Quote Originally Posted by Viv Strangman View Post
I think you need to wait a lot longer than July. Sportswriter is in Canada and that unfortunately is now a poor relative in the North American harness racing scene. They run their sires stakes earlier than the rest so the siring charts mean nothing at this time of year. The major players are all in New York or Pennsylvania. All their sires stakes are just getting under way now. Like Shadow Play last year, Sportswriter is a big fish in a wee pond. Now if on the other hand they can be competitive in the major stakes races coming up, then you can sit up and take notice. Until then all you can say is he has done a nice job with the largest crop in North America from some of the nicest mares in the stud book. A better guide will be in October when the siring charts are a lot more meaningful than they are now.
All that you say is true Viv and I am not suggesting that he will be leading sire at the end of the year. Taking all that into account, however, the performance of Sportswriter up there to date has still been incredible IMO. While Ontario is not New York or Pennsylvania, the wee pond does include Camluck and Mach Three. To totally shut them out like he has is noteworthy.