yeah I'm looking for that half to folklore too. I do agree that most of his good ones will be sprinters but look at what some other "sprint" sires have been able to do with the right mare. (and who knows in a year or two you may get him for 7500 less LOL)

I think his fee goes up. His foals are gorgeous, but I want to see how far they go.

agreed--i was kidding. the ones I've seen are beautiful, and sane too (no small feat with the mares they are out of).

If you could add heart with the obvious athletes, then that 35% would go way up. I am very partial to horses that dont quit, especially after big setbacks. The problem is figuring out which horses they are. And that of course is done on the track.

But who cares about all this. I wanna see athletes compete on the track, not in the shed. Thats why the thread is interesting, but at the same time a bit disconcerting.
But I understand the fascination as genetics is a very inexact science. One day someone is going to find the combination of genes that have the highest probability of making good runners. Then all hell will break loose. They are mapping the Thoroughbred genome as we speak. In fact, they may be done. Cornell was coordinating and distributing the work. It will be interesting to see how people take this data and try to correlate it with performance. Its coming.

I actually heard the same thing about Orientate getting the best mares.

I agree that there is no way to know how much heart a horse has from watching them work an 1/8th of a mile at a sale.
With regard to breeding, it's really not that important to me who a horse is by. If I like the way a horse works at a sale, I'm going to be interested in him no matter who he is by. One of the best horses I ever bought was by a sire that I knew very little about.

It was B. Wayne Hughes who bought the half-brother to Folklore. He paid $900,000 for that colt. I believe that Richard Mandella will be the trainer.

I would rather breed two mares to Orientate than one mare to Afleet Alex, who himself is not as well conformed as Orientate, his pedigree is a lot weaker as well.

You are right. Orientate is a very well-built, classy-looking animal.

Orientate is definitely the best looking stallion at Gainesway.

Actually, you know the more I look at Orientate, I love his build, but I'm not a huge fan of his legs. He doesn't appear to have a whole lot of bone there and he looks pretty fragile (although he retired sound after a good year of racing at 4.) Of course I've never seen the horse up close, but that's what it looks like to me.

I think he has a great column of bone. I know why you said that, but it isn't the problem. The problem is that his cannon bones are too long which makes his legs look thinner than they really are. That would have made him a little more prone to tendon injuries. He also may be just a touch calf-kneed, but his legs are clean enough. He's a lot better than a whole lot of them. He retired sound, and that is good enough for me. Besides, all of his two year olds look like very well built, strong horses, and that is all that matters. Well that and the fact that they can fly!

Haven't followed breeding that much, just kinda interested in it lately, but does anyone know how Budda is doing as a sire? I thought I had heard that his babies were beautiful.

Lenaro, one of Buddha's looked really impressive in his romp at Churchill in a MSW. I think Buddha is going to be a great stallion.

That is great to hear. Horse was my derby pick that year. Loved his fight with Medalia D' Oro in his last prep. LOVED it.

Jessica, check out the shoulder on this guy...

http://www.marylandstallions.com/Bowman.html

The Budha 2 year olds looked terrible. I think I only saw one decent one out of about 20 of his offspring. I was joking with my trainer that Budha looks like this year's Freud. In 2005, practically every horse by Freud looked terrible. Budha is the Freud of 2006.

I wasn't much of a fan of Buddha although I always liked Unbridled. The combination of Unbridled Song and Storm Cat in his pedigree probably doesn't leave much hope for a sound horse. JMO of course.

Best inexpensive stallion? Pioneering, who's a 1/2 to Storm Cat. His offspring handle dirt, turf and slop. May have some distance limitations at the classic distances but how many horses are going to run in the Triple Crown?

I've never been up close to him either but I have worked with some of his yearlings and I must say they do come up a bit light (at least the ones I've seen) and they also have long cannons like dad. I'm not saying it is or isn't a problem but I prefer a more sturdy looking individual JMO.

The half to Folklore is in our barn , his name is Sterkle, lol not to be confused with Erkle.

quite a name, there must be a story behind that somewhere.
Thanks for the info let us know when he might start!

you have Griffinite in NY that raced 2 - 5, 28 starts. quite a durable son of Unbridled Song.

For one that I think will be big in NY, have a look at this guy, he's #10 on the first sire list at Blood Horse, and his fee is certainly reasonable.
I think he'll make some decent runners....
His name, Thunderello....
http://www.sugarmaple-farm.com/thunderello.shtml

DTS

I like him, DTS. Montbrook has another nice son down here too...

http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/isd...ion_no=4972146

Cajun,
I like him a lot.

DTS

Wow. That dude has an enormous sloping shoulder. This is what I like to see. His neck comes out of it good. It also has that rounded appearance that you desire. The only fault I can find with it is that the muscles where his neck tie into his shoulder look a little rough, but it is so hard to tell from a standing photo because it could just be the angle of the camera or the position of his body that is making the muscles look like that.

Honu, Has that Mr Greeley colt that B Wayne bought at that same sale (Fasig Tipton Calder) arrived yet? The colt is out of a mare called Arianna's Passion. I was really high on that colt. He was in my top 2-3 favorites at the entire sale. B Wayne paid $450,000 for him.

Me!! The Tikalyin Stallion!!!:D :D

If its the one Im thinking of his name is Newsworthy, he came in last week, Ive been getting on him, he has a really nice way of moving.

Here is the predictions on stallions futures by pedigree consultant George William Smith.


http://www.members.shaw.ca/gwsmith3/...ation2004.html

Witchdoctor,
With all due respect, and I'm sure George William Smith knows whereof he speaks, I'm going to take that list with a "grain of salt".
Reasons...too numerous to mention but I'll start with...
1981- Alydar was a much better broodmare sire than Affirmed.
1982- Spectacular Bid, great runner. How many offspring did he pass it on to?
1985- Caerleon, who do you think you're kidding?

Thanks for the input.
I think there are much better stallions than those cited.
DTS

An incomprehensible list.