Pretty Ferro (USA)

B.Gelded 15.3 Hands

Age 4 (Foaled 5 3 2017)

Vital Stats      Runs 16 1st 9  2nd 1 3rd 1 Win% 56.25

Breeder – Estero Farms

Trainer – Estero Farms

Sired – Ferro *Current List Fee $20

Mare – Dam Pretty One

Here today with Rich from Estero Farms. Rich thank you for agreeing to meet with me at your ColNJ farm for 20 minutes on behalf of the SRF. I can see you have got your hands full, certainly have a lot of nice horses.

Especially interested in Pretty Ferro as you know and wanted to ask a few questions.

The horse had a shaky start to his career and to me; he didn’t look to special compared to other horses in your barn at the time. Pretty Ferro was unable to place in his Maiden attempt; next he was shipped to CT in a $23 Maiden and came 5th.

1. If someone would have offered you $30 for him straight after that race would you have accepted?

Really hard for me to say if I would have accepted $30 after his second race. I am not much of a seller so I think it is unlikely.

So Rich, Pretty Ferro could  second time out. You gelded him applied Lasix i noticed and it really helped turn around his career.

1. Did you consider shooting him before gelding!?

Ha no I do not have a very quick trigger finger on my horses as I like to give them some time and he had a nice confo. Now if he was in another barn I know he may not have lived to see his 3rd start.

1. We were all thrilled to see him win HRP 2 Year Old Horse Of The Year Trophy, how did you celebrate?

Well I guess I celebrated by breeding some horses with the vouchers and bragging a little bit in the chat.

1. When did you realize Pretty Ferro may be extra special?

I think I got my first inkling that he may be really good when he worked 110.1 on Jan 2nd of his 3 yo year. After that his win in the Swale against what I thought was a good field gave me more confidence and then finally when he stretched out in the Gotham I was convinced he was really good.

1. Looking at him he seems very calm and to  have a nice temperament. What’s it been like working with and owning Pretty Ferro?

He has been a very easy horse to work with, sort of a set it and forget it. He has proven himself on an off track and can run on really any instruction.

Ran well on mud 5th May 2018 @ CD finishing respectable 1st by 2 lengths great race I watched it cheering from the stands. He demonstrated he can run well on the mid  and even sloppy.

1. Last race on 26th Jan was muddy also and he finished outside winning circle in 6th. I missed that race can you tell us a bit what happened that race please?

Well in that race it seemed like most of the closers did not really make up much ground and it was his first race back after the BC and an almost 3 month layoff.

1. Next trip out are you thinking of lowering his class try get him back into some winning form or sticking to G1?

I am actually planning on running him in an allowance race to see if I can get a bit of his confidence back in him.

1. Looking at him he has a lovely set of back legs. Horse looks strong and nicely balanced though there has been some talks over his front legs. Could that be a factor in his recent  performance? Like any concerns over the longevity in him?

7) I am certainly concerned about him now as he had a very long and hard 3 YO campaign and his works seem to be tailing off.

1. Appreciate you said you are not much of a seller. ( I know having approached you several times personally!) however if someone offered you $1000 right now for him would you take?

8) Given how I answered the previous question I would have to accept an offer for $1000 if it came now.

Interesting. I can see you are wanted in the yard, one quick question before i go!

1. Do you think he can bounce back and tear the track up again this year?

9) I am holding out hope that he can bounce back and I think his next race will tell us a lot about that. If he doesn’t I cannot complain because he gave me an incredible season and brought a lot of fun and excitement to the stable. I will make sure he lived out his life in comfort on the farm and will be forever grateful to have had him run for me.

Thanks for your time Rich, have a great season and best of luck with Pretty Ferro.

Bloodline Analysis

Today I am going to take a look at Pretty Ferro and attempt to share some of breeding theory’s/ insights into his pedigree.

Horse contains

18 Bloodlines Sire

10 Bloodlines Mare

28 Bloodlines Total

I am going to try to attempt to dissect a number of them.

In order to do this I would like to start by revisiting a bloodline theory I created years ago in my old report(Unlocking The Genetic Code CF part 2) and make a few corrections along the way.

Need go go back in time a little bit, first bear with me please. Let’s look at Swarley for a moment.

Swarley has CC copies  ie the *Speed Gene coming from his 2 Bloodlines (HRP- Diplomat Way and HRP Nalee). He breed with a mare years ago called Raunchy as we all know; producing the Legendary Charley Farley.  But let’s look at Raunchy in more detail. Why did it work so well? What attribute did she bring to the table?

Raunchy was comprised of 12 Bloodlines. Importantly she also contained the special speed gene in the game; from the famous horse Rhythm Bloodlines HRP Docksider and HRP Reveille. This came from the top part (Sire side) in her pedigree.

Here is where is starts to get interesting. The mare of Raunchy was Risque Sired by Brazen Prospect. He was a very special horse in the game bringing the X Gene or Heart gene to the game from Bloodlines HRP Tale Of The Cat and HRP Parlo. Now these are both very special bloodlines in my opinion. *Tale Of The Cat is smashing it in the USA in RL at the same time as the developers sat writing the code for the game (Irony?)

Why are these bloodlines special you ask? Both bring Desire especially HRP Parlo! Another bloodline i have put into the category attributes X.

Check Cherokee Sunset Inbreeding 3dX5s Rattle Dancer 3dX4s Risque. Reinforcing those quality strong desire genes, helps understand him a little better for example.

So let’s take a look at Pretty Ferro’s Pedigree. Back end we know sits Speed/Desire which are good building blocks.  Let’s view his Inbreeding i= 3SX4d Swarley. Nicely balanced on either side also for a double dosage or reinforcing those speed genes as I look at it.

On the third generation pedigree page Sire side please notice Jolly Be Great and Bloodlines HRP Gallant Man and HRP Native Street. Good stamina genes containing CT copies.  * Identified JBG genes years ago in report but should have put a big disclaimer. ^Using these genes tends to lean towards pig ugly so big balls and wallets recommended.

Also interestingly look on the mares side – perfectly mirrored in my mind 3rd gen sitting very neatly alongside the horse is General Assembly. Again a horse working similar in attributes to JBG bringing strong stamina to the table.

*Steel Ball is another horse who has good stamina genes I like.

We got desire. Speed and more speed now stamina. Like solid foundations something is starting to line up right i feel.

Let’s look at the 2nd Generation now on his pedigree.

Charley Farley. I made another mistake in my report years ago and recently a slight epithany with him. I referred to him years ago as bring to the table the speed gene. No. He brings something even cooler. Ye he contains speed and desire we covered that I know.

He brings in my mind an attribute not listed in the help guide and something I never heard of so I created. He brings Balance. I use an index and he listed as a new attribute *C (*Confirmation). Know CF needed stamina and worked well with JBG but understood know even better why. It was like a light shone and I can remember punching the air shouting ‘yes’!

So know we can Confirmation Balancer to the mix.

Again look at Cherokee Sunset top couple foal’s by earnings and look at the bloodlines put to. It can help us understand as an example him a lot better again.

I discussed a few of my breeding theory’s with Wayne Our Athletes (Stables). He had one shot with Ferro and wanted to try replicate Pretty Ferros pedigree and breed Ferro Engine.

Look on the Mare Side how General Motors sits alongside on the Sire side JBG genes also.  It was certainly a good attempt and these types of testing with him are really worth trying. The horse has demonstrated he can handle being thrown back at himself and darn well.

On the First line of the horses pedigree is Ferro. Hoping reading this will help you understand his genetic makeup better.

On the Mare side I noted with interest the mares confirmation to all you confo snobs…. She may have been called Pretty One, but she certainly did not stand out in the field as hot looking! Average back legs/ Average front legs/ and Average Forehand.

The imperfections in here and attributes when she met Pretty Ferro and his bloodlines created corrections thus creating the perfections.

Overall Verdict – Ferro =  One To Lease

Thanks for Reading

El Primero Rodeo

Categories: SRF Interviews