Knightmare’s Breeding Corner
The Breeding Corner wraps up the Freshman sires series of 2006 with a couple of very popular choices. Ghostzapper in a little more than four races impressed racing fans so much with his lightning fast speed figures and impressive wins he could be the most sought after freshman sire. Rock Hard Ten had a large following as well and this big colt flashed a great deal of talent on the track.
Ghostzapper is by Awesome Again. His dam sire is the very underated (at least in the sim) Relaunch and his dam’s dam sire is Tri Jet. He was a monster as an older horse on the track but never ran more than four times in any one year. He was a G1 winner at three four and five at six and a half furlongs, a mile, a mile and an eighth and a mile and a quarter in the Breeder’s Cup Classic against one of the best fields ever assembled.
Here are some more impressive bullet points. Highest Beyer ever recorded around two turns, Lowest Thoro-Graph number in history, and only horse to ever record three consecutive -3 Ragozin numbers.
Ghostzapper has thirty-five sim offspring to hit the track already. He already has one stakes winner and has another runner stakes placed. Oddly his current top four runners are all fillies. As you would expect he is being bred to the best. A.P. Indy, Seeking The Gold,
Ghostzapper is more speed than stamina. His dosage index is 3.67 a bit on the speedy side and he will pass that along to his offspring. If you breed him with speed type dam sires he will produce sprinters. If you want a route runner you better be sure to include some stamina when choosing dam sires. His offspring will have both Northern Dancer and Mr. Prospector in the fifth generation. In breeding back to both should be popular and could also be hard to avoid. I really like total outcross breeding with Ghostzapper.
I think the Seattle Slew line is a perfect fit in the dam sire spot. Seattle Slew, A.P. Indy, Capote, General Meeting, Septieme Ciel , and eventually Vindication. In fact other Bold Ruler line sires like Secretariat, Spectacular Bid, and What a Pleasure make good fits as well. The Ribot line is another strong line of possible dam sire and dam’s dam sire choices. Pleasant Colony, Arts and Letters, His Majesty, Key to the Mint, and Hoist the Flag.
The long line of Turn-To sires also offer a vast resource for dam sires. Through Roberto you have Kris S., Lear Fan, Dynaformer, and Red Ransom top the list. Halo and some of his sons like Sunday Silence, Devil’s Bag, and Saint Ballado make solid choices as well. I also like other Raise a Native line sires besides the Mr. Prospector line such as Affirmed, Alydar and Majestic light. Also keep Buckpasser and
Ghostzapper (16030) X
Ghostzapper (16030) X Dynaformer (1844) X Secretariat (5677)
Ghostzapper (16030) X Pleasant Colony (4824) X Affirmed (83)
Ghostzapper was an impressive winner at two and was a G1 winner at three. Still it seemed to take maturing to bring out the best in him. I suspect he will produce a mix of runners that peak early and runners that mature later. He could produced the odd turf runner but I would imagine his runners will be nearly all dirt runners. Distance wise I think his runners will be split between sprints and routes. There could be a good deal of versatility in his runners.
Rock Hard Ten is by Kris S. You might have heard about his dam sire Mr. Prospector and his dam’s dam sire is Jacinto. Rock Hard Ten was a G1 winner at seven furlongs and at a mile and a quarter. He was a precocious three year old showing a ton of talent but not being able to put it all together. Still he was second in the Preakness, and Santa Anita Derby. He put it together as a four year old winning all three of his starts including the G1 Santa Anita Handicap.
Rock Hard Ten has had thirty-five runners hit the track. His early results are not as good as Ghostzapper but I would not expect them to be. He does have one stakes placed runner already. His top two runners are bred back to sons of Mr. Prospector creating a 3X3 inbreeding. I am not really a fan of that and while it has produced his top two runners thus far that inbreeding has also produced his two worst runners so far. There is no shortage of top dam sires used thus far.
Rock Hard Ten is classic stamina over speed pedigree with a dosage index of 2.11. His pedigree absolutely begs for Northern Dancer influence and that I think will make him a very good sire in real life. He has the kind of classic influence to possibly be one of those sires that produces several classic runners as a stud.
Northern Dancer line dams is where I would concentrate.
I like Nasrullah line grandsons like Blushing Groom, Mill Reef, Riverman, and Secretariat through Bold Ruler. Ribot is another line I love adding with nearly every sire. The In Reality line should blend well here with either In Reality himself or Relaunch. I like a little bit of a different line here as well. Caro (Ire) I think could work very well here. He has some good sons as well such as Cozzene, and With Approval.
Rock Hard Ten (15992) X
Rock Hard Ten (15992) X Caro (IRE) (999) X Northern Dancer (4440)
Rock Hard Ten (15992) X Blushing Groom (FR) (669) X Nijinsky II (4344)
I think Rock Hard Ten offspring will take time to develop. He will have some good juveniles but I think his offspring with be the type that really start to improve as three or four year olds. He has the potential to produce a good number of turf runners in my opinion as well as dirt runners. His runners should love route races and make a pretty good impact at the classic distances.
The Summer break for the BTB is upon us. There will not be a weekly article during this time. I will have an article or two through the break including catching up with the Derby Oaks or Bust Series. As always if you have any questions, comments or suggestions feel free to write me at mcbwildcat@aol.com. Good luck and Good Breeding.