BARGAIN BRED RACING SERIES & BREEDING CORNER

Rock of Gibraltar (IRE)- is by Danehill. His dam sire is Be My Guest and his dam’s dam sire is Bold Lad. The Rock won ten of thirteen starts including seven straight grade I races. He was an excellent miler as a three year old winning the 2000 Guineas and the Irish 2000 Guineas. He was upset in the Breeder’s Cup mile by Domedriver. In the mile the Rock had a horrible outside post, tracked near the back of the field on the back stretch, came wide around the second turn, dealt with Landseer who broke down and he still managed to finish second.

At first glance you will see that the Rock is already inbred to Northern Dancer 3X3. That is a pretty close up inbreeding but I would not let that deter me from using sons or grand sons of Northern Dancer as dam sire or dam’s dam sire. Mr.Prospector line sires would seem the most logical choice as dam sire. The Roberto, Seattle Slew and Ribot lines as well the Blushing Groom line seem great choices.

His fastest runners have been on the dirt. Eight of the ten top speed figures on the dirt over a mile are by Mr. Prospector line sires. The other two in the mix were Sunday Silence and Rahy. Two of the top three turf speed figures over a mile are by Northern Dancer line sires. He has produced six stakes runners so far three on dirt and three on turf. It is a little surprising to see that he has produced better dirt horses than turf horses so far and that his progeny prefer distances at a mile or over.

His two year olds look great. Two of them have broken the 80-speed figure mark on dirt. He has another four runners that have run a 70 or better speed figure three on turf and one on dirt. His two fastest two year olds both hail from Northern Dancer line sires. Nureyev and Storm Cat. There are plenty of very well bred two year olds so expect this guy to be a top sophomore sire.