THE IMPORTANCE OF BROODMARE SIRES

Northern Guest
(Photo : Summerhill Stud)

“How important is the Broodmare Sire?”

SARAH WHITELAW - When first looking at a pedigree, particularly in a catalogue, I first look at the sire, then I look at the dam, and then I look at the female line, or at least the first two dams.

But how important is the broodmare sire? When looking at such modern day champions as Horse Chestnut and Dynasty (out of mares by Col Pickering and Commodore Blake respectively), it is easy to believe that the broodmare sire pays little part in the pedigree, as both the aforementioned horses are out of mares by failed stallions.

There were 25 winners of 32 G1 races run last year in South Africa. Of these 25 horses, eight were produced by daughters of champion sires. Genetically speaking, the broodmare sire will contribute 25% to the DNA makeup of the individual horse.

It is hard to see this when looking at a horse like the mighty Smarty Jones - by a good sire in Elusive Quality out of a 12 times stakes winner. Smarty Jones’s broodmare sire Smile was a disaster at stud - and it is hard to see quite what part he plays in the pedigree of one of the finest racehorses of the 21st century.

It is also surely more than a coincidence that often a champion racehorse, but poor sire, who covers good books of mares when first retiring to stud, can produce at least one G1 producing daughter. One such example is the mighty Dancing Brave, a stallion who was largely a disappointment, but whose daughters have done very well at stud.

Ironically enough, a horse to fall in the same category as Dancing Brave, is his old rival Shahrastani (who beat Dancing Brave somewhat fortuitously in the 1986 Epsom Derby). Shahrastani, who has spent his stud career in all of the USA, Japan and Ireland, was a very poor sire, but his daughters have produced such G1 winners as Alamshar (Irish Derby) and Caradak (Prix de la Foret).

It is also worth noting that sometimes ordinary stallions can leave their mark on the breed through their daughters. One of history’s greatest ever stallions, Danzig, is out of a mare by Admirals Voyage (himself a son of champion handicap male, Crafty Admiral). The latter sired just a handful of minor stakes winners during his time at stud - none of which won at the highest level. But through the deeds of Danzig and his legions of successful sons and daughters, Admirals Voyage’s name will survive in the modern day pedigree - outlasting sires who enjoyed more stud success!

Another ordinary sire whose name lingers in the modern day thoroughbred through a daughter is the Promised Land stallion, Understanding. Winner of the G3 Stuyvesant Handicap, Understanding sired just two stakes winners in a brief stud career - but one of those stakes winners was Wishing Well. She not only won the Gamely Handicap (today a G1 race), but at stud she produced US Horse of the Year and legendary Japanese sire, Sunday Silence.

Poker was a son of the top-class sire and broodmare sire Round Table. While he himself was an ordinary sire (his only champions coming in Norway and Puerto Rico), Poker’s daughters produced numerous champions including champion sire Seattle Slew. The latter twice topped the US broodmare sires list, and his daughters have produced a host of champions. Poker is also the maternal grandsire of US champion, Silver Charm, as well as the useful sire, Lomond (himself a champion sire in Italy). Through Seattle Slew alone, Poker is guaranteed to be around in pedigrees for decades.

In contrast, history has produced a number of truly exceptional broodmare sires. In North America, arguably the greatest broodmare sire of all was Sir Gallahad III. Sir Gallahad III led the US broodmare sires list on 12 occasions - and his daughters produced over 130 stakes winners (in an era where stallions covered 30 mares a season). Sir Gallahad III’s daughters produced champions Challedon and Gallorette as well as high-class stakes winners such as Mars Shield (Kentucky Oaks), Boswell (St Leger), Galatea (Epsom Oaks), Black Tarquin (St Leger), Aurelius (St Leger) and Nothirdchance (Acorn Stakes, dam of Hail To Reason).

Another truly phenomenal broodmare sire was Princequillo. A stout stayer, he dominated the US Broodmare Sires list in the 1960’s and 1970’s. He not only headed the list on eight occasions, but remarkably enough, his son Prince John and grandson Speak John (by Prince John) also became champion broodmare sires. Princequillo is best known as the broodmare sire of the US Triple Crown winner Secretariat (also a great broodmare sire), with his daughters also producing such luminaries as champion Mill Reef, leading sire and broodmare sire Kris S, G1 winners Squander and Sham, champion half brothers Fort Marcy and Key To The Mint, as well as champions Bold Lad and Successor.

In South Africa, the trend in recent times has been for champion sires to become champion broodmare sires. The broodmare sires list has recently been dominated by Northern Guest, who has been champion broodmare sire in this country nine times. He is certainly bred to be a champion broodmare sire with both his sire, Northern Dancer, and broodmare sire, Buckpasser, having topped the broodmare sires list on more than one occasion.

So how relevant is the broodmare sire? Clearly it helps to have a successful sire/broodmare sire as a maternal grandsire of a horse, but it is also clear that it is not the sole defining success factor.

Extract from www.sportingpost.co.za

THE KENTUCKY DERBY : THE ENORMITY OF IT ALL

My Old Kentucky Home sing along
“As the horses parade to the track, the University of Louisville marching band
leads the 150,000 strong crowd in singing My Old Kentucky Home.”
(Footage and Image : Kentucky Derby)

137th KENTUCKY DERBY

Mick Goss
Summerhill CEOIn a country in which just about everything is bigger and better than most, where we are right now, nothing is bigger than the Kentucky Derby. The atmosphere is positively feverish, and for some trainers and their horses, it is a fever for which there is no known cure.

Size matters here, and in the horse business, big seems to be the fundamental word. Yesterday alone, we saw seven individual winners of at least one leg of the Triple Crown race. With the exception of Birdstone, whose upset in the Belmont elicited an apology from his owner, Marylou Whitney, for depriving the fabled Smarty Jones of his Triple Crown bid, every one of them measures at least 16.1 hands. But they’re not just big; most are bulky with it, no better illustrated in the 700kg frame of leading sire, Sky Mesa, who bears a remarkable resemblance to his “Emperor” grandfather, A.P. Indy.

Sports worldwide, particularly in the professional realm, have witnessed the proliferation in athletic size, and in racing herein lies a problem. They may be more powerful, and they may run quicker, but in our sport and in motor racing, there’s a saying that “speed kills”, and it’s no more true than it is in American racing. The dirt tracks here (which is the surface on which most top line events are staged,) are just a couple of inches deep, and when they’re wet, (which Churchill Downs is as we write,) the combination of sealing (or compacting, to keep the water from penetrating right down,) and the “slop” that inevitably emerges after a downfall, means horses are working on rock-hard surfaces often enough.

And this is where horses get hurt, especially the heavy ones. This week alone, the ante-post favourites for both the Oaks (Trippi’s daughter, R Heat Lightning) and the Derby, have been scratched with limb injuries, likely associated with difficult training conditions.

None of this though, detracts from the heat of the moment. Whatever happens, the hero this weekend will have his name in the history books, and someone out there will be willing to pay considerably more for him on Sunday morning, than he would have today.

Mick Goss - Kentucky, USA

ELUSIVE QUALITY : QUALITY IS TRULY ELUSIVE

Elusive Quality
(Photo : Darley Stud)

EMPERORS PALACE
NATIONAL YEARLING SALE
15 - 17 April 2011

The best Juvenile in Australia right now is Sepoy. In fact, they say he may be the best ever. And one of the best three-year-olds in Australia is Bullbars, second in the Australian Guineas last Saturday. In common, they are both sons of Elusive Quality. Like champions Raven’s Pass, Smarty Jones and Quality Road.

LOOK FOR OUR ELUSIVE QUALITY AT THE NATIONALS.

If they’re carrying this brand,
you know you’re in business.

For more information please visit :
www.summerhill.co.za

Kerry Jack +27 (0) 82 782 7297

Tarryn Liebenberg +27 (0) 83 787 1982

SEPOY : BIG BRAVE SOLDIER WINS BLUE DIAMOND

Click above to watch Sepoy winning the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr1)
(Photo : SMH - Footage : TVN)

BLUE DIAMOND STAKES (Grade 1)
Caulfield, Turf, 1200m
26 February 2011 

The outcome of Saturday’s Blue Diamond (Gr1), one of Australia’s defining juvenile events, had racing fans clutching for their Thesauruses, as they grappled with the name “Sepoy”. Apparently it belongs to a category of Indian solider or warrior, but whatever the definition, on Saturday it belonged to one of the best juveniles Australians claim to have seen in decades.

The Aussies are a sentimental lot when it comes to their racehorses, and the manner of the son of Elusive Quality’s victory (by 4,50 lengths) evoked comparisons with Biscay (1968,) Vain (1969,) Manikato (1978,) Zeditare (1988) and Courtza (1989). Now the red hot chalk for the richest Juvenile race in the world, (the $5million Golden Slipper, for which he appears a “shoe in”, forgive the pun!), the son of the sire of international standouts Smarty Jones, Raven’s Pass and Quality Road is out of a Danehill mare, from the immediate family of Golden Slipper hero, Canny Lad. If ever there was a “Slipper” pedigree, Sepoy has it.

And by the way, the highest scoring physical among the Summerhill draft for the National Yearling Sale (15-17 April,) belongs to a son of Sepoy’s sire, Elusive Quality.

For more information please visit :
www.summerhill.co.za

or contact Linda Norval
+27 (0) 33 263 1081

THEIR CRICKET MIGHT SUCK, BUT THEIR HORSES CAN RUN

Street Sense (USA)
(Photo : NYRA)

Australia’s Thoroughbreds reveal their depth.

There is something about the human psyche that backs the underdog. For more than a decade, Australia’s cricketers have ruled the world, and with South Africa, their rugby players are the only other nation to have scooped two World Cup titles. The world has been waiting for the fall. Right now, the troops with the baggy green caps, are under the cosh while England made smashed eggs of the yellow-shirted Wallabies at Twickenham on Saturday. But the Aussies are a resilient lot, and when there’s one division not firing, be sure there’ll be another one popping its head up in glory.

Attendees at the Emperors Palace Ready To Run Cup were again reminded of the depth of Australia’s thoroughbreds, when Hollywoodboulevard and Igugu, R900,000 and R1 million graduates respectively of the 2009 Emperors Place Ready To Run Sale, fought out a stirring finish for the R1,5 million on offer. The next day, in the bull ring at the TBA sales complex, the top six horses were all Australians, five of them making a million or more, and while all are sons and daughters of renowned international stallions, the outcome simply reminded us what the “shuttle” concept has had on Australian breeding. It’s true, of course, that in the first four stagings of the Emperors Palace Ready To Run Cup, the Aussies have been unsighted, despite their price tags, so for those of us involved in the consignment of Aussie-breds, it was a welcome advertisement.

The country’s two biggest features of the weekend, the Victory Moon Handicap (Gr.2) (Perana) and the Starling Stakes (Gr.3) (Gibraltar Blue) were both scooped by the progeny of the celebrated racehorse, Rock Of Gibraltar. Mike de Kock’s grapevine tells us Perana is headed for the J&B Met (Gr.1), while Gibraltar goes for the 150th renewal of the best “mile&” in South Africa, the Queens Plate (Gr.1).

Across the seas, and more specifically in Kentucky, USA, we hear illuminating stories of the first crop of Street Sense, the only horse in history to have completed the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile/Kentucky Derby double. Those who know the history of the “cold war” between the giants the Maktoum family of Dubai and Coolmore of Ireland, will recall that neither has been inclined to buy the progeny of stallions belonging to the other during the three or four years of stand-offs since Sheikh Mohammed’s declaration.

There appear to be signs of a thaw in the offing with the purchase by Coolmore’s Demi O’Byrne of a smart youngster by Street Sense at the Keeneland September Sale, an aberration which signals intent of an altogether different kind. The question is, is there a diplomatic strategy behind the purchase, or is it simply a case of the Street Senses being irresistible to a man of Demi O Byrne’s talents? According to Bill Oppenheim, one highly regarded judge who has seen quite a few of the progeny of both Street Sense and his famous sire Street Cry, believes if anything,  the foals of the son might be a little nicer than those of the father, and we all know what Street Cry has done in establishing himself as one of America’s most desirable stallions.

So where does all of this lead take us? Well its part information and part propaganda. You see, the Summerhill draft for the 2011 Emperors Palace National Yearling Sale includes both a son and a daughter of Rock Of Gibraltar, as well as a typical son from the first southern hemisphere-bred crop of Street Sense. But that’s not the end. Among the millionaires at last weekend’s sale was a spectacular son of Elusive Quality, sire of this year’s top-rated American racehorse, Quality Road, as well as the international luminaries Smarty Jones and Raven’s Pass. Need we say it, but there’s an exceptional son of Elusive Quality in the draft as well.

Those that know our drafts, will tell you that it’s been a feature of our consignments of the past to include a smattering of Australians among them. We think we’re getting better in our selections, and while this has involved paying more to acquire the right stock, the battle between Hollywoodboulevard and Igugu justfifies the money. We think our offering for next year climaxes all previous entries, but as Dennis Davis is want to say on E News at 5:30 pm every Sunday, “You Be The Judge”.