Andrew Caulfield, October 2, 2012-Certify The Nuckols brothers retained the stakes-placed PEDIGREE INSIGHTS Lodge and it is her last foal, Register, who ranks as B Y A N D R E W C A U L F I E L D Certify=s second dam. Foaled when Lodge was 23, Register never made it to the races, unlike her Friday, Newmarket, Britain stakes-winning half-sister Guinevere=s Folly. This SHADWELL FILLIES' MILE-G1, ,150,000, Newmarket, daughter of Round Table became the second dam of 9-28, 2yo, f, 1mT, 1:38.19, gd. Suave Dancer, a brilliant winner of the G1 Prix du 1--sCERTIFY, 124, f, 2, by Elusive Quality Jockey-Club and the G1 Arc. 1st Dam: Please Sign In (SW & MGSP, Register began her broodmare career at the age of $324,446), by Doc's Leader three with a visit to Doc=s Leader, one of three stallions 2nd Dam: Register, by Mari's Book standing at Hurstland in 1995. By this time the farm 3rd Dam: Lodge, by Bold Lad was under the care of Alfred Nuckols Jr. As you might ($80,000 yrl >11 KEESEP). O-Godolphin; B-Hurstland guess from Doc=s Leader=s fee of $1,500 in 1995, he Farm Inc, William Kartozian & Darley; T-Mahmood Al wasn=t exactly a high-fashion item. Even so, he had Zarooni; J-Mickael Barzalona; ,92,721. Lifetime collected nearly $500,000 in a career which established Record: 4-4-0-0, ,164,407. *1/2 to Cry and Catch he was tough and talented. After finishing first or Me (Street Cry {Ire}), GISW, $226,480. Click for the second in seven of his eight juvenile starts, he raced 15 eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick Rating: times at three and a further 14 times at four. Although C. a graded stakes success narrowly eluded him, he won KY-BRED QUALITY KTA / KTOB six stakes races at up to a mile and an eighth. Doc=s Leader, who was bred by Alfred Nuckols Jr., no doubt owed a lot of his toughness to his sire Mr Congrats to Hurstland Farm! Raised on Feed Leader, who had been a great servant to Hurstland and the Nuckols Bros. This homebred son of Hail to Reason Click for the Racing Post chart, the brisnet.com PPs or regularly ranked among the leading stallions during the the free brisnet.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, 1980s, thanks to such as Wise Times, Ruhlmann, Quiet courtesy Racing UK. Little Table, Martial Law and Hurry Up Blue. Forgive my ignorance of whether America has an Doc=s Leader proved nowhere near as prolific or equivalent to rock, a hard candy which is very popular successful as Mr Leader, but his mating with the at British seaside resorts. This candy comes in the form 3-year-old Register resulted in Certify=s dam, Please of a long, brightly colored stick and usually has the Sign In. In a career fairly evenly divided between turf name of the particular resort spelt out all the way and dirt, Please Sign In won seven of her 33 starts. through it. Only one of them was at stakes level, but she also Well, if last week=s Shadwell Fillies= Mile winner finished second in a sizeable number of stakes races, Certify were a stick of rock, the name running all the including two at graded level at five. way through would be Hurstland Farm. This farm near Please Sign In has developed into an excellent Midway has been operated by the Nuckols family for a producer for Hurstland Farm and its partners. Darley is remarkably long time and Certify=s pedigree charts a lot listed among the breeders of Certify, which suggests of Hurstland=s finest moments. that Please Sign In=s 2009 visit to Elusive Quality was a I first became aware of the Nuckols in the late foal share. Darley was no doubt happy to participate, as 1960s, thanks to the top-class European miler Habitat, one of Please Sign In s earlier visits to a Darley stallion, who was bred by the Nuckols Bros.--Charles and = Street Cry, had resulted in Cry And Catch Me, winner Alfred. Appropriately, Certify=s third dam, the Bold Lad mare Lodge, is a half-sister to Habitat, their dam being of the GI Oak Leaf S. in 2007. that celebrated producer Little Hut. This veteran of 55 CERTIFY, f, 2010 races, bred by Alfred Vanderbilt in 1952, merits being Raise a Native Mr. Prospector described as a blue hen, as her tally of four stakes Gold Digger winners featured two highly successful Irish stallions in Gone West Secretariat Habitat and Northfields. Even her Mr Leader colt Shack, Secrettame Tamerett who was foaled when Little Hut was 24, was good Elusive Quality Northern Dancer enough to earn a Timeform rating of 118 as a juvenile. Hero’s Honor Glowing Tribute Habitat sired a long line of high-class performers, Touch of Greatness Sir Ivor starting with the very speedy Bitty Girl (who currently Ivory Wand figures as the fifth dam of Bodemeister). Although he Natashka Hail to Reason never quite managed to become champion sire in the Mr. Leader Jolie Deja era of Northern Dancer, Habitat became champion sire Doc’s Leader Please Sign In Nodouble of 2-year-olds on four occasions and champion sire of With Patience SW & GSP, First Chapter broodmares three times. Habitat was also runner-up to 33-7-11-3, Northern Dancer his half-brother Northfields among the leading $324,446 Mari’s Book Register Mari Her broodmare sires of 1992 in Britain and Ireland. 4Fls, 2GSW unraced Northfields won the Louisiana Derby and Hawthorne 11Fls, 1SW Lodge Bold Lad Derby before being imported to Ireland. 11Fls, 1SW Little Hut Although Certify is a filly any farm would be proud of producing, she wasn=t a commercial hit for her breeders. Despite being in Book 1 of the September sale, she was knocked down to John Ferguson for only $80,000--only $5,000 more than Elusive Quality=s fee in 2009. I notice that two of the five members of the Monday Jury in the Racing Post comment on Certify=s lack of physical scope, which could have contributed to the Godolphin filly=s yearling price. This appears to be the main concern regarding this good-moving filly=s prospects as a potential winner of the G1 1000 Guineas. No doubt observers find it hard to forget that Lyric of Light, who was also unbeaten when she won the 2011 G1 Fillies= Mile for Godolphin, finished last in the Guineas on her reappearance. Godolphin=s 2010 Fillies= Mile winner White Moonstone was also unbeaten at two, but never ran again. Perhaps the durability displayed by the Hurstland horses in Certify=s pedigree, such as Please Sign In, Doc=s Leader and Mr Leader, will help this exciting filly to succeed where her predecessors failed. It is encouraging that Certify=s sire Elusive Quality also sired Elusive Kate. This $70,000 yearling won another of Europe=s Group 1 races for juvenile fillies in 2011 and has maintained her form extremely well as a sophomore. The same could be said of Elusive Quality=s top son Raven=s Pass, who followed up an exciting juvenile campaign with even better results at three. Raven=s Pass=s first crop of 81 foals is shaping up nicely and his 10 winners include Steeler, winner of the G2 Juddmonte Royal Lodge S. last week. I=m sure there is more to come from this winner of the GI Breeders= Cup Classic.