What do you do with mares who bloodstock well but nick bad?

[Alleyne Torres]

I have some star mares by Walnut Tree that produce garbage. I've seen enough of them and other formidable mares by him that I think it not just a couple bad individuals but rather that the whole pedigree is off. I think I read the Steward say that some unusual pedigrees will just not nick well, though she was talking about Thoroughbreds. And I think her point what that you shouldn't discount these mares because of their bad nicks, though that's not what I'm seeing here.

My "star" mares have given me B+ nicks and between them a total of 4 wings, 4 okay gallopers. My "formidable" mares by him gave me 3 wings, 7 okays.

I know that some studs can be better broodmare sires than others, however I'm getting mares that bloodstock well but my suspicion is that they just don't play nice with the other current studs. I bred a lot to Streak of Rock and Em Pee Vee, since they are free of Splash Works and Walnut Tree is a son. I don't have the cash to try them out with GP studs at the moment... especially not for mares that are already giving me garbage.

It may or may not be relevant but each mare's damsire is Gunpowder N Lead. My other mares by Walnut Tree with different damsires did not bloodstock well so I chucked them (and to be honest I chucked many mares who were by Gunpowder N Lead as well). I guess I sent a lot of poor quality mares to Walnut Tree in the first place, so am I overthinking it? and just getting garbage out because I put garbage in?

Any thoughts? Here are the mares if you want a closer look.

[Jo Ferris]

(Ok, so i'm going to kinda ignore Walnut Tree in this paragraph and go to the bloodlines I know) in my opinion Gunpowder N Lead is a decent broodmare sire. I have 5 mares with him as a dam sire and have 3 star, 1 formidable and 1 good. I know some sires tend to have mares that bloodstock ether higher than others or lower, Gunpowder N Lead may be one that his mares (at least with him as mare's dam sire) bloodstock higher, I don't have enough mares however with that line to make a worthy argument. Though only 2 of the 5 mares with him as a dam sire have given me wows or scary (both star mares and both have given me a scary) however, 4 of the 5 mares are 4 years old, the other is 5. (Sorry, went on a bit of a rant)

Anyway, what i'm trying to say in a nutshell is perhaps Walnut Tree (or it could be the Gunpowder N Lead blood) may cause the mares to bloodstock high, the Splash Works blood may help out with that, or it could also be random slide. Nick wise, it wouldn't surprise me if they nick badly because of their unique bloodline, though i have no way of knowing if unusual pedigrees nick lower since i don't have GPs to nick my mares.

[Kyasuriin Matsumoto]

I do a lot with nicks and see a lot of patterns. With star mares in my barn, if they won't give me at least an A- nick, then the reason is usually one of two options:

1) Like the Steward said, obscure pedigrees won't nick as high. I don't find Gunpowder N Lead too obscure. He nicked pretty well (not the best, but pretty good). However, Walnut Tree did not nick too well. Even if the mare is star, it's going to reflect it's pedigree in nicks. And, unfortunately, that makes the odds more likely that she'll produce a bad foal (no matter what the bloodstock comment is). At least until a stallion just as obscure comes along that nicks really well.
2) The mare prefers another distance. I don't think that's true with these mares (they scream mid), but if I get a star mare that doesn't nick well, then I try nicking a stallion at another distance. I have had that fix the problem a few times.

[Chris Everett]

I know that one of my midder mares gave me a scary from a router sire, but it was said, now that i've looked back, that Rocket Science was a midder/router.