Gold Circle Pty (Ltd)

Today's Racing :

Sandyman

David Thiselton
Local buyers, trainers and punters should be looking to improve their knowledge on sand pedigrees with the recent increase in popularity of this racing surface.
When sifting through recent sand racing results a stallion that jumps off the page is Mr Prospector.
The progeny of this famous American stallion often show definite improvement when switching to sand.
A recent example is the Tony Rivalland-trained Great Sovereign who has always been highly thought of but became disappointing in hsais Durban campaign.
He is now unbeaten in two starts over 1600m since being switched to sand.
Great Soverign is by Kahal, who is by the Mr Prospector stallion Machiavellian.
Besides Great Sovereign, other Mr Prospector line horses to have show remarkable improvement lately on sand have been Datura (West Man), Glittering Temple (Windrush), Jamaican Express (Lecture), Mighty Assassin (Kitalpha), Major Champion (Manshood) and Execute (Woodborough), to name just a few, while recent sand feature winners from Mr. Prospector line sires have been Naples (Xaar), Gold Game (Choctaw Ridge), Chiquita (Western Winter), Nottgalashia (Muhtafal) and Alejate (Muhtafal) and the aforementioned Major Champion and Execute.
Another stallion that appears to contribute towards sand success could be Buckpasser, a brilliant sand racehorse and very influential broodmare sire.
Two of the more reliable Mr Prospector line sand stallions are Gold Press and Lecture and they are both by Seeking The Gold (Mr Prospector) whose dam is by Buckpasser.
Captain Al (Al Mufti) has had a feature winner on sand this season in Admiral’s Daughter and in the past with Captain Corageous and the affinity of his progeny for the surface could also come from Buckpasser, he being the sire of Al Mufti’s dam.
The two full brothers Announce and Sarge need no introduction as successful sand stallions and they are in-bred 3x3 to Buckpasser.
Annouce and Sarge are Danzig line sires and Danzig is another stallion who features prominently in the Vaal sand’s winning enclosure.
The last two Emerald Cup winners, Narc (National Assembly) and Alimony (Alami), have come from Danzig line sire while other recent sand feature winners or notably good sand horses from that line include American Emblem (National Emblem), Halie’s Sword (National Assembly) and Quicksand (Announce).
Generally the Danzig line horses don’t appear to improve as much on sand as do the Mr Prospectors and the remarkable improvement shown by Alimony, from a Merit Rating of 69 to101, might well be explained by the fact that Alami is out of a Mr Prospector line dam, while the improvement of the Announce’s and Sarge’s could possibly be due to the influence of Buckpasser.
However, recent examples of Danzig line horses that have shown at least some improvement have been Norquinco (Orpen), Father Smith (National Assembly) and Brave Bid (Qui Danzig).
Interestingly enough, two of the previously mentioned Mr. Prospector line success stories, Great Sovereign and Nottgalashia, are both out of mares with Danzig line sires, Lustra and National Assembly respectively.
Mr Prospector’s affinity for sand could well come from his sire Raise A Native.
Raise A Native was undefeated in four dirt starts as a juvenile and equalled the track record three times. He was then retired due to injury. He enjoyed phenomenal success as a stallion and no fewer than 15 Kentucky Derby winners have had Raise A Native in their sire line.
There are, of course, cases of horses that improve on sand whose pedigrees don’t suggest that they should. A recent example is Tutenkhamen who is by Fard out of a Fine Edge mare, which is very much an Irish and British pedigree.
Tutenkhamen’s third dam is by Quick Turnover who was by Buckpasser, but that might be stretching it, so a better explanation could be that he simply has a racing style suitable to sand i.e. he stays on resolutely, usually from a handy position, all the way to the line.

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