#thoroughbred breeding

[fly-tempest]

Uncle Mo (Indian Charlie - Playa Maya, by Arch), 2008-2024.

2010 Champion Two-Year-Old, winner of the Champagne S. (GI), Breeders' Cup Juvenile (GI), and Kelso H. (GII). Sire of 15 Grade I winners so far, including 2015 Champion Two-Year-Old and 2016 Kentucky Derby Winner Nyquist

[railraptor]

Gun Runner, who has only three crops of racing age, is the NUMBER TWO general sire for 2023. And until today, he hadn't had a Grade One winner this year. I doubt he's catching up to Into Mischief any time soon. But with two G1 wins and Disarm's G1 second (it's coming for him still, I hope) he's going to be even further clear of Curlin in third. And look at some of the other stallions he's clear of.....

He's ridiculously clear on the Third-crop list....the next stallion there is Practical Joke, then Arrogate (who'll maybe move to second after Arcangelo won the Travers). Practical Joke is 12th on the gen sire list, and Arrogate is 25th.

I know that Gun Runner broke Uncle Mo's record as a first crop sire, but this is insane. Or it seems insane, I guess, since I never really paid THIS close attention to a stallion's career until Gun Runner.

[veganerudition]

The more you know.

Racehorses are bred more for their heritage and breeding line than for true healthy conformation, so there is quite a high incidence of congenital deformities in foals. A common one is twisted or wonky legs, which are usually corrected with surgery instead of avoided altogether. There is nothing preventing people from breeding these horses again if they have appealing and successful bloodlines.

Just another reason not to support the racing industry.

[fly-tempest]

Oatsee (Unbridled - With Every Wish, by Lear Fan) 1997-2024

2011 broodmare of the year; dam of Preakness winner Shackleford, Alabama S. winner Lady Joanne, MGSWs Afleeting Lady and Baghdaria, and of stakes winner Stephanoatsee.

[fly-tempest]

This is a bit off the normal focus of the blog (pretty pictures), but it's a bit of an interest of mine. Above is a chart of the number of thoroughbred foals born in Kentucky from different sire lines from 1999-2023. For example, the "In Reality" line shows the number of foals born by In Reality, or one of his sons, or one of his grandsons, etc.

It's striking how much the sire pool has narrowed to sons of Mr. Prospector, Northern Dancer, and Nasrullah (GB) (mostly through A. P. Indy but also with the Uncle Mos). While the overall foal crop has been shrinking, these sirelines have stayed constant - the decline in foal crop has come mostly from the disappearance of other sire lines. I'm sure there are caveats to this and things I haven't considered. For one, this doesn't look at where a particular sireline might show up in broodmares. But the next generation of broodmares can only come for these sirelines, right? (I'm not a geneticist, so if someone knows more about this I'm genuinely curious to know). Also, this is as far back as the Jockey Club has posted breeding statistics on the internet, so I don't know the extent to which there were similar contractions in the past. (It is worth noting that Mr. Prospector, Hail to Reason, Nasrullah, and Northern Dancer are all male-line descendants of Phalaris, who was foaled in 1913)

From the In Reality line: Bal A Bali (BRZ): 7, and Tourist: 2 (as a fan of Man o' War this is sad for me, as this is probably the end of his male line)

From all other lines: Mucho Macho Man: 27, Runhappy: 107, Skipshot: 3

I have some python scripts to put these charts together so if anyone has more questions/things they want to see let me know and I'll see if I can put some more charts together.