THE MAKING OF MACHIAVELLIAN
Sunday, January 16, 2011 
Click above to watch Machiavellian as a 2 Year Old winning the
1989 Prix De La Salamandre (Group 1) at Longchamp
(Photo : Sport Horse - Footage : YouTube)
40% of Danehill’s foals out of
Machiavellian mares are Stakes winners
Students of the “noble art” will recall our piece in the Summerhill Sire’s Brochure of two years ago on the Machiavellian and Danehill factors. That announcement divulged the strategy behind our thinking, given the preponderance of Northern Dancer blood in the female strains on the farm, and the success which Danehill and Machiavellian had enjoyed with these internationally. This wasn’t happenstance. There was another factor, and that was the origins which all of Northern Dancer, Machiavellian and Danehill have in common; last weekend in America, a filly by the name Justaroundmidnight, revealed again the chemistry which a combination of these genes seems to inspire. Before we hand you over to Andrew Caulfield and his insights in the Thoroughbred Daily News, there’s one statistic really worthy of notice, and it comes in his final paragraph. 40% of Danehill’s foals out of Machiavellian mares are Stakes winners, which provides the succour for next season’s matings. Over to Andrew :
The excellent Irish stallion Danehill Dancer has recently enjoyed a notable few days with his American-based daughters. On Sunday, his ex-Irish filly Justaroundmidnight sprang a surprise in taking the Marshua’s River Stakes G3, and this week, his Grade I-winning daughter Ave came under the hammer at Keeneland, selling for $1.4 million.
Danehill Dancer has been represented by some topnotch sons in Europe and Australia, such as the Group 1 winners Mastercraftsman, Choisir, Where Or When, Alfred Nobel and Light Fantastic, but he owes his reputation in North America largely to his daughters.
Justaroundmidnight is his seventh daughter to win a North American stakes event, her predecessors including Ave (G1 Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes), Alexander Tango (G1 Garden City Stakes), Callwood Dancer (G2 Nassau Stakes and second in G1 E.P. Taylor Stakes), Carribean Sunset (second G1 Diana Stakes), Good Mood (G3 Regret Stakes) and the Grade 3-placed Golden Balls.
The interesting aspect of Justaroundmidnight’s pedigree is that she is out of a daughter of Machiavellian, the champion European two-year-old of 1989.
Although best known in America as the sire of Street Cry, Machiavellian was certainly no one-hit wonder, and the influence of this son of Mr. Prospector is spreading far afield.
What makes Machiavellian of particular interest to many breeders is the fact that his dam Coup de Folie - a two-year-old group winner with a Timeform rating of 112 - was inbred 3x3 to Almahmoud. This remarkable mare had only three daughters, but each of the three became the dam of a champion sire, with Cosmah being responsible for Halo, Natalma for Northern Dancer and Bubbling Beauty for the French champion Arctic Tern.
As Machiavellian was himself inbred 3x4 to Native Dancer, he had two lines to each of Natalma’s parents.
This encouraged breeders to send him numerous granddaughters of Northern Dancer, and this cross resulted in 13 of his group winners, including his Group 1 winners Medicean, Storming Home, West Wind and Rebecca Sharp.
The two lines of Native Dancer and Almahmoud in Machiavellian’s pedigree also encouraged the idea of coupling his descendants with those of Danehill, a magnificent stallion inbred 3x3 to Natalma.
Danehill’s 10 foals out of Machiavellian mares featured nine winners, including four at stakes level. These stakes winners comprised Scintillation, a multiple Group 1 winner in Hong Kong, his sister Shania Dane, a dual Group 2 winner in Australia, and the British listed winners Miss Pinkerton and Coy. We also saw Danehill do well with Rafina, a sister to Machiavellian.
Their son Admiralofthefleet looked a fine prospect when he won the G2 Royal Lodge Stakes in 2006.
