Good Magic's $1,984,069 in third. Within striking distance are Hill 'n' Dale's Army Mule (Friesan Fire) in fourth with $1,762,485 and Three Chimneys's Sharp Azteca (Freud)...

About an hour or so after one of 40 shares in Flightline, a son of Tapit and the Indian Charlie mare Feathered, was sold for an unimaginable $4.6 million in an historic special session at Keeneland Monday, Flightline was led out of his stall at Lane's End and posed behind the stallion barn, oblivious to the hubbub on the sales grounds about 10 miles away. He's a stunning and athletic physical specimen, standing 16.2 hands, with length to go with height and balance. He's so well put together and pleasing...

David Ingordo of Lane's End Bloodstock doesn't smile much, and when he does, it's usually a half-smile. But he does have a sense of humor. On Sunday afternoon, he was spotted at Keeneland outside the Lane's End consignment wearing a gray vest with the name "David DeVaux" embroidered on the chest, a nod and a wink to his trainer wife Cherie DeVaux. Ingordo likes to be incognito and shuns the spotlight whenever he can, but he's very much in that spotlight at the moment, thanks to Flightline (Tapit), who first...

What a time to be alive for John Sikura, master of Hill 'n' Dale! The farm's stallions have been putting on quite a show lately while Sikura quietly goes about the task--well, it's a labor of love, really--of restoring, modernizing, and expanding Xalapa, the historically significant Bourbon County property near Paris that he acquired a few years ago. Xalapa now houses Hill 'n' Dale's roster of 12 stallions and all of the farm's mares, yearlings, and foals on close to 1,500 acres. On Sunday at Saratoga, the farm's Ghostzapper was...

The news last week of P. Noel Hickey's death Aug. 8 at 94 was a reminder of how much racing has changed over the years. Hickey owned a stud farm in Ocala, Irish Acres; stood his own stallions that he patronized; bred the runners he raised and raced; and trained them, including one Eclipse Award winner and another near champion, both foaled in Illinois and from stock far off the perimeter of prevailing fashion. Who does that these days? Back in the day, it wasn't unusual to see regional areas...

Pan the camera away from Saratoga and Del Mar, where the glamorous juveniles debut one after another, and focus for a moment on two lower-profile tracks that hosted two eye-popping performances this weekend. On Saturday at Prairie Meadows, Tyler's Tribe, a 2-year-old Iowa-bred gelding by Sharp Azteca (Freud), won the 5 1/2-furlong Iowa Stallion Futurity by 12 1/2 lengths in 1:04:18 to remain undefeated in three starts. He earned a 90 Beyer Speed Figure--you read that correctly--for the easy score. It wasn't a fluke, either, because in his previous start...

Last Thursday, I received an email out of the blue from someone I didn't know. Evidently Jason Brooks listens to me every Wednesday on Steve Byk's "At the Races" radio show where we discuss pedigrees among other things, and Brooks wanted to inform me that there were "21 graded stakes wins in the first half of 2022 for horses with Phipps pedigrees." According to Brooks, he does social media for Phipps Stable and operates the account @PhippsStableFan on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Curious, I took a look at his...