HIGHLAND GOLD is a superior looking stallion prospect who demonstrated his stakes class for four years of racing.  He won his only start as a two year old and was then able to win or place in stakes races as a three year old, four year old, five year old, and six year old.  He won the Los Angeles Handicap-G3 to demonstrate his racing quality while posting a total of three stakes wins and four stakes placings, all in open company.

Highland Gold is sired by the highly successful Eclipse Champion Slew O' Gold, the leading money winner at the time of his retirement.  Slew O' Gold is the sire of 7 Grade One Stakes winners and a total of 25 stakes winners overall with progeny earnings in excess of $25,000,000.  Eclipse Champion Slew O' Gold was the winner of 7 Grade One races and was second in 4 other Grade One races.  He is impeccably bred being a direct descendant of the great matriarch Bourtai, and is a half brother to Belmont Stakes winner Coastal.  Slew O' Gold has sired Grade One winning millionaires, Dramatic Gold, Gorgeous and Thirty Six Red in addition to Champion Golden Opinion.  Additionally, Slew O' Gold is extending his influence on the breed through his daughters.  He is a leading broodmare sire and is represented by the dams of Champion Kona Gold and Grade One winner Golden Ballet.

Highland Gold in a total outcross in his first four generations.  He is is inbred only once in five generations and that is in his fifth generation to the twentieth century's best sire, Bold Ruler (5S x 5D).  Highland Gold is an easy horse to find appropriate mares for since he has no Northern Dancer or Mr. Prospector blood.  Highland Gold has a Dosage Profile (DP) of 6-1-11-0-0 which gives him a Dosage Index (DI) of 2.27 and Center of Distribution (CD) of 0.72 and yet he won of 5 of 16 sprint starts, with 2 seconds and 3 thirds from the ages of 2 to 6.  Therefore, although Highland Gold has the dosage of a distance horse, he is blessed with remarkable speed.  This is not uncommon when you see the presence of Whitesburg in his pedigree.  In actuality, the speed is most probably contributed by the presence of Crimson Satan. The presence of Crimson Satan on the distaff side of a pedigree is also evidenced in the remarkably successful sires Storm Cat, Mt. Livermore and Olympio.  One must conclude that there is something magical about the presence of Crimson Satan when it appears on the female side of a sire's pedigree.  Consider that Highland Gold is classically bred with excellent sprinting ability and there is virtually no negative inbreeding patterns that can be created by any mare bred to him.

A breeder can choose to inbreed to Myrtlewood with a Mr. Prospector line mare or do the same with a Seattle Slew line mare while also inbreeding to " The Great Slew" himself.  A long winded mare can still get speed from the classically bred Highland Gold because of the presence of Crimson Satan.  However, all the classic sire presence in Highland Gold's pedigree should provide the stamina to enable his progeny to win at classic distances.

The first three foals of Whitesburg Express are all stakes horses.  It is particularly interesting that her first foal, $204,992 earner Crimson Leslie is inbreed to Crimson Satan.  This inbreeding to Crimson Satan is something that the breeder may want to try with mares from the sire lines of Storm Cat, Mt. Livermore and Olympio since there is already evidence that this inbreeding might be a solid niche. Since the dam of Slew O' Gold is by Buckpasser, inbreeding to Champion Buckpasser would also be an excellent mating.

Another interesting breeding proposition is the concept of inbreeding to Rough Shod II.  Although the great matriarch Rough Shod II is the the seventh dam of Highland Gold, there are those breeders who content that inbreeding carries far back in a pedigree.  Those breeders should send mares to Highland Gold that have the presence of Rough Shod II.  Such progeny would be mares from sire lines of Nureyev, Sadler's Wells, Fairy King, Thatch, Apalachee, Lt. Stevens, and Topsider.

Many of these mating concepts can readily be combined such as inbreeding to Seatlle Slew and Buckpasser.  There are many breeders that like to do multiple inbreeding and Highland Gold is a wonderful stallion to find mares for, that can produce foals that will possess these exciting nicks.