BARGAIN BRED RACING SERIES & BREEDING CORNER

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Peaks and Valleys

 

Peaks and Valleys is one of those underused sires in the sim. His runners continue to do pretty well in real life. One of his better three year olds is Devilment who will likely make a start this upcoming weekend in the West Virginia Derby. His has one of those versatile pedigrees you have to love. He can produce runners that like both surfaces and can go short or long.

 

Real Life- Peaks and Valleys is by Mt. Livermore (Blushing Groom (FR)). His dam sire is Green Dancer (Northern Dancer) and his dam’s dam sire is Iron Ruler (Nasrullah). He won three of four races as a two year old and five of eight as a two year old to earn champion three year old honors in Canada. His dosage index is 1.93 indicating a solid amount of stamina.

 

He was probably at his best at a mile and an eighth where he won two grade I races and a grade II. He ran well at a mile and a quarter and probably was capable of further distances. At the same time he had the speed to sprint well.

 

His best real life runner has been Dollar Bill. Dollar Bill had this uncanny ability to find trouble in big races but still managed to earn over a million dollars winning a grade II and placing in several other graded stakes. This year his progeny are doing pretty well with six stakes wins. Compare that to some of the more popular sires like Giant’s Causeway (5), Kingmambo (7), A.P. Indy (6), and Fusaichi Pegasus (4). The big difference though is the big boys have graded stakes wins and so far Peaks and Valleys progeny do not.

 

Sim Life – Peaks and Valleys has only one active stakes winner in the sim from forty-seven active runners. That runner is seven years old so I would say it is about time for him to produce a few more. On the plus side he has sixteen allowance winners (34%). His runners have a higher average speed between 8f-9f (82.6) than less than 8f (79.5).

 

He has produced much better dirt runners but he does have a couple of solid turf runners. His two fastest have been sprinters (110, 101) but again his average speed figures are higher in the 8f-9f range (68.4) than in the sprint category (62.6). So if you have a Peaks and Valleys runner that you have been sprinting, you might consider stretching him or her out.

 

His stakes winner has both dam sires from the Northern Dancer line (Strawberry Road and Be My Guest. With his pedigree it seems to set up for Mr. Prospector line dam sires but only two of his top five runners were bred that way. Breeding back to Northern Dancer dams had also produced two of the top five.

 

He only has three two year olds thus far. These three were bred early in the year and already have 5,6, and 8 races respectively. None of them have won a race yet however they should continue to get better as they stretch out. Two look pretty bad right now but one #29471 (Boston Harbor X Gone West) seems to have the look of a runner with a solid future.

 

Breeding Suggestions – A look at the Pin Oak stud website breeding recommendations brings us a long list of potential dam sires. With Peaks and Valleys pedigree it seems to set up best for Mr. Prospector, Seattle Slew, Buckpasser, Bold Ruler, Halo or Roberto dam sires. There are many more lines that could probably produce well. Breeding back to Northern Dancer line is a good choice. Northern Dancer will be in the 5th generation of his progeny’s offspring so using grandsons of Northern Dancer seem more desirable than sons for a more balanced inbreeding.

 

There has not been any real pattern to follow that has worked in the sim. I would look for dam sire with solid stamina influences and that can be a bit tough using the Mr. Prospector line. Afleet has been used before with success and I think Jade Hunter, Silver Ghost, Our Emblem and Mining could make solid choices. Something about Unbridled that I really like as a potential dam sire. I also like dam sires that already have the Mr. Prospector X Northern Dancer cross like Chester House, or Zafonic.

 

Seattle Slew is very intriguing as well. Several solid choices like General Meeting, Slew City Slew, Slew O Gold, Seattle Song, Slewacide and Slewpy. Buckpasser has a couple that seem interesting choices and could probably help better in the dam’s dam sire slot. Silver Buck, Spend a Buck, Buckaroo, Buckfinder, L’Enjoleur.

 

Bold Ruler has some very solid choices as well. Secretariat, Spectacular Bid, What a Pleasure, Reviewer or Blade.

 

Halo and Roberto are both off shoots of the Turn-To line with many solid choices. Sunday Silence, Devil’s Bag, Saint Ballado, Southern Halo, Sunny’s Halo, Dynaformer, Lear Fan, Kris S., Red Ransom, Silver Hawk.

 

Other dam sires that could also be interesting are Le Fabuleux, With Approval, Cozzene, Diesis (GB), Shirley Heights (GB), Slip Anchor (GB).

 

Peaks and Valleys (4717) X Silver Ghost (5843) X Silver Buck (5835)

 

Peaks and Valleys (4717) X Unbridled (6852) X Buckpasser (882)

 

Peaks and Valleys (4717) X Saint Ballado (5545) X L’Enjoleur (3484)

 

 

Bargain Bred –  Peaks and Valleys gets down into the mid forties by the end of the week so he is a solid choice for a bargain bred. It can be tough with these type sires because you end up looking for solid dam sires that end the week below 40 points.

 

Peaks and Valleys (4717) X Texas City (6518) X Mambo (3773)

 

Peaks and Valleys (4717) X Homebuilder (2830) X Sharpella (GB) (13810)

 

Peaks and Valleys (4717) X Hay Halo (2725) X Medialle D’or (3904)

 

 

What to Expect – Peaks and Valleys was a pretty good two year old. He carried that though his three year old season and ran a few races as a four year old. His sim two year olds are not tearing anything up so I would expect his runners be ok at two and improve as the distances get longer. They will likely run well as three and four year olds. His runners should most likely be route runners on the dirt however he can produce sprinters or turf runners so if your runner hits a wall switch surfaces or distances.