This
will be the last edition of the Sophomore sires series. In the last preview I
wanted to cover another sire with turf influence and end up the series with the
best sophomore sire to date. Noverre (IRE) has the potential to be a very good
turf sire and no sophomore has produced more stakes winners than Sakhee.
Noverre (IRE) - is
by Rahy. His dam sire is Northern Dancer and dam’s dam sire is Le Fabuleux. The
thing I like about Noverre is his versatility. He was not a world beater. As a
two year old he ran well winning a group II and group III race as finishing
second in a group I. He won only one race in fourteen starts as a three and
four year old but he finished second in six more group I races. He did that
from six furlongs to ten and a half furlongs. He was beaten by some pretty good
horses like Storming Home, Black Minnaloushe, Golan, Nayef, Street Cry, and
Rock of Gibraltar.
Noverre’s pedigree is very solid. He has a dosage index of 1.42 suggesting he
has a good deal of stamina. Northern Dancer will appear in the third generation
of his progeny. Inbreeding back to Northern Dancer using a grandson of Northern
Dancer as Dam sire would create a 3X4 inbreeding. With Raise a Native being in
the fifth generation of his off spring using a son of Mr. Prospector, or Alydar
would create a 4X5 inbreeding to Raise a Native. Both of those inbreedings will
work in the sim but I would be more inclined to use Seattle Slew, A.P. Indy,
Capote, Roberto, Secretariat, Buckpasser, Damascus or Ribot line sires. Of the
Northern Dancer grandsons Storm Cat really sticks out and of the Mr. Prospector
sons Seeking the Gold.
Noverre has produced five stakes winners so far.
His top two runners have won multiple stakes. One is a filly (Capote X Generous
(IRE)) that has been winning in turf routes and a colt (Storm Creek X Hoist The
Flag) that has been a good turf sprinter. His runners average turf speed figure
between 8-9 furlongs is ten points higher than that of his dirt runners.
(76.2-66.6) That is an amazing difference. Even the proven turf producers do
not have that sort of difference in average speed figures. His other stakes
winners are by (Theatrical (IRE) X Zabeel (NZ)), (Crusader Sword X Danzig
Dancer),(Ela-mana-mou (IRE) X Petingo (GB)). One of his better runners has not
won a stakes yet and is by Kingmambo X Storm Cat. His runners seem best over a
mile and probably will go a lot farther.
His two year olds have been decent so far this
year. He has a couple of runners over the 70-speed figure mark on dirt
(Kaapstad (NZ) X Exclusive Native) and (Unbridled X Sir Tristram (IRE)). He has
a couple of turf over 70 (Clever Trick X El Prado (IRE)) and (A.P. Indy X In
Reality). Other than those four his two year olds have been average so far but
it is very early in the two-year-old season. His runners may take more time to
develop.
Sakhee - is by Bahri. His dam sire is Sadler’s Wells and his dam’s dam
sire is Ribot. His best win was the Prix de l'Arc
de Triomphe. However he is probably better known in the states as the horse
that finished second to Tiznow in the 2001 Breeder’s Cup Classic. He was a good
three year olds but is a little like Mineshaft in that he did not bloom into a
world-class horse until his four-year-old season. His wins in the Arc and Juddmont
International were very impressive.
Sakhee’s
pedigree could pose a little bit of a challenge in finding a proper mate. He is
already inbred to Northern Dancer 3X4 which will be 4X5 in his offspring. He
has a ton of stamina in his pedigree with such stamina influences as Nijinsky,
Sadler’s Wells, and Ribot. I know people probably get tired of me recommending
Seattle Slew but he fits so many pedigrees. Any thing from the Raise a Native
line like Mr. Prospector (Seeking The Gold) and sons or Alydar or Affirmed.
Other sire lines that could cross well would be Halo, In Reality, Buckpasser,
Damascus or Roberto.
He has produce nine stakes winners so far
including Granhee this years Blue Grass Derby winner. Granhee is a little too
inbred for my taste (El Gran Senor X Dixieland Band) but you cannot argue with
success. He has another graded winner that has inbreeding I do not like
(Sadler’s Wells X Buckpasser). His other stakes winners are (Mt. Livermore X
Relaunch), (Kris S. X Kris (GB)), (Fappiano X Mill Reef), (Dubai Millennium
X Danehill), (Seeking The Gold X
Danzig) and (Gone West X Danzig). Mr. Prospector influenced sires have worked
well. He has produced better route turf runners over all.
His two year olds look great. He already has a
stakes winner (Forty Niner X Buckpasser). He did it on dirt with an 87-speed
figure. He has another six runners with 70+speed figures in dirt so far. His
turf running two year olds have not been as good with only one runner posting a
70 speed figure and another three over 60. That will likely even out as the
year goes on.
I am a little surprised at his success of
producing runners that run well early in their careers. Generally sires with a
lot of stamina produce slow maturing offspring but not Sakhee. Seattle Slew has
been used six times as dam sire. None of them to this point have been
impressive but they do not totally suck. On the other hand he has been inbred
back to Sadler’s Wells four times and that has produced one stakes winner and
the others are decent runners.
