MATING RECOMMENDATIONS Classic winner Touch Gold is one of the stallions that helped establish Northern Dancer grandson Deputy Minister as a sire of sires.     Touch Gold has sired 20 stakes horses out of mares that carry Mr. Prospector within six generations, 15 of them products of the direct Mr. Prospector broodmare line. He has had particularly good success with Conquistador Cielo (two stakes winners and a Grade 1-placed runner) and Forty Niner (Grade 1 winner Mass Media and two additional stakes horses).     Forty Niner is out of a mare by Tom Rolfe, who has proven to be an excellent influence for Touch Gold. Two other Grade 1 winners by Touch Gold, Midas Eyes and Composure (and her graded stakes-winning full brother) are out of great-granddaughters of Tom Rolfe. In all, 16% of the stakes horses sired by Touch Gold are out of mares that carry Tom Rolfe within five generations. This group also includes the multiple stakes winner and Grade 1-placed Spritely. Touch Gold has sired additional stakes horses with mares carrying other Ribot strains - Arts and Letters, Graustark and His Majesty (through Pleasant Colony). Touch Gold is showing a growing affinity for Seattle Slew-line mares, especially daughters and granddaughters of A. P. Indy. He’s been represented by a stakes winner out of an A. P. Indy mare in each of the past two seasons, Abby’s Angel in 2009 and Anna Bella in 2010. Those two join the multiple stakes winner Victory Lap (dam by A. P. Indy) and the graded stakes-placed Luster who is out of a mare by A. P. Indy’s son Pulpit. Pulpit is bred on the A. P. Indy/Mr. Prospector cross, similar to the dams of Victory Lap and Anna Bella. Other sources of A. P. Indy and Mr. Prospector, whose daughters can be expected to cross well with Touch Gold are Malibu Moon and Mineshaft. Touch Gold’s leading earner, the group stakes winner Ferrari Pisa, is out of a mare by Seattle Slew’s Champion son Capote. Touch Gold is clicking with Damascus-influenced mares and the 2010 stakes-placed juvenile Rockwell Torrey is the latest example. Damascus now appears in the pedigree of nine Touch Gold stakes horses, including the Grade 1 winners Midas Eyes and Mass Media, and the stakes-winning and Group 1 placed, Sweet Hearth.     Touch Gold has had very good success with the Hail to Reason broodmare line, especially the Roberto branch. He has sired four stakes winners out of Hail to Reason-line mares and 11 other stakes horses with Hail to Reason elsewhere in the dam’s pedigree. Three of these stakes winners are out of mares by three different sons of Roberto: Grade 2 winner Sharp Susan is out of a mare by Dynaformer; multiple stakes winner Flaming Heart is out of a mare by Lear Fan; and three-time stakes winner Adobe Gold is out of a daughter of Kris S. In addition, the third dam of Spritely is a daughter of Roberto.     Grade 1 winner Seek Gold is out of a mare by Alydar and is one of five total stakes horses Touch Gold has sired with Alydar-influenced mares.