I’m not a huge fan, there is a reason he is standing in TX. Compare his shoulder to Medaglia D’Oro, who is slightly shorter backed and leggier, and is way more successful. WRT second careers, Talismanic (Medaglia D’Oro) could step into any hunter ring and win on the flat. And the COLOR! I don’t think he is retired yet.
sign me up for a stonesider baby. his offspring even look just like him. He wa slocated to Valor in texas last year. not sure whats up with him now
I love Dynaformers. I’d love to see that horse with a bit shorter front cannons, but other than that- YUMMY!!
Yes, he isn’t perfect. He’s a little too tall (taller than his sire) to be ideal as well, but I like him. He didn’t start racing until 4 perhaps due to his size. Look at those big old Dynaformer feet !
He looks to me like he could be a good sporthorse sire, but the knowledgeable racehorse folks here say he’s got a chance to make his mark in breeding for the track now, so we’ll never know. It will be interesting to see if any of his retired get go on to sport careers.
I’m certainly no expert but IIRC, Spectacular Bid did end up breeding some nice sport horses. I don’t know if he was ever bred to a non-JC mare but if a stallion doesn’t make it on the track or in the shed (i.e., throws good runners or a quality broodmare sire) still might see offspring that don’t make the TB racing business available for sport.
Apparently this stallion has done quite well with his get on the track, with a very small number of mares. He now has the chance, based on his record, to access better race mares. We’ll see!
No, he won’t. He only has 16 foals that have achieved racing age, and went to stud in 2010. No one is sending mares to him. Big race horses have soundness issues.
Spectacular bid died in 2003, is that who you were referring to, or Mr. Big?
You are unfamiliar with him. There’s a back story. In summary, upon retirement, his owner decided to stand him in KY privately, then “publicly” very cheaply with no real advertising. He bred a handful of mares in KY, almost exclusively for his owner. When the foals did exceptionally well on the CA circuit, CA came a-callin’…
He bred 39 mares his first season in CA. He bred 64 in 2017.
I considered sending a mare to him in 2013. On paper, she is a strong nick with Dynaformer blood, and there weren’t a lot of options, so I looked into him. I decided against it for some of the same reasons you cited. My loss, as he has turned out to be one of the stronger Dynaformer sons.
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Mr. Big was standing privately for his owner, George Krikorian who bred the majority of his offspring and has done quite well with them. Based on that success, he moved to Harris Farm for 2018 (or maybe 2017?) According to the JC, he bred 64 mares in 2017.
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I always loved Stormy Atlantic’s conformation. He doesn’t “look” like a WB, but I always really liked how his offspring were put together… usually moved uphill, very sweet dispositions, and could they jump. And they do pretty well on the track.
Anything AP Indy has me drooling. He’s such a super stallion… his front end is to die for, for racing and sport.
I always thought Private Account was that perfect mix of racing & sport conformation as well. He may not look like much in this picture but his offspring I’ve seen or worked with always had huge frames but a stayer’s build, lots of engine behind and very big shoulders… Big boned too.
Louis Quatorze was as close, I think, as you can get for a horse to have racing talent and sport talent while showing conformation for both.
Consistently it does seem that a little bit longer coupling with a little straighter hind and a big shoulder makes a good bid for racing pursuits.
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It is no secret that Dynaformer sires great horses for sport as well as the track. I am surprised more sport people are not breeding their WB’s to Lentenor. I would think he would throw quite the event horse if bred right
All of Dynaformers sons seem to be very high in the withers (old TB trait) and slightly long in the pastern but those are the only traits I would caution against. They are very strong in the front ends which is excellent.
Vertiformer is another lovely example of a Dynaformer son out of a RAHY mare.
https://www.bloodhorse.com/stallion-register/stallions/168596/vertiformer
I have always liked Mr Big and the way he is built. Perhaps that is because his grandsire is also Fappiano.
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For me; I love anything with AP Indy up close. He stamps them and they are beautiful. They are spectacular sport horses with great substance of bone. His son Bernardini has been toted a lot on this forum as his offspring have been excellent sport horses in their second careers with great jumping talent. I would love to see some of his offspring out there in the steeplechase fields!
For me; my favorite AP INDY sons include the following:
Commissioner
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“title”:“Commisioner.jpg”,“data-attachmentid”:9984009}[/ATTACH]
CONGRATS
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“title”:“Congrats.jpg”,“data-attachmentid”:9984010}[/ATTACH]
HONOR CODE
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“title”:“HONOR CODE.jpg”,“data-attachmentid”:9984011}[/ATTACH]
STEPHANOATSEE
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“title”:“STEPHAN.jpg”,“data-attachmentid”:9984012}[/ATTACH]
MALIBU MOON
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I love AP Indy as well. Other than MM and Congrats, I don’t even think those are his best sons (for sport) - but all droolworthy.
Here are my top picks for AP Indy sons (Malibu Moon being my foremost, but you already mentioned him):
Golden Missile: 
Jump Start: [IMG2=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“src”:"https://i.pinimg.com/736x/7e/68/67/7e6867ece1c483a545023d637be0b976.jpg)
Steven Got Even [IMG2=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“src”:"http://i.bloodhorse.com/sroimages//medium/0000128198_1.jpg)
Dances With Ravens: [IMG2=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“src”:"https://i.pinimg.com/736x/9b/7b/07/9b7b070ceb29a90480a9009b1c595ec6--ravens-dance.jpg)
I am particularly fond of Golden Missile and Jump Start kids. Excellent eventers. Fabolous movers and jumpers.
One thing AP can pass on is that knee. His shoulders are impeccable and he usually passes on a good powerful engine too. AP has a very distinct head that I almost always see in offspring and sometimes even grandget. He almost always seems to improve neck & shoulder which is interesting because I don’t think his sire did that at all. I’m curious to see what he looks like doubled up/linebred. However, I worry about it given his sire-line’s association with cervical arthritis.
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IIRC, Dynaformer had a pretty tough personality. If his offspring are sought after as sport horses, does this mean that they don’t usually have his personality?
Those AP Indy sons are gorgeous…especially Honor Code and Jump Start!!
I haven’t heard of Dynaformer sons passing on any issues for temperament. If anything they may be like the Tapit’s and tend to be difficult as youngsters in a track setting. Honor Code is passing on his good looks and chrome as well. All of his offspring that I have seen are absolutely striking. They are built like those beautiful hunters of years gone by.
Hopefully he keeps going on the upward trajectory. California breeders tend to be notoriously fickle probably because the buyers can be that way too. Mr Big is quite the buzz horse now but expectations are also high and he needs to meet them. Grazen is another one that is going through the roof but a former buzzhorse, Papa Clem, just landed in Turkey and Lucky Pulpit lost a lot of luster before he died (going from 128 mares bred one year to 63 the next even when Harris lowered the fee).
Even though I engage in the yearly ritual of looking at stallions and getting excited about the eye candy, the truth is that sires sire and they aren’t always the lookers. I’m not sure who would have predicted the success of Distorted Humor for example. Candy Ride tends to sire small and plain which hurts him in the sales ring but he has the last laugh when he gets a Gun Runner, Shared Belief and Mastery which really is what we are supposed to be aiming for as running horse breeders.
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Where are breeders and buyers not fickle? :lol:
The national third crop sire rankings might as well be a list of recent horse exports.
Mr. Big. Obviously.
