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This is the 10th in a series of notes and impressions about the new stallions in Kentucky for 2009. The horses will be reviewed alphabetically.

Indygo Shiner (1998 chestnut by A.P. Indy out of Navarra, by El Gran Senor)

Stands at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm for $7,500 live foal

Although Indygo Shiner is atypical of this group by being a proven horse in South America, the chestnut son of A.P. Indy is covering his first book of Northern Hemisphere mares this year in Kentucky.

Furthermore, the handsome horse is proving that handsome is as handsome does. He is the sire of numerous top-tier racers in Argentina, currently ranking him second among Argentine stallions behind the giant chestnut Incurable Optimist. For more details about these statistics, click here.

Sid Fernando, whose excellent blog on international bloodstock and racing can be found at http://sidfernando.wordpress.com/ has further entries about the classic exploits of the stock by Indygo Shiner down south.

As an individual, Indygo Shiner is a handsome, scopy horse with quality and substance. He has great length of rein, with his neck joining his well-angled and deep shoulder beautifully. This leads into a smooth, broad, and muscular back. He has a deep girth and surprising length of body.

In fact, he looks smaller than he is until one is next to the horse, when his size becomes apparent. Standing a bit more than 16 hands, Indygo Shiner is a medium-sized to good-sized horse, neither too big nor too small to match a substantial portion of the mares available to him.

He did most of his winning on turf and showed his best form there. Not coincidentally, that is where the majority of racing is conducted in South America, although on courses that tend to be firm to hard.

Indygo Shiner is a very pleasing individual who shows a greater similarity to the A.P. Indy sons like Pulpit than to the lankier and more purely classic horses such as Mineshaft.

In addition, Indygo Shiner is out of stakes winner Navarra, an El Gran Senor full sister to the mighty Toussaud, who is the dam of four G1 winners, including the promising young sire Empire Maker (by Unbridled) and Honest Lady (by Seattle Slew), the dam of new stallion First Defence.