By Sid Fernando
Back in 2011, when Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., developed GeoNicks, WTC’s Roger Lyons wrote, “. . . you need to know, as a breeder, whether or not the cross is performing as well in your region of interest as it’s performing globally, and that’s where GeoNicks enter the picture.”
Lyons explained: “GeoNicks address the important question how a given pedigree cross has performed, comparatively, in the three major racing environments — North America, Europe, and Australasia. Just as the Werk Nick Rating, as featured at WTC’s online eNicks pedigree service, measures the effectiveness of crosses within the global population of stakes winners, GeoNicks measure those same crosses within the more limited stakes populations of those three respective racing environments. Thus, GeoNicks bring a geographic perspective to the evaluation of sire-line crosses.”
Here’s an example of the usefulness of GeoNicks. Lot 29 at the upcoming Magic Millions Gold Coast yearling sale is a colt by the young Fastnet Rock sire Smart Missile out of Forest City Girl, by Deputy Minister. The global Werk Nick Rating for this cross, based on the Danehill (sire of Fastnet Rock)/Deputy Minister cross, is an “F.” However, in Australasia, the GeoNicks for this same cross is an “A.” It’s responsible for quite a few stakes winners in Australia, including G1 Golden Slipper winner Forensics (Flying Spur/Dehere). By separating Danehill/Deputy Minister from the global stakes population and isolating only stakes results from Australasia, another picture can sometimes emerge.
At the moment, WTC is compiling our Best of Sale (BOS) shortlist for the Magic Millions sale and our analysts have access to this information. This is one reason — certainly not the only reason — why we may sometimes shortlist an “F” nick as BOS. Keep in mind, too, that the nick rating is a starting point for analysis but it isn’t the end all to it.
Also, GeoNicks ratings are meant to be a supplement to the global Werk Nick Rating. They can be accessed at eNicks.com.