Officer ... Welcome Success As A Stallion
 

It looks as if Officer is off to a really good start as a stallion ... with several of his 2YOS winning right out of the box.

This is a welcome development ... because he's the main hope for keeping the Hastings-Fair Play-Man O' War line alive.

The great In Reality singlehandedly saved this line ... and now it's his great-grandson Officer's job to keep it going.

His runner on Friday at Belmont was super impressive. I wonder though how they will run as 3yr olds.

He has certainly impressed....I thought Johannesburg would be the leading first crop stallion but I'm not sure of that anymore after seeing how well Officer has started....Wow!

I loved J'burg and am still looking forward to his runners but I agree he might not be the leader @ the end of the year. One would think with the sheer number of foals he has that he would have made more of an impact by now (I Know it's still early no one needs to tell me that). Ashford is famous (or perhaps notorious) for huge books and perhaps he might suffer from a lack of selectivity in his mares. Or being from the storm cat line his foals may not be super sound (the one's I have seen personally had a few minor issues).
Officer was never really on my radar as a sire but he is doing really well so far and as stated earlier he may be the best hope to carry on his line.

Very good article in thurs drf . Gibson County is lights out as a frosh sire even tho he had limited matings. Jsbergs ofspring will emerge as they strechout.

Tiznow is off to a decent start as a stallion. That's two shots at keeping the line going.

NY stallions with In Reality:
A P Jet, Captain Red, Gold Miner's Gold, Griffinite, Judge TC, Kelly Kip,
Slice of Reality, Thunderello.

Don't forget about the Valid Appeal and all of his Florida-bred sons, including Valid Expectations and Successful Appeal (Just look for Valid or Appeal in the names).

Officer was a remarkably well-put-together athlete who lacked the killer instinct. As long as he could beat horses without digging in and fighting back, he looked like a champion. But when horses came up to him in the stretch, he didn't know what to do. Putting Tiznow's guts into Officer's physique would have created a horse for the ages.

Tiznow's first crop was OK ... but they didn't give the impression that they were the type of superior group that great stallions produce. Another year or two will tell us more.

Valid Appeal did a wonderful job of keeping the line going ... but I'm not very sanguine about his sons' long-term prospects.

It's very, very early in Officer's stud career ... but the signs are hopeful.

I've often repeated the story of the St. Simon line ... which was thought to be dead in the 1930's after the failure of Mieuxce as a stallion ... but from out of nowhere came Princequillo, Ribot, and Gallant Man ... from three different branches ... to pump new life into the line.

Where there's life ... there's hope.

Tiznow started out stellar with his 2YOs and it Wowed everybody who knows bloodstock because he figured to throw a growthy horse that would be better at 3 and 4 and at longer distances.....the fact that he hit with Folklore, Enforcement and others so early was very exciting, but I must say that it has been a disappointment to not see any real big 3yos from his first crop....Sweet Sugaree fizzled out, Folklore was retired and sent to Unbridled's Song (wow, that'll be an unsound foal), and Enforcement, who I really loved last summer for Baffert, has yet to resurface and is obviously very unsound himself......

Officer's 2nd dam's sire is Raise A Man, the broodmare sire of Mayakovsky. The son of Raise A Native, 29, stands at Milfer Farm. He suits mares tail male to any son of Selene very, very well, like Hyperion as I recall. If you have a mare that fits this profile mate to him while you can.

http://www.milferfarms.com/stal4.htm

The superb first-out performance by Les Grans Trois at Belmont yesterday ...

... just imagine ... a first-out 2YO winner for Frankel! ...

... provides more indication that Officer may become the next great stallion.

This is very good news ... because the breed could use a good stallion who's not from the Phalaris or Eclipse lines. Officer does have a lot of Phalaris blood ... in fact ... he's practically choking on it ... but his tail-male goes back to Matchem through West Australian and Man O' War ...

... and that's a welcome relief.

Go Officer !!!