{"id":1735,"date":"2006-02-17T09:41:08","date_gmt":"2006-02-17T09:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=1735"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"oldbtb_5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/?p=1735","title":{"rendered":"Fort Wood"},"content":{"rendered":"

The South African stallion log is ranked according to progeny earnings. Last season, Fort<\/st1:PlaceType> Wood<\/st1:PlaceName><\/st1:place> finished third on the log but with the fewest starts of any of the top 10 sires. If they were ranked by earnings per start, Fort<\/st1:PlaceType> Wood<\/st1:PlaceName><\/st1:place> would be on top. At 19.33 and 58.71, he was also best by percentage wins and percentage in the money. Currently fourth on this seasons log, with under 6 months to go, the same figures apply. He would top the log of earnings per starts, percentage winners, and percentage in the money. If someone in South Africa was told they could have any horse at the national sale for free, or could get a free service to any stallion, the most popular choice would be Fort Wood, of that I\u2019m confident.<\/P>

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Fort<\/st1:PlaceType> Wood<\/st1:PlaceName><\/st1:place>\u2019s sim pedigree is Sadler\u2019s Wells x Pretense x Swaps. In his first five generations, he is inbred only to Hyperion: 5f x 4f, 5m. His sire, Sadler\u2019s Wells, needs no introduction. His dam, Fall Aspen, has so much bold black type amongst her foals that she would fill a page of a catalogue by herself. Fort<\/st1:PlaceType> Wood<\/st1:PlaceName> himself won a Gr1 in France<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> over 10 furlongs as a three year old. His three parts sister by Northern Dancer,\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Northern Aspen, won a Gr1 in the USA<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>. His unraced full sister, Dance of Leaves, has produced the multiple Gr2 winner, Charnwood<\/st1:PlaceName> Forest<\/st1:PlaceType><\/st1:place>, and the Gr1 winner and now sire, Medaaly.<\/P>

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Fort<\/st1:PlaceType> Wood<\/st1:PlaceName>\u2019s brother by Danzig, Hamas, won the Gr1 July Cup in England<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>. His Gr2 winning sister by Shareef Dancer<\/st1:City>, Colorado<\/st1:State><\/st1:place> Dancer, is the dam of no less than Dubai Millenium. The list goes on! There\u2019s his brother by Woodman, Timber Country, winner of the Gr1 Breeders Cup Juvenile, Gr1 Preakness, and Gr1 Champagne Stakes. Don\u2019t forget Prince Of Thieves, by Hansel. Both he and Timber Country finished 3rd<\/SUP> in the Gr1 Kentucky Derby. There are too many other graded or group winners to mention here.<\/P>

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What about Fort<\/st1:PlaceType> Wood<\/st1:PlaceName><\/st1:place>\u2019s record as a sire himself? To start with, he is the only sire in South African history to produce three\u00a0runners to earn the\u00a0coveted Horse of the Year title as three year olds: Horse Chestnut, Dynasty, and Celtic Grove, and that from only his first seven crops to race. I\u2019ve written about Horse Chestnut before: I\u2019m not likely to see a better racehorse in my lifetime. From those first seven crops of only 336 foals (272 runners), Fort Wood has sired no less than 9 Gr1 winners, 11 Gr2 winners, and 7 Gr3 winners. That\u2019s 27 individual graded stakes winners, or 8% graded stakes winners to foals!<\/P>

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Rated by number of wins per distance category compared with the sire population as a whole, Fort<\/st1:PlaceType> Wood<\/st1:PlaceName><\/st1:place> produces horses with stamina. The following table shows the percentage wins by Fort<\/st1:PlaceType> Wood<\/st1:PlaceName><\/st1:place>\u2019s foals per distance category, with the population average in brackets:<\/P>

5 \u2013 6.5 furlongs\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>16% (38%)<\/P>

7 \u2013 7.5 furlongs\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>15% (15%)<\/P>

8 \u2013 9 furlongs\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>40% (29%)<\/P>

9.5 \u2013 10 furlongs\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>21% (13%)<\/P>

10.5 furlongs\u00a0or more\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/SPAN>8% (5%)<\/P>

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Now let\u2019s look at Fort<\/st1:PlaceType> Wood<\/st1:PlaceName><\/st1:place> in the sim. As of writing, he is available for a mere 26 points. Can you find a better bargain for a blue-blooded Gr1 winner, proven exceptional sire, and sire of sires? From his 53 runners in the 5 seasons from 2001, he has only one stakes winner. That foal is my own Wonder Lawn, a 43 point bargain I bred last season that failed in a Gr3 by a whisker. I\u2019m hopeful that he will become Fort<\/st1:PlaceType> Wood<\/st1:PlaceName><\/st1:place>\u2019s first group winner soon. Nick N Nick has won 4 times from 12 starts. Spin Spin Sugar II is a stakes placed winner of 12 races. The Shadow Man is a stakes placed winner of 6 races. Colonization (retired) won 8 races.<\/P>

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Wonder Lawn (Roy<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> x Ghadeer(Fr)) \u2013 3m x 5m Northern Dancer, 5m x 5m Lalun (daughter of Djeddah(Fr)) through Bold Reason and Never Bend<\/P>

Nick N Nick (Kylian x French Glory(Ire)) \u2013 2m x 3m,4m Sadler\u2019s Wells<\/P>

Spin Spin Sugar II (Torsion x Right Combination) \u2013 5m x 5m Nearco, 5m x 4m Lalun through Bold Reason and Never Bend<\/st1:place><\/st1:City><\/P>

The Shadow Man (Kylian x Glint Of Gold(Gb)) \u2013 2m x 3m Sadler\u2019s Wells<\/P>

Colonization (Titanic x Glint Of Gold(Gb))<\/P>

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Note that none of the above runners has fashionable pedigrees. Note also that\u00a0each of the five have something in common with another. Glint Of Gold(Gb) appears twice as DDS. Kylian appears twice as DS, and the cross of Bold Reason and Never Bend appears twice. It\u00a0seems that Fort<\/st1:PlaceType> Wood<\/st1:PlaceName><\/st1:place> has an affinity for more Northern Dancer blood, even very close up as in the case of the two Sadler\u2019s Wells inbreedings.<\/P>

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So far, Wonder Lawn and Nick N Nick look like sprinters. However, they have both just turned three and could build up some stamina. Spin Spin Sugar II was stakes placed over two miles and recorded seven of his wins over 14 furlongs on both surfaces but looks best on dirt. The Shadow Man, a turfer, likewise was stakes placed over two miles and recorded all of his six wins over 14 or 16 furlongs. Colonization was a sprinter miler, winning from 6 to 8 furlongs on both surfaces.<\/P>

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Given the chance with a decent mare or two, there is every chance that Fort<\/st1:PlaceType> Wood<\/st1:PlaceName><\/st1:place> could produce a runner worthy of competing in the great races of the sim. <\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A champion sire, by a champion sire, out of a champion mare, and sire of a champion racehorse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":149,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breeding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/149"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1735\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}