Category: Unexpected Wonders

There are a couple of old sayings that seem to have fallen out of favour in today’s society. “Patience is a virtue” and “good things come to those that wait” have become passé clichés to modern men and women. In an age of instant payments, instant news, instant communication, and even instant coffee, we have become a society of impatient

Throughout the grand history of the thoroughbred, sire line dynasties have come and gone. The great sire Hyperion founded one of the more enduring lines during his stud career in the mid decades of the twentieth century. His influence streamed across every racing jurisdiction in the world and was considered as one of the most potent tail male lines in

Memories from older racing enthusiasts are golden. When recalling the greats from the past to younger racing fans and participants, the newer generations tend to look upon the stories with trepidation and a sense of “yeah sure, that horse was not that good” belief. However, when certain champions from the past are recalled by the wise old observers in great

One of the more popular categories on this web-site is the “Unexpected Wonders” category. The category consists of horses from modest bloodlines who have overcome their genetic heritage to become champions on the track. When such a champion comes along, which is not a common occurrence, racing fans adopt the horse as a personal favourite. A good friend of the

Question. What is the basis for acclaiming a stallion as a foundation sire? The most obvious answer is, “A sire that has created a tail male line through his sons and grandsons which have dominated the breeding of champion racers and champion sires to future generations”. Another definition of a foundation sire is, “A sire that inaugurated a clamour to

Generally on this web-site, I extol the wonders of past champions who would become influential sires or broodmares. A few sires that did not win important races or a few broodmares who had a likewise similar racing career, but became foundation sires or mares have also received attention. This article is about a one of the greatest thoroughbreds ever witnessed

Thoroughbred breeding fashion can be fickle and at times overly commercial in its operation. Many breeders and buyers of bloodstock tend to become far too narrowly focused on one or two sire lines when looking for the next star to race in their colours. Consequently, when emerging sire lines from total outcrosses of the in vogue bloodlines begin to produce

Grey Thoroughbreds seem to have a special attraction to racing fans. With the plethora of bays, dark bays and chestnut coloured horses dominating most of the entries in every race on a day’s race card, the appearance of the distinct grey stands out. The coat of a grey horse becomes lighter as they age, making the contrast more noticeable. If

Silver Charm is one of the most popular Derby winners with horse racing fans. He is somewhat of a rags to riches individual, as he was essentially shunned as a yearling when offered for sale. His breeding was not what one would call “fashionable” at the time. His sire Silver Buck was a very good stakes winning son of Buckpasser,

They say in sports that records are made to be broken. Many records that have been set by elite athletes that seemed unattainable do eventually get topped by an athlete of a future generation. The great Lou Gehrig, known as the “Iron Horse”, had his thought to be unbreakable consecutive baseball games played streak broken by Cal Ripken, more than