Our Zoom Room discussion on the pedigrees of the 2020 Breeders Crown winners
Monday, November 2, 2020
Friday, June 26, 2020
Sweet Lou and the TB Pattern
Following the success of Warrawee Ubeaut, whose pedigree shows the TB pattern, along comes another Sweet Lou filly with a similar pedigree. Her name is Nectar and so far how sweet she is.
She is owned by Saulsbrook Stable in Nova Scotia and trained down by Alan McNeil, who also broke and raced Lis Mara. Like Lis Mara in Lexington, Nectar was on my short list of recommendations in Harrisburg that I give to Alan each year. His father Bill is a close friend and occasional partner as well as a Pedigree Matching breeder for over fifteen years with considerable success including Atlantic Champion Saulsbrook Alana, a daughter of a filly also bought at Harrisburg who was injured and kept for breeding. A sister to Alana, Saulsbrook Raven, will race in the first Gold leg of the Ontario Sires next week. In the past 15 years Saulsbrook Farm has produced more $100K winners than any other breeder in the Maritimes.
With a performance rating of 127 - 1.47.4 Nectar was one of my top rated fillies in Harrisburg two years ago selling in the middle of the sale for a bargain $20,000. No doubt her broodmare sire Lislea scared most buyers off but not Alan after his experience with Lis Mara from the same farm. She is TB to the Abercrombie/Adios line being by an Abercrombie line sire and from a dam that is inbred to Abercrombie/Adios just like Warrawee Ubeaut.
Nectar, like many of Alan's filly purchases, was unraced at two, then was qualified twice at three, winning both times, and now has debuted at Rideau Carleton in a 1:55f romp. She has a long way to go to catch up with Warrawee Ubeaut but her future looks bright so far and if she, for some other reason, does not succeed on the track her pedigree will serve her well as a broodmare.
She is owned by Saulsbrook Stable in Nova Scotia and trained down by Alan McNeil, who also broke and raced Lis Mara. Like Lis Mara in Lexington, Nectar was on my short list of recommendations in Harrisburg that I give to Alan each year. His father Bill is a close friend and occasional partner as well as a Pedigree Matching breeder for over fifteen years with considerable success including Atlantic Champion Saulsbrook Alana, a daughter of a filly also bought at Harrisburg who was injured and kept for breeding. A sister to Alana, Saulsbrook Raven, will race in the first Gold leg of the Ontario Sires next week. In the past 15 years Saulsbrook Farm has produced more $100K winners than any other breeder in the Maritimes.
With a performance rating of 127 - 1.47.4 Nectar was one of my top rated fillies in Harrisburg two years ago selling in the middle of the sale for a bargain $20,000. No doubt her broodmare sire Lislea scared most buyers off but not Alan after his experience with Lis Mara from the same farm. She is TB to the Abercrombie/Adios line being by an Abercrombie line sire and from a dam that is inbred to Abercrombie/Adios just like Warrawee Ubeaut.
Nectar, like many of Alan's filly purchases, was unraced at two, then was qualified twice at three, winning both times, and now has debuted at Rideau Carleton in a 1:55f romp. She has a long way to go to catch up with Warrawee Ubeaut but her future looks bright so far and if she, for some other reason, does not succeed on the track her pedigree will serve her well as a broodmare.
Monday, April 20, 2020
Sire Line Affinity
I have written in the past about certain "nicks" in pedigrees as they apply to the profiles of sires. Most are explainable as reflecting the position of common individuals across the pedigree such as Albatross, No Nukes, Speedy Crown , Super Bowl etc. There are other patterns that are not readily explainable but are nevertheless noteworthy such as the presence of Big Towner in the dams of the best by Rock N Roll Heaven and Pet Rock, both sires similarly bred but with no Big Towner themselves.
But what about broodmare sires ? Do they exhibit similar affinities for certain lines in the sires to which they are bred other than the sire lines they share in common maternally. It would appear they do have such affinity, at least in the case of Bettors Delight..
Bettors Delight mares have been in the broodmare ranks since 2006 and by now are at their prime in producing top performers but as a group they are somewhat of a disappointment with a 17.4% average in producing top performers making over $100K. Compare this to his foals as racehorses with a success rate of over 34%. For most sires breeding success of the mares closely parallels racing success but for some reason this is not the case for mares by Bettors Delight.
Looking at the pedigrees of the mares responsible for his top 100 broodmare credits shows a remarkable pattern that centers on the presence of Volomite and Big Towner lines in the sire line or in the maternal lines of the sires that work best. Eighty nine of the top 100 including all of the top 30 show this pattern and 56 of the top 60.
The Volomite line shows up 58 times primarily through Direct Scooter and his descendants Matts Scooter, Mach Three, Somebeachsomewhere and his sons.
American Ideal has a Matts Scooter dam and has 13 of the top 100. Next comes the Direct Scooter line sire Somebeachsomewhere with 12, Rocknroll Hanover with 7, Well Said has 6, Rock N Roll Heaven with 6, Shadow Play 4, Mach Three 3, and 7 others with one each.
Big Towner shows up in 31 mares with Art Major leading the way with 12, Sportswriter with 4, Always A Virgin at 3, Big Bad John, Big Jim and Dragon Again have 2 each, and six other sires with one apiece.
The 11 exceptions are all by different sires with maternal lines that link to the bottom half of the pedigrees of the mares rather than to the Cam Fella - Abercrombie lines of Bettors Delight.
This seeming affinity for sires that carry Direct Scooter and/or Big Towner certainly reduces the sire options for mares by Bettors Delight and that alone could account for so many of these mares not performing as well in the broodmares ranks as they did on the track.
But what about broodmare sires ? Do they exhibit similar affinities for certain lines in the sires to which they are bred other than the sire lines they share in common maternally. It would appear they do have such affinity, at least in the case of Bettors Delight..
Bettors Delight mares have been in the broodmare ranks since 2006 and by now are at their prime in producing top performers but as a group they are somewhat of a disappointment with a 17.4% average in producing top performers making over $100K. Compare this to his foals as racehorses with a success rate of over 34%. For most sires breeding success of the mares closely parallels racing success but for some reason this is not the case for mares by Bettors Delight.
Looking at the pedigrees of the mares responsible for his top 100 broodmare credits shows a remarkable pattern that centers on the presence of Volomite and Big Towner lines in the sire line or in the maternal lines of the sires that work best. Eighty nine of the top 100 including all of the top 30 show this pattern and 56 of the top 60.
The Volomite line shows up 58 times primarily through Direct Scooter and his descendants Matts Scooter, Mach Three, Somebeachsomewhere and his sons.
American Ideal has a Matts Scooter dam and has 13 of the top 100. Next comes the Direct Scooter line sire Somebeachsomewhere with 12, Rocknroll Hanover with 7, Well Said has 6, Rock N Roll Heaven with 6, Shadow Play 4, Mach Three 3, and 7 others with one each.
Big Towner shows up in 31 mares with Art Major leading the way with 12, Sportswriter with 4, Always A Virgin at 3, Big Bad John, Big Jim and Dragon Again have 2 each, and six other sires with one apiece.
The 11 exceptions are all by different sires with maternal lines that link to the bottom half of the pedigrees of the mares rather than to the Cam Fella - Abercrombie lines of Bettors Delight.
This seeming affinity for sires that carry Direct Scooter and/or Big Towner certainly reduces the sire options for mares by Bettors Delight and that alone could account for so many of these mares not performing as well in the broodmares ranks as they did on the track.
Saturday, March 7, 2020
If At First You Don't Succeed.
If At First You Don't Succeed - The breeding of
Obrigado
Hoofbeats this month is featuring the racing career of
Obrigado, a ten year old trotter who is staging a comeback after retiring in
2018 due to an injury. After a year of inaction he returned to race last
September and has since bounced back with two wins at The Meadowlands including
his latest, a front end win from the 10th post position. His perseverance is a
testament to his own will and determination but also to that of his breeder
Michael Andrew of Gorham, Maine.
I first met Mike Andrew at the 2004 Harrisburg yearling sale.
I had a booth in the vendors area selling my Pedigree Matching program CD's and
on the first day, while the sale was underway, Mike sat down at my table and
asked me to look up a horse he had just bought. I put it up on the screen then
said Uh-Oh and Mike, looking a bit startled, said "What do you mean Uh-Oh, I just paid $210,000 for this
colt". It was a trotter by Self Possessed and from a mare by Super Bowl.
His name was Servage Hanover. I explained that it was not a cross that liked
because at that point Self Possessed had shown no success with Super Bowl line
mares and his profile showed, if anything, a preference for Noble Victory line
dams. The colt had ten attempts to qualify in his three years in training and
just one unsuccessful start. My first impressions on the cross actually
turned out to be premature since Cash Hall and Prime Interest both made over
$600,000 subsequently. The two best by Self Possessed, however, were from Noble
Victory line dams.
Mike returned later with his friend Dr Doug Hutchins, a
veterinarian and small breeder from Maine. We discussed the breeding situation
in Maine and also looked at some of the stallions standing there. Among them was
Boy Band, a stallion owned by Mike that he
had bought in Lexington in 2001 for $145,000 that had failed to race
with no earnings in three starts. In 2004 he had bred Boy Band to two of his
own mares, Malimony and A Virtue, plus four mares owned by the farm where he
was standing, and a couple of other outside mares owned by friends. Boy Band
was not exactly popular as you could imagine given his racing career but he was
from a very good family being from Classic Cassette by Florida Pro. She had 16
foals including a couple that made over $500K including Giant Hit, and a couple
of other stallions in A P Lindy and Rockaroundtheclock. Boy Band was her 12th
foal. We looked at his own two mares and on paper, at least, they showed
promise since both had the necessary maternal connections to the dam of Boy
Band, particularly through Arnie
Almahurst, sire of Florida Pro.
Early in 2005 I got a call from Mike, then president of the
Maine Breeders Association, to see if I could come down to their annual general
meeting in Portland in March and give a presentation on pedigrees. There were
several presentations on different topics and they were done in parallel with
morning and afternoon sessions. There was a lot of interest in the topic of
stallion selection and I used my knowledge of Boy Band to illustrate the
concept of maternal connections as being a big factor in the success of a
stallion or indeed predicting success for a new stallion such as Boy Band.
Another topic that came up was the practice of breeders choosing a different
sire each year rather than staying with one that was deemed to have a good "match". I explained that,
based on my own observations and what I had learned from knowledgeable
breeders, that the vagaries of genetics
do not guarantee success every time you breed the same way but that there is a
one in four chance that you will get at least one very good one, plus two
decent performers and one dud.
Dr Doug Hutchins is trying his own version of staying the course. He made his first appearance at Pedigree Camp on PEI in 2009 and we discussed the breeding of his mare Cocktail Hour and decided that he should try to get Muscle Hill. He did not get in the first time but the following year was accepted and she produced a colt called Martiniwithmuscle who was injured at three after making over $140K and ended up in Sweden. Cocktail Hour missed in 2012 but hit the big leagues in 2013 with Bar Hopping, a winner of $1,385,293, and now a stallion at Hanover Shoe Farms. He has continued with Muscle Hill getting two fillies that he has kept for his broodmare band and now has a fifth one by Muscle Hill, a colt called Cricket Hill, that will likely be in the 2020 Harrisburg sale. Will that colt be the start of another 1 in 4 run ? Don't bet against it.
Now it takes a lot of faith and perseverance to stick to such
a plan but for Dr Doug and Mike Andrew it certainly worked out. A Virtue's 2005 foal turned
out to be the one very good one in four such breedings with $326K made. She was bred to Boy
Band eight times in total, and had two other foals that earned over $150K. Malimony was a bit slower to get her big
winner. She too had eight foals by Boy Band and that 2005 foal, the first of six
fillies, was decent for a Maine bred earning $81K, and the fourth foal, also a
filly, earned over $230K and had a virtually unbeaten 2 and 3 year old stakes
campaign that was a preview of what was to come. The fifth breeding produced a
colt and that was a dud and the sixth was Obrigado now with earnings
approaching $1.9 million and a winner of 22 consecutive Maine stakes races at
two and three. If at first you don't succeed !!
A look at the overall profile of success for Boy Band, who is
still breeding with three foals in 2018 including another from A Virtue, shows
that the presence of the Arnie Almahurst line in the dams was indeed an
important factor in his success with 15 of his top 17 including the top four
all exhibiting that maternal connection. But what was in the pedigree of
Obrigado that made him so much better than the rest.
His maternal family is #18 on the list for all time sub-2:00
performers and is relatively short lived compared to many of the top families
The family matriarch is Molly J, born around 1885, by a grandson of
Hambletonian and from a dam listed simply as By Boston Horse. She has one
daughter, Mary Bales, by Montjoy, a full brother to Waller, the sire of Molly
J. Montjoy's dam has a daughter of
Pilot Jr called Kate maternally so it is the first connection to the X-factor
mare Miss Russell, also a daughter of Pilot Jr.
Mary Bales has two daughters, a pacer by Zombro called
Zombrewer and a trotter by Nutwood Wilkes called Wilkes Brewer, but it was her
first born Zombrewer that was to make the history books with a filly called
Elizabeth by Peter The Great. Her pedigree combined the maternal influence of
two daughters of Pilot Jr in Kathleen and the aforementioned Kate and when bred
to Guy Abbey produced the fastest trotter in the world at the time, the
legendary Greyhound. He was born in 1932 and was the outstanding trotting horse of
his day and arguably the most outstanding in the history of the sport. He was
nicknamed "The Great Grey Ghost" and "Silver-skinned
Flyer." In 1935, he won the Hambletonian in world
record time for two heats combined and in 1938 he lowered the world record time for
trotting the mile to 1:55¼, a record that stood until for over
thirty years..
Elizabeth had 16 foals and it was her daughter,Yankee Maid
by Volomite, that leads us to yet another world champion in this pedigree. With
successive breedings to sires like Porterhouse, Noble Victory and Speedy Crown
the line arrives at that important connection with Arnie Almahurst bred to
Quiet Elegance by Speedy Crown. She had an amazing 20 foals with six being born
in the United States before being exported to Sweden. Three of the American
breds were by Ardnon, a son of Arnie Almahurst, who has the great X-factor mare
Margaret Parrish maternally. These include Kindavahush who, when bred to Lindy
Lane, produced Hellava Hush, the first ever 1.51 trotter and a world champion.
A full sister produced Better By Design, a $342K winner also by Lindy
Lane. The third full sister is the
second dam of Obrigado, Meadow Hush, producing Malimony by Malabar Man whose
pedigree now has an X-factor double to
Speedy Crown to add to its maternal inheritance.
Considering the success of the recent maternal line with
Lindy Lane perhaps we should not be surprised by the success of Malimony with
Boy Band, himself a son of Lindy Lane. A proven pedigree match with a maternal
line featuring world champions is a roadmap to success that anyone can follow.
When researching the pedigrees of horses it is often
surprising to find a personal connection to the pedigree. Apart from my
acquaintance with Mike Andrew there are several other such coincidences. Boy
Band's trainer was Ivan Davies, who was born in Kington, Worcestershire just
across the border with Wales where my maternal grandfather was born some twenty
miles away. I don't have any Davies in my maternal line though as far as I know
but I do have a closer connection to Obrigado's driver in Maine. Heath
Campbell's family came from Charlottetown, PEI and his uncle John
"Buddy" Campbell was a trainer/driver/horse shoer of note for many
years at the Charlottetown Driving Park. When my son, Charles, was a teenager
learning how to train and shoe horses it was Buddy Campbell that took him under
his wing. Charles is now an equine practitioner in Ontario.
There is yet another connection, this time to the family of
Obrigado. In 2002 my horse partner Bill MacNeil of Saulsbrook Farms and I
bought a mare in Harrisburg in foal to Dream Vacation and she produced a colt
we named Critic Vacation. We were back at the sale the following year looking
for a weanling to raise and train with Critic and settled on a smallish Angus
Hall colt called Fight To Win. I was attracted to the colt because of his
pedigree that was a double/double of Speedy Crown, Stars Pride and Arnie
Almahurst lines. The dam was R Sweet Hush, a three quarter sister to the dam
of world champion Hellava Hush and, as
it turns out, to the second dam of Obrigado. Both Critic Vacation and Fight To
Win had decent racing careers earning $111K and $121K respectively. Critic's
big race was finishing a lapped on second to the PEI 3 year old stakes record
holder Maple Leaf Noble in a then track record 2:01.1h. Fight To Win, not
eligible to any stakes had to face Open Trot company at three in Charlottetown
finishing second in 2.01.2h. They were sold later in their three year old years
to Ontario but turned a nice little profit for Bill and I.
Tuesday, March 3, 2020
The Long Road To Success - Face Time Bourbon
The Long Road To Stardom
Two hundred
and fifty years later and after travelling across the Atlantic four times and
developed in five different countries the pedigree of Face Time Bourbon has
achieved a status that puts him among the best trotters in Europe. His win in
the Prix d`Amerique and his current 18 wins, 3 seconds in 22 starts stamps his
international passport to possibly being one of the greatest ever in France if
not worldwide. His only loss was actually a win but disqualified by a momentary
break.
He is by
current top French sire Ready Cash and from a mare by Love You, a sire that has
more racing progeny in the world than any other active sire due to his own
racing excellence and siring success. But that is now and there are 69 that
have the same breeding and only three that have significant earnings. Those
good ones include International star Bold Eagle with over $5 million Euros, and
very similar maternal connections featuring Florestan and Speedy Crown, and
Atlas De Joudes with just over $180,000. So what makes the difference? It all boils down to the maternal lines from
the second dam down and, especially in the case of Face Time Bourbon, a mare
called Etta Extra, his third dam by Florestan.
The story
of Etta Extra and her owner Rainer Engelke, who is responsible for all of the
current horses with the Bourbon name, is worthy of a separate column but for
now lets look back to see what the maternal line brought to make Etta Extra so
special.
The
maternal line goes all the way back to the 1750s and is shown as Family Number
Forty Six in the English stud book. Early on the line gets a significant boost
in the form of a mare imported to North America called Letitia who has an
x-factor double trace to the exceptional mare by Bartlets Childers called Amorett.
She in turn has a daughter by Dungannon who also has Amorett maternally. Her
daughter is bred to Lance, an American sire whose dam has an X-factor double to
another distinguished daughter of Bartlets Childers called Miss Colville. That
breeding results in a mare bred to one of the early stars of American racing in
Bertrand whose maternal line is the same going back to Miss Colville. This is
an unprecedented build-up of direct traces to the origin of the X-factor, the
ancestral Spanker Mare.
The next two
generations, bred first to a pacing sire of the Copperbottom breed then to a
Kentucky trotter/saddlebred sire called Edwin Forrest, contribute little in
terms of pedigree but introduce the trotting instinct into the mix. The next
step is a big one with spectacular results.
Sophie by
Edwin Forrest is bred to Happy Medium by Hambletonian whose dam is by Dictator
whose dam brings in the first connection to an important X-factor source of
American origin in American Star. The result is World Champion Nancy Hanks born
in 1886 who was
undefeated and was the first 2:05 trotter in harness-racing history.
Nancy
Hanks was then bred to Peter The Great whose maternal line also has a maternal
trace to a Bartlets Childers mare plus a first encounter with Pilot Jr, sire of
Miss Russell, the Queen Among Queens, the subject of my book of the same name
that describes the maternal origins of the Standardbred breed. The next step is
even more epochal as that mating produced a daughter, Markala, that was bred to
Vice Commodore whose dam is also a daughter of Nancy Hanks making Markala a 3x3
X-factor inbred to her maternal legacy. Markala is then bred to Baronmore whose
maternal contribution is yet another trace to Bartlets Childers and another key
American X-factor source in Mambrino Patchen.
The
result of that mating is Anna Maloney, born in 1912, who raced in the United
States for several years before joining a wave of exports to Europe following
the first world war as breeders there sought to restock their breeding farms depleted
by the war effort. She actually went first to Belgium before producing her
first French bred foal in 1923 by Passeport, a French sire tracing back on sire
line to imported English thoroughbred origins in the early 1800s whose dam is
inbred to the X-factor through a full sister to the dam of Belle Poule and
another trace back to a daughter of Bartlets Childers. Her first foal by
Passeport was Amazone B, a 54 time winner including twice in the Prix
d’Amerique, and a French record holder in 1931. It was her third breeding to
Passeport, however, that produced Heroine B in 1929 and her French breeding
legacy was underway with the tenth dam of Face Time Bourbon.
At
this stage her X-factor connections take a different route as her lineage comes
into contact with the likes of Belle Poule, Perce Neige and Gladys, all mares
that have extensive traces back to the X-factor source in England but none more
so than Belle Poule. There are actually two mares called Belle Poule, the
second one being a granddaughter of the first and also the dam of the great
Intermede, called by some the French equivalent of Volomite for his impact on
maternal breeding in France.
The
next three dams are a source of some controversy since they were all bred on
the same farm under suspicious circumstances. The first of these dams, Sonate,
born in 1940, is the big question mark being officially registered as by a
French son of Intermede called Gael. He was known to be virtually infertile and
had just 2 foals in 1936 and none in 1937. Gael is known colloquially in France
as the "ghost" stallion and here is why.
At the end of the 1930s, it was decided to close French breeding to establish a line to be known as "French trotters" and to bar the breeding to American bloodlines. Calumet Delco was in France racing at the time having been bought by Henri Masson and imported to France in 1934 at the age of four. Born in 1930 at the famous Calumet Farm in Kentucky, he was a full brother to the dam of Stars Pride from a mare by the X-factor stallion San Francisco. He was sold to Wisconsin interests where he was a state champion at three before being sold and exported to France where he won 24 races and earned 350,000 francs in winnings (a nice sum for the era) and his career included a 5th place in the 1938 Prix d'Amérique.
But it is as a stallion that he made his greatest impact. As an American horse he was not allowed to have any foals registered under the new rules but in between his occasional races in 1937, and because of his gentle disposition, he was allowed to run with the mares at Haras de Ginai to act as a teaser to bring the mares into heat for breeding to the farm stallion Gael except that, in this case, Calumet Delco was more than a teaser and ended up covering them himself. The result was that three foals were allowed to be registered as "unexpected exceptions" but no more such foals were to be allowed in the new registry.
Two stallions Quiroga II and Quiproquo II and a mare called Quinauderie are the three registered by Calumet Delco in 1938 and among the direct descendants of these one finds some great horses such as Galopin du Ravary, Ilster d'Espien, Flambeaux des Pins, and Hadol du Vivier but that's not all. The farm stallion Gael, who had fertility issues with just one foal in 1936 and none in 1937 suddenly had a revival with three foals in 1938, six in 1939, four more in 1940 and his last one in 1941 when coincidentally or not Calumet Delco reappears as a stallion in Germany after four years of obscurity. The consensus is that all of these later foals were by Calumet Delco and not Gael, a belief confirmed in a sworn statement by the son of the owner of Haras de Ginai in later years. The registration of Gael as the sire, however, still remains as the official record although the legacy of Calumet Delco and his maternal connection to the great Stars Pride has clearly left a big mark on French maternal lines including those of Face Time Bourbon. The great French Champion Ourasie's dam Fleurasie has Calumet Delco on both sides of her pedigree and one of those occasions is a Calumet Delco son bred to a mare called Stele registered as by Gael in 1940, the same year as Sonate.
But it is as a stallion that he made his greatest impact. As an American horse he was not allowed to have any foals registered under the new rules but in between his occasional races in 1937, and because of his gentle disposition, he was allowed to run with the mares at Haras de Ginai to act as a teaser to bring the mares into heat for breeding to the farm stallion Gael except that, in this case, Calumet Delco was more than a teaser and ended up covering them himself. The result was that three foals were allowed to be registered as "unexpected exceptions" but no more such foals were to be allowed in the new registry.
Two stallions Quiroga II and Quiproquo II and a mare called Quinauderie are the three registered by Calumet Delco in 1938 and among the direct descendants of these one finds some great horses such as Galopin du Ravary, Ilster d'Espien, Flambeaux des Pins, and Hadol du Vivier but that's not all. The farm stallion Gael, who had fertility issues with just one foal in 1936 and none in 1937 suddenly had a revival with three foals in 1938, six in 1939, four more in 1940 and his last one in 1941 when coincidentally or not Calumet Delco reappears as a stallion in Germany after four years of obscurity. The consensus is that all of these later foals were by Calumet Delco and not Gael, a belief confirmed in a sworn statement by the son of the owner of Haras de Ginai in later years. The registration of Gael as the sire, however, still remains as the official record although the legacy of Calumet Delco and his maternal connection to the great Stars Pride has clearly left a big mark on French maternal lines including those of Face Time Bourbon. The great French Champion Ourasie's dam Fleurasie has Calumet Delco on both sides of her pedigree and one of those occasions is a Calumet Delco son bred to a mare called Stele registered as by Gael in 1940, the same year as Sonate.
Sonate
was bred to Quiproquo and her foal Dragonne III was then bred to Quiroga II to
produce Jonque so it is now proven, although not offically, that all three
mares were bred to Calumet Delco or one of his sons. Calumet Delco as the sire
of Sonate would be a significantly consequential addition to the maternal line
but we must, unfortunately, accept what is registered as true and move on to
Samos P, the start of another special cycle of maternal power. She was bred to
Luth Grandchamp producing Dimitria who picked up the first connection to Belle Poule through a
maternal daughter of Intermede. The dam of Luth Grandchamp is by another
American refugee called Net Worth whose dam and second dam are both X-factor
doubles to Mambrino Patchen, the same source doubled up in Anna Maloney.
Dimitria was a sensation for her day in the
sixties earning over 1.7 million kroner mostly in Sweden, winning the Elitlopp, and being one of the
first French breds to take a sub 2:00 record. I have a remote personal connection to Dimitria through a friend in Finland, Marja Mahlamaki, who has a small farm in Vihti near where Dimitria was sent for a potential breeding to Keystone Patriot. The farm where she spent a year in Finland was co-owned by Marjut Stenberg and Marja's brother-in-law Matti. I visited with Marja in 2009 and Matti was then and still is in charge of the racetrack in Teivo.
Marja, known by her friends as Mammu, is a long time supporter and volunteer in the Finnish breeding industry and remembers that Sweden was experiencing an outbreak of Equine Herpes and Dimitria was sent out of Sweden as a precaution. She already had four foals by French sires with little success at that time and missed that opportunity with Keystone Patriot and now had to wait six months in quarantine before being sent across the Atlantic for a mating to Speedy Crown thus returning the maternal line to its roots in North America and England. That produced the mare Une Crown born in Italy and then taken back to France.
Une Crown produced fourteen foals with the first eight in France and the last six
in Sweden. Etta Extra was her first foal and the only time bred to Florestan and her breeder was a Swede named Valentin Gosta of Stockholm and a former Chairman of the Swedish Trotting Association, with a small farm in France, and who had also previously bought Dimitria after her racing career. He was also the owner of Glenna H, the great grandmother of Victory Tilly, the all-time money winner in Sweden. Etta Extra's racing career was short but at three she had three of her four wins at Vincennes and earned 51,665 Euro in her ten starts. She was bought at the 1996 Deauville mixed sale for $70,000 by Rainer Engelke who was intrigued by her breeding by Florestan to a daughter of Speedy Crown, and her maternal line to Nancy Hanks. The under-bidder was the renowned breeder Jean Pierre Dubois.
There
was more to that match that he was perhaps not aware of at the time although he
recognized the influence of Florestan’s dam, the great mare and international
champion Roquepine. She carried an X-factor double to Intermede and Belle Poule
as did her dam Jalna IV to the older Belle Poule as well as to Perce Neige. A
powerhouse maternal line indeed behind an incredible performer for her day who
beat the best trotters in North America in the International Trot at Yonkers.
But Rainer
Engelke’s work back in 2009 was just beginning. With Etta Extra as his
foundation mare at his newly bought farm in France he sought out crosses that
would bring back her Stars Pride and Speedy Crown bloodlines. Her second foal
by Cezio Josselyn did the trick being by a son of Armbro Goal, a Speedy Crown
son with a Stars Pride line dam. But that was not the key in producing Kamera
Bourbon, the second dam of Face Time Bourbon. She went on to race and earn over
196,000 Euro and the secret ingredient to her success as a racemare was likely
the dam of her sire named Quezira tracing back to Belle Poule as well as having
a maternal line to the old Belle Poule making her also an x-factor double to
the principal source of that legacy in France. Quezira is the second dam of the
exceptional mare Belina Josselyn and the maternal line of several other stars
such as Uza Josselyn, and Fleche Bourbon who is inbred maternally to Quezira
and a recent winner of the prestigious Prix de President de la Republique for monte trotters.
Etta Extra
was subsequently bred to Love You and produced a 1.5 million Euro winner and
Prix d`Amerique contestant in Qualita Bourbon. That success inspired Engelke to
breed Kamera Bourbon to LoveYou and why not because he carries both Speedy
Crown and Stars Pride across his pedigree. What perhaps he did not know again
was that the dam of Love You is also an x-factor double to Belle Poule as well
as carrying the maternal influences of both Gladys and Perce Neige. An added
bonus is Love You’s North American maternal line that goes back to a daughter
of San Francisco plus another source to American Star.
As Rainer
Engelke said in his interview about Etta Extra prior to the 2009 Prix
d'Amerique in which his mare Qualita Bourbon, a three quarter sister to the dam
of Face Time Bourbon, finished third.
She too has Speedy Crown and Stars Pride across her pedigree in addition, of
course to the maternal doubles to Belle Poule and other X-factor sources.
“At every opportunity I try to create that in my
breedings. Now that I have had several years of breeding experience I can tell
you what to do. It is very simple. You have to double up on the best American
blood with the best French blood. That is to say double up on Florestan, double
up on Speedy Crown, as well as Fandango and Chambon P. Double up in the mare
and also with the stallion. If you do that you have a chance to have, from time
to time, a good horse.
Myself, I believe it is necessary to look at the sixth
– seventh generation. Jean-Pierre Dubois says you have to stop at the third.
But for me I don’t think that is enough. If the pedigree is well filled
throughout, you increase your chances. If there is a hole you take the risk of
falling through it.”
Inbred maternally to both Speedy Crown and Florestan,
by a sire inbred to Florestan and from a mare inbred to Speedy Crown with a
maternal line full of great champions on two continents. There are obviously no
holes present in Face Time Bourbon.
Thursday, February 27, 2020
Greenshoe - 3 Year old Trotter of the Year
I had a request for me to look at a trotter such as Greenshoe to give my take on his pedigree and see if he was also the result of a maternal build-up of maternal influence like Shartin N. His pedigree does, in fact, exhibit many of the same characteristics. Like Shartin N he is, for starters, by far the best performer in his maternal line with very little to show past his third dam in terms of high earnings or speed. I had not looked in depth at his pedigree previously but I am not surprised at what I found.
In my book about maternal lines, Queen Among Queens, I devote a chapter to examining the development of some of the most popular and prolific maternal families and show the point at which they suddenly expanded into production of high speed and earnings. I called this the "trigger" effect because it seemed to happen when certain key maternal influences first came together. Those influences are all based on X-factor mares also described in an earlier chapter on the trigger effect. Names such as Adioo, Hatteras, Kathleen, Manette and Oniska and the inbred daughters Margaret Parrish and Helen Hanover, are all key X-factor sources that when combined or doubled up in a pedigree can step up the performance of the individuals that inherit them.
In my research I have determined that the X-factor traces back to England and the so-called Ancestral Mom through the daughters of Diomed, a stallion imported to North America in the late 1700's. His legacy is not restricted to standardbred mares but also is evident in the thoroughbred breed and many of those early North American mares show up in other ways in the maternal lines of standardbreds, in particular through the daughters of American Star and Mambrino Patchen with extensive thoroughbred dams that feature Diomed. That is where the family of Greenshoe begins.
His maternal family name is Lady Bunker born in 1873. She was by Mambrino Patchen and out of an American Star mare. The second dam is by the thoroughbred Tiger from an unknown mare and whose dam is Jane Hunt, the maternal family of one of the aforementioned trigger mares Kathleen. That combination in itself is a good foundation but there is one key ingredient needed to complete the package and that is an intersection with the legacy of Miss Russell, the Queen Of Queens.
Lady Bunker had two daughters, one of which ended up in Europe. The other one, Welcome Bunker, also had two daughters by Bobby Macgregor who brought nothing extra to the table but is responsible for Axcharm, the 10th dam of Greenshoe. Two generations of nothing added then we get to Farr (1934)who is notable only for the fact that we will see her later. Her daughter Fardean is the first on the line to inherit a maternal boost as her sire is Dean Hanover whose dam is inbred no fewer than four times to Mambrino Patchen including the trigger mare Hatteras. Still no Miss Russell however.
Fardean was bred to Blaze Hanover who contributes Adioo, the first link to Miss Russell, to the mix and their daughter, Gypsy Blaze, is then bred to Carlisle that makes her a double copy to Adioo maternally. The next step is a big one when Carlisle Blaze meets Speedy Crown who brings both Oniska and another trace to Adioo into the family. Up until now, through 10 generations the family has produced just one performer with more than $30,000 earned and that is Carlisle Blaze. Her daughter by Speedy Crown is called Southern Crown, the best of her 14 foals with $88K made. Of the 14 foals there are just two by Speedy Crown but it was Southern Crown that became the 4th dam of Greenshoe. Her best was by Texas, a double/double pedigree colt that made $552,000. Her second best was Southern Drawl ($113k) by Super Bowl and that was the one that really triggered the maternal line since he brings in the legacy of the great Margaret Parrish for the first time. Her full sister Blaze of Fury was not bred to Super Bowl and produced just one winner of $114K and no fillies of note
Southern Drawl was bred to Balanced Image and produced the third dam of Greenshoe and the first time the Noble Victory line is introduced. Balanced Image brings in maternal support from Adioo, Oniska and Hatteras maternally in X-factor position but more importantly his maternal dam goes back through Farr (1934) to the same source as the maternal line of Greenshoe, the combination of Mambrino Patchen and American Star. We now have a pedigree that combines double copies of every possible X-factor trace to Diomed. Southern Drawl earns $430,000 and is bred to Yankee Glide, producing Sheer Soul, a TB pattern and DD pattern mare and 2nd dam of Greenshoe. Now we are ready for the final ingredient that produces the explosion in the form of Greenshoe.
Sheer Soul is bred to Donato Hanover whose dam is by Donerail, a carrier of Margaret Parrish and in addition has another Margaret Parrish line maternally through Rodney, the same one as in the dam of Super Bowl. Donato's dam, D Train, is therefore a double copy to the most important maternal influence of the X-factor in the trotting breed. This powerful maternal influence has a downside. however, especially for a budding stallion. It predicates that the stallion will be essentially a producer of great fillies and for Donato Hanover that is very much the case. He has five million dollar winners and the top four are all fillies and all of them have Margaret Parrish maternally and are double copies to the great mare accordingly.
Greenshoe's dam, Designed To Be, is the fifth best filly with $663K made and he was her first foal. Her second foal is the million dollar yearling Maverick.
Adding lustre to the pedigree of this great colt and stallion prospect is his TB pattern pedigree since he is by a Valley Victory line sire and from a dam that is inbred to the Valley Victory line. He is also a DD pattern through his combination of Noble Victory and Speedster lines maternally that are duplicated in the maternal lines of Father Patrick and his sire Cantab Hall. That Noble Victory line that was picked up along the way is a crucial element in the profile of the best by Father Patrick. Every one of his top performers has a Noble Victory line in the dam - just another thing to look for in the search for a Champion.
I am sure there are some that say this is all 20-20 hindsight but I am constantly reminded of the words of Marg Neal in an interview with Dean Hoffman for Hoofbeats magazine in 2001.
"We have been conditioned by the restriction of catalogues and advertising to view our horses, at most, as three generation animals. There are many people out there that will tell you there is no reason to look beyond the grandparents of any animal. I thoroughly disagree. It is, however, a handy position to take for those unwilling to do their homework"
" There is a model of breeding that is like a pattern, and the pattern persists over generations, although, of course, the names change. I like to see a mare that is inbred and a sire that is not."
In my book about maternal lines, Queen Among Queens, I devote a chapter to examining the development of some of the most popular and prolific maternal families and show the point at which they suddenly expanded into production of high speed and earnings. I called this the "trigger" effect because it seemed to happen when certain key maternal influences first came together. Those influences are all based on X-factor mares also described in an earlier chapter on the trigger effect. Names such as Adioo, Hatteras, Kathleen, Manette and Oniska and the inbred daughters Margaret Parrish and Helen Hanover, are all key X-factor sources that when combined or doubled up in a pedigree can step up the performance of the individuals that inherit them.
In my research I have determined that the X-factor traces back to England and the so-called Ancestral Mom through the daughters of Diomed, a stallion imported to North America in the late 1700's. His legacy is not restricted to standardbred mares but also is evident in the thoroughbred breed and many of those early North American mares show up in other ways in the maternal lines of standardbreds, in particular through the daughters of American Star and Mambrino Patchen with extensive thoroughbred dams that feature Diomed. That is where the family of Greenshoe begins.
His maternal family name is Lady Bunker born in 1873. She was by Mambrino Patchen and out of an American Star mare. The second dam is by the thoroughbred Tiger from an unknown mare and whose dam is Jane Hunt, the maternal family of one of the aforementioned trigger mares Kathleen. That combination in itself is a good foundation but there is one key ingredient needed to complete the package and that is an intersection with the legacy of Miss Russell, the Queen Of Queens.
Lady Bunker had two daughters, one of which ended up in Europe. The other one, Welcome Bunker, also had two daughters by Bobby Macgregor who brought nothing extra to the table but is responsible for Axcharm, the 10th dam of Greenshoe. Two generations of nothing added then we get to Farr (1934)who is notable only for the fact that we will see her later. Her daughter Fardean is the first on the line to inherit a maternal boost as her sire is Dean Hanover whose dam is inbred no fewer than four times to Mambrino Patchen including the trigger mare Hatteras. Still no Miss Russell however.
Fardean was bred to Blaze Hanover who contributes Adioo, the first link to Miss Russell, to the mix and their daughter, Gypsy Blaze, is then bred to Carlisle that makes her a double copy to Adioo maternally. The next step is a big one when Carlisle Blaze meets Speedy Crown who brings both Oniska and another trace to Adioo into the family. Up until now, through 10 generations the family has produced just one performer with more than $30,000 earned and that is Carlisle Blaze. Her daughter by Speedy Crown is called Southern Crown, the best of her 14 foals with $88K made. Of the 14 foals there are just two by Speedy Crown but it was Southern Crown that became the 4th dam of Greenshoe. Her best was by Texas, a double/double pedigree colt that made $552,000. Her second best was Southern Drawl ($113k) by Super Bowl and that was the one that really triggered the maternal line since he brings in the legacy of the great Margaret Parrish for the first time. Her full sister Blaze of Fury was not bred to Super Bowl and produced just one winner of $114K and no fillies of note
Southern Drawl was bred to Balanced Image and produced the third dam of Greenshoe and the first time the Noble Victory line is introduced. Balanced Image brings in maternal support from Adioo, Oniska and Hatteras maternally in X-factor position but more importantly his maternal dam goes back through Farr (1934) to the same source as the maternal line of Greenshoe, the combination of Mambrino Patchen and American Star. We now have a pedigree that combines double copies of every possible X-factor trace to Diomed. Southern Drawl earns $430,000 and is bred to Yankee Glide, producing Sheer Soul, a TB pattern and DD pattern mare and 2nd dam of Greenshoe. Now we are ready for the final ingredient that produces the explosion in the form of Greenshoe.
Sheer Soul is bred to Donato Hanover whose dam is by Donerail, a carrier of Margaret Parrish and in addition has another Margaret Parrish line maternally through Rodney, the same one as in the dam of Super Bowl. Donato's dam, D Train, is therefore a double copy to the most important maternal influence of the X-factor in the trotting breed. This powerful maternal influence has a downside. however, especially for a budding stallion. It predicates that the stallion will be essentially a producer of great fillies and for Donato Hanover that is very much the case. He has five million dollar winners and the top four are all fillies and all of them have Margaret Parrish maternally and are double copies to the great mare accordingly.
Greenshoe's dam, Designed To Be, is the fifth best filly with $663K made and he was her first foal. Her second foal is the million dollar yearling Maverick.
Adding lustre to the pedigree of this great colt and stallion prospect is his TB pattern pedigree since he is by a Valley Victory line sire and from a dam that is inbred to the Valley Victory line. He is also a DD pattern through his combination of Noble Victory and Speedster lines maternally that are duplicated in the maternal lines of Father Patrick and his sire Cantab Hall. That Noble Victory line that was picked up along the way is a crucial element in the profile of the best by Father Patrick. Every one of his top performers has a Noble Victory line in the dam - just another thing to look for in the search for a Champion.
I am sure there are some that say this is all 20-20 hindsight but I am constantly reminded of the words of Marg Neal in an interview with Dean Hoffman for Hoofbeats magazine in 2001.
"We have been conditioned by the restriction of catalogues and advertising to view our horses, at most, as three generation animals. There are many people out there that will tell you there is no reason to look beyond the grandparents of any animal. I thoroughly disagree. It is, however, a handy position to take for those unwilling to do their homework"
" There is a model of breeding that is like a pattern, and the pattern persists over generations, although, of course, the names change. I like to see a mare that is inbred and a sire that is not."
Pedigrees - Patterns - Profiles - Percentages
PROFIT
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
Shartin N - 2019 Horse Of The year
In researching my book on the maternal lines of Standardbreds called "Queen Among Queens" I found a book called Patterns Of Greatness by Alan Porter, a book about thoroughbred breeding. There was one quotation in there that spurred my interest in the evolution of maternal lines and the influence of special individuals. He urged breeders to "delve deeply" into a pedigree to discover the underlying genetic strengths which are not readily apparent in the first few generations. As he said
"This can reveal that one particular back ground cross has been built up to a point where it dominates a pedigree and reaches a critical mass reinforcing vital genes to the point where they explode in the form or a dynamic performer"
Shartin N is a perfect example of this scenario.
He further speculated that close inbreeding maternally can bring about positive mutations as he referenced Marianna Haun's book on the X-factor, a genetic inheritance carried on the X-chromosome of the mares on the maternal line.
That may sound a bit airy-fairy to most readers but it has been a key consideration of mine since reading and writing about it and indeed was a factor in my recommendation to purchase McWicked, the 2018 Horse Of The Year by McArdle. Now we have a similar situation with the 2020 winner of the Dan Patch Horse Of The Year in Shartin N. It is a long story so bear with me because in part it goes back to the very beginnings of the standardbred breed maternally to a daughter of Bartlets Childers, foundation sire of the thouroghbred and to his full brother Flying Childers, the founder of the Standardbred breed. To read the full story of these individuals you can find it in Queen Among Queens available by download from the pedigreematching.com website.
In the near term the pedigree of Shartin N revolves around the presence of Tar Heel maternally as it did with McWicked, and as indeed it did for many of McArdles top perfomers since it is the most consistent factor in his stallion profile. Shartin N is by a son of McArdle called Tintin In America, who like McArdle also has a maternal line that is dominated by the influence of Tar Heel, one of the best broodmare sires of the past fifty years, and appears in the maternal lines of other great broodmare sires such as Albatross and Bret Hanover.
Tar Heel's influence on maternal lines comes from his dam by Volomite whose dam was by San Francisco whose own dam was Oniska, a 2x3 maternal inbred to the X-factor influence through Lida W, a daughter of Nutwood, the best son of Miss Russell, the subject of my book "Queen Among Queens".
Shartin N's dam, Bagdarin, goes back seven generations to a mare called Protege by Jack Potts who was one of the first great broodmare sires downunder and his dam was by Steiner from a daughter of Nutwood called Miss Marjoe. The dam of Protege was Abyssinia who brings a maternal trace through the dam of World Champion Arion whose dam was Manette by Nutwood. Protege, therefore is an X-factor double to Miss Russell, a pretty good starting point.
Protege had one daughter, Chenault, by U Scott who was then bred to Bachelor Hanover whose maternal family is one of the top maternal families in Minnehaha that is also one of the longest since it is the one that goes all the way back to that daughter of Bartlets Childers in the late 1600's.
The mating of Bachelor Hanover to Chenault produced Bravine, Shartin's fifth dam. By coincidence, perhaps, the fourth dam of Tintin In America, Zenover, was a descendant of one of the best maternal families in Australia/New Zealand and she too was by Bachelor Hanover and from a mare by U Scott. That makes Shartin N an X-factor double to its source , the ancestral mom herself, The Spanker Mare. But that is just another component of her maternal strength, there is much more added in the next three generations that built up into the explosion that is Chartin N.
Bravine foaled Kiatina by Fallacy whose maternal line contributed a North American link to the X-factor through two daughters of American Star. Kiatina was then bred to Noodlum, a son of Bachelor Hanover, whose maternal line brings in another trace to American Star through the dam of World Champion Dexter, the fastest son of Hambletonian, as well as doubling up the family of Minnehaha.
The breeding to Noodlum produced Kinsale, third dam of Shartin N, and she had six daughters but only two of them, both daughters of Save Fuel, had success as broodmares, and that was when the pedigree met up with Meadow Skipper for the first time through Save Fuel's dam by that sire.
Slatina is the second dam of Shartin N and her full sister is Chivasso who, when bred to McArdle, produced the first decent performer in this entire maternal line to date in McDana N who made $165,000 mostly in the United States. She now has another of her sons, Italian Delight N, a recent import, currently racing in Yonkers Open competition as a result of two wins at the Meadowlands taking a record of 1.50.1.
Slatina was bred to Live Or Die whose dam, Mica Lobell, is an X-factor double to Tar Heel, and whose maternal line goes back to yet another daughter of Nutwood called Stray Moments and three more traces to American Star. This was exactly the kind of breeding needed to provide the fuel for the fire lit by Tintin In America in the breeding to Bagdarin, the first female in the maternal line to beat 2:00 with a win in 1.57.4.
Tintin In America has a dam that is a maternal X-factor double to Tar Heel and as a filly Shartin N inherits that bonus to her own maternal traces to Tar Heel through her own dam. This is in addition to the interesting X-factor doubles to Bachelor Hanover and to Meadow Skipper.
In recent times I have also noticed two pedigree patterns, which I code as DD or TB, that occur often in top individuals. Shartin N is an example of the TB pattern where the Adios/Hal Dale sire line of Mcardle is inbred in her dam through sons of Adios and Good Time for an added bonus.
This affinity of Tintin In America for Tar Heel maternally is evident in his best performers with the next best , also a filly, bred in similar fashion but perhaps not with the same long term build up maternally. His sire, McArdle shows the same affinity for Tar Heel with the vast majority of his best being from mares that are X-factor doubles to Tar Heel or are X-factor doubles themselves as a result of McArdles own maternal doubles to Tar Heel in his each of his first three dams.
McWicked had the added benefit of having a DD pedigree pattern where the maternal lines in his dam are the same as those in his own dam and those of his sire. The DD pattern has also produced such recent champions as Greenshoe, Six Pack, Manchego, Mission Brief, Gimpanzee, Hannelore Hanover and Always B Miki among others while TB patterned champions include Jimmy Freight, Warrawee Ubeaut, and several of the best by Muscle Hill including Marion Marauder, Propulsion, and Green Manalishi.
My fascination with the Tar Heel influence, in addition to supporting my recommendation to buy McWicked as a result of four of his first five dams being double copies to Tar Heel or his dam-sire Volomite, pointed me to my first and only credit as a breeder. That was in the form of Scarlet Chaser, from a mare inbred to Tar Heel. His sire was Hussy Chaser, a colt I bought as a yearling for $1,500 on the strength of him being from a mare that was also an x-factor inbred to Tar Heel, and he went on to be the second richest Maritime bred in his day earning over $520,000. I got him back when he retired and then looked for the right mare, one with the Tar Heel double and found one in Lucky Hare, a daughter of Precious Bunny. The resulting colt, Scarlet Chaser retired last year after making over $240,000 and being race timed in 1.49.4 to become the fastest race-timed colt ever bred on PEI and the fastest and richest Island bred colt by an Island based sire.
Thank you Alan Porter.
"This can reveal that one particular back ground cross has been built up to a point where it dominates a pedigree and reaches a critical mass reinforcing vital genes to the point where they explode in the form or a dynamic performer"
Shartin N is a perfect example of this scenario.
He further speculated that close inbreeding maternally can bring about positive mutations as he referenced Marianna Haun's book on the X-factor, a genetic inheritance carried on the X-chromosome of the mares on the maternal line.
That may sound a bit airy-fairy to most readers but it has been a key consideration of mine since reading and writing about it and indeed was a factor in my recommendation to purchase McWicked, the 2018 Horse Of The Year by McArdle. Now we have a similar situation with the 2020 winner of the Dan Patch Horse Of The Year in Shartin N. It is a long story so bear with me because in part it goes back to the very beginnings of the standardbred breed maternally to a daughter of Bartlets Childers, foundation sire of the thouroghbred and to his full brother Flying Childers, the founder of the Standardbred breed. To read the full story of these individuals you can find it in Queen Among Queens available by download from the pedigreematching.com website.
In the near term the pedigree of Shartin N revolves around the presence of Tar Heel maternally as it did with McWicked, and as indeed it did for many of McArdles top perfomers since it is the most consistent factor in his stallion profile. Shartin N is by a son of McArdle called Tintin In America, who like McArdle also has a maternal line that is dominated by the influence of Tar Heel, one of the best broodmare sires of the past fifty years, and appears in the maternal lines of other great broodmare sires such as Albatross and Bret Hanover.
Tar Heel's influence on maternal lines comes from his dam by Volomite whose dam was by San Francisco whose own dam was Oniska, a 2x3 maternal inbred to the X-factor influence through Lida W, a daughter of Nutwood, the best son of Miss Russell, the subject of my book "Queen Among Queens".
Shartin N's dam, Bagdarin, goes back seven generations to a mare called Protege by Jack Potts who was one of the first great broodmare sires downunder and his dam was by Steiner from a daughter of Nutwood called Miss Marjoe. The dam of Protege was Abyssinia who brings a maternal trace through the dam of World Champion Arion whose dam was Manette by Nutwood. Protege, therefore is an X-factor double to Miss Russell, a pretty good starting point.
Protege had one daughter, Chenault, by U Scott who was then bred to Bachelor Hanover whose maternal family is one of the top maternal families in Minnehaha that is also one of the longest since it is the one that goes all the way back to that daughter of Bartlets Childers in the late 1600's.
The mating of Bachelor Hanover to Chenault produced Bravine, Shartin's fifth dam. By coincidence, perhaps, the fourth dam of Tintin In America, Zenover, was a descendant of one of the best maternal families in Australia/New Zealand and she too was by Bachelor Hanover and from a mare by U Scott. That makes Shartin N an X-factor double to its source , the ancestral mom herself, The Spanker Mare. But that is just another component of her maternal strength, there is much more added in the next three generations that built up into the explosion that is Chartin N.
Bravine foaled Kiatina by Fallacy whose maternal line contributed a North American link to the X-factor through two daughters of American Star. Kiatina was then bred to Noodlum, a son of Bachelor Hanover, whose maternal line brings in another trace to American Star through the dam of World Champion Dexter, the fastest son of Hambletonian, as well as doubling up the family of Minnehaha.
The breeding to Noodlum produced Kinsale, third dam of Shartin N, and she had six daughters but only two of them, both daughters of Save Fuel, had success as broodmares, and that was when the pedigree met up with Meadow Skipper for the first time through Save Fuel's dam by that sire.
Slatina is the second dam of Shartin N and her full sister is Chivasso who, when bred to McArdle, produced the first decent performer in this entire maternal line to date in McDana N who made $165,000 mostly in the United States. She now has another of her sons, Italian Delight N, a recent import, currently racing in Yonkers Open competition as a result of two wins at the Meadowlands taking a record of 1.50.1.
Slatina was bred to Live Or Die whose dam, Mica Lobell, is an X-factor double to Tar Heel, and whose maternal line goes back to yet another daughter of Nutwood called Stray Moments and three more traces to American Star. This was exactly the kind of breeding needed to provide the fuel for the fire lit by Tintin In America in the breeding to Bagdarin, the first female in the maternal line to beat 2:00 with a win in 1.57.4.
Tintin In America has a dam that is a maternal X-factor double to Tar Heel and as a filly Shartin N inherits that bonus to her own maternal traces to Tar Heel through her own dam. This is in addition to the interesting X-factor doubles to Bachelor Hanover and to Meadow Skipper.
In recent times I have also noticed two pedigree patterns, which I code as DD or TB, that occur often in top individuals. Shartin N is an example of the TB pattern where the Adios/Hal Dale sire line of Mcardle is inbred in her dam through sons of Adios and Good Time for an added bonus.
This affinity of Tintin In America for Tar Heel maternally is evident in his best performers with the next best , also a filly, bred in similar fashion but perhaps not with the same long term build up maternally. His sire, McArdle shows the same affinity for Tar Heel with the vast majority of his best being from mares that are X-factor doubles to Tar Heel or are X-factor doubles themselves as a result of McArdles own maternal doubles to Tar Heel in his each of his first three dams.
McWicked had the added benefit of having a DD pedigree pattern where the maternal lines in his dam are the same as those in his own dam and those of his sire. The DD pattern has also produced such recent champions as Greenshoe, Six Pack, Manchego, Mission Brief, Gimpanzee, Hannelore Hanover and Always B Miki among others while TB patterned champions include Jimmy Freight, Warrawee Ubeaut, and several of the best by Muscle Hill including Marion Marauder, Propulsion, and Green Manalishi.
My fascination with the Tar Heel influence, in addition to supporting my recommendation to buy McWicked as a result of four of his first five dams being double copies to Tar Heel or his dam-sire Volomite, pointed me to my first and only credit as a breeder. That was in the form of Scarlet Chaser, from a mare inbred to Tar Heel. His sire was Hussy Chaser, a colt I bought as a yearling for $1,500 on the strength of him being from a mare that was also an x-factor inbred to Tar Heel, and he went on to be the second richest Maritime bred in his day earning over $520,000. I got him back when he retired and then looked for the right mare, one with the Tar Heel double and found one in Lucky Hare, a daughter of Precious Bunny. The resulting colt, Scarlet Chaser retired last year after making over $240,000 and being race timed in 1.49.4 to become the fastest race-timed colt ever bred on PEI and the fastest and richest Island bred colt by an Island based sire.
Thank you Alan Porter.
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