Looks cute in photos and I see many names I like for a sport horse. But I am no expert.
Are you selling him or looking at buying? Looks like he was recently posted everywhere.
I say he is worth a look, off of pedigree alone - I really like Giants Causeway. He definitely stamps his kids, and almost every one of his sons standing is also a stamper. GC is one of SC’s best moving sons IMHO, there are some very good moving horses out there by GC and I always will look over a horse with GC up close. Usually they have very floaty, beautiful trots with nice, balanced canters. The only draw back is that sometimes GC is apt to throw a downhill horse that is all engine behind - I’ve seen some beautiful GC/Ap Indy horses that would make incredible eventers.
There’s a lot to like from his sire, btw - Kingmambo is a solid sport-horse sire IME, another one of the very good moving horses that passes it along probably thanks to his distaff, and Sharpen Up is another very athletic, above average mover. Sharpen Up is one of the modern sources of better than average movement, likely thanks to Tudor Minstrel and the double to Hyperion, who is the source of “dressage-type” movement in thoroughbreds today.
The damside of this horse is very much an eventing-style pedigree, lots of names that were heavily praised for the old format, lots of staying blood. Never Bend and Bold Ruler some of the best sires for long-format days.
Off of pedigree alone, I am intrigued. I would expect a very nice horse. Maybe a little bit of a workaholic, and maybe a little ‘sensitive’ but not hot. Definitely worth a look.
Being picky here, but can you have a Nasrullah/Bold Ruler nick? Nasrullah was Bold Ruler’s sire.
Tail female to the Alexander Mare of 1790. That’s probably the best MtDNA for jumping horses IMO.
It’s a very promising pedigree for sport in so many ways, including the Never Bend double on the bottom. On top, Royal Statute was the dam of Baederwood, who was a recognized stallion for eventing, and her daughter in this pedigree is by Damascus, a known jumping influence.
Big Burn on the bottom is by Never Bend out of Bowl of Flowers. Bowl of Flowers is by Sailor, a well known sire for jumpers, and her dam was Flower Bowl, the dam of both Graustark and His Majesty. Better pedigree for a sport TB than Big Burn’s is hard to imagine.
Red Giant, the sire of this horse (Giant’s Causeway is the grandsire), is really pretty refined. I always loved the look of him. There’s a great video here.
That’s the funny thing about Giant’s Causeway: in the flesh, he’s your typical little downhill tank. But he throws these taller, lanky, nice moving individuals (for the most part). It’s like the Storm Cat/Rahy influence takes a backseat to something else.
I do think Giant’s Causeway will become one of those names we look for in pedigrees for “jump” in future generations. His is really just beginning to infiltrate the sport horse world.
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You’re completely right. I’m thinking of Nasrullah and Princequillo as the nick.
I will say, onto the BR and doubling to him(and subsequently, Nasrullah), Sky Mesa and AP Indy come to mind, both of which have made some very trainable, good eventers.
I think Texarkana is right about GC in the sport world. Frost Giant and Stonesider come to mind, as well as Eskendereya but I can never spell his name right. They are tall, big of frame, and beautiful moving horses with the right mares. Incredible movers, really – my concern with GC at the moment is finding one that is not tremendously successful as a race horse… they seem to run very well and if you can find one, they usually unfortunately have some race track jewelry due to their long-standing success. If you are lucky you can get one that flunked of out racing because they were too big (they get tall - I’ve seen several 17h+) but they are not cheap. Stonesider and Eskendereya especially throw these huge, tall monsters. Frost Giant tends to make them a little more packagable.
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I like the GC grand kids that I’ve see so far…so much so that I own two. Go for it OP…he looks worth following up on.
People forget GC’s oldest crop of foals are only 15 this year (and those were in Europe). His sons and daughters have been so pervasive in the shed it makes it feel like he’s been around longer. But he hasn’t had much time to get upper level horses yet. And most of us only have access to his blood through progeny of his offspring, making the age pool even younger.
Exactly. My two are 4 and 3. It will be some time before they do anything. The 4 year old is in a massive growth spurt at the moment.
