Thoughts on champion stayers' pedigrees · 23.01.09
In recent years, the lack of distance races has made it difficult to identify pedigrees and families as sources of stamina for Thoroughbred breeding purposes. That is ostensibly one of the reasons for the inauguration of the Breeders’ Cup Marathon, and the creation of several new dirt and synthetic stayers’ races as Marathon “preps”, last year. Left Coast Racing’s “Unofficial Champion Stayer Award” should therefore make some reference to the pedigrees of its contenders, and I was going to include such a discussion in my last article. However, and for what it’s worth, I decided that it merited a separate entry. The following is offered as a series of observations, not analysis — I’m no pedigree expert, after all.
Champion stayer Champs Elysees is a son of Danehill, out of the great Irish broodmare Hasili. Through grand-sire Danzig he is descended tail-male from Northern Dancer, and his sire’s pedigree also boasts champions Buckpasser and Ribot. His dam’s pedigree includes both Nijinsky (Northern Dancer, again) and Roberto — if you subscribe to the X-factor theory, Roberto is in the right place in the pedigree to be source of the large-heart gene (assuming he was a carrier).
Big Booster is a grandson of A.P. Indy, through Accelerator, and so boasts both Seattle Slew and Secretariat on the top-side. Through his dam Waterside he is a fourth-generation descendant of Round Table, whose blood is a notable source of stamina. Like Champs Elysees, Big Booster shows Northern Dancer on both sides of his pedigree.
By contrast, Delosvientos can be considered a classic case of hybrid vigour. His dam, the Cryptoclearance mare Secret Psalm, has an all-American pedigree, inbred to Mr. Prospector four generations back. Sire Siphon, however, was a champion in Brazil before capturing the Santa Anita Handicap and the Hollywood Gold Cup, and is of pure South American (and, further back, European) lineage.
Let’s look at the pedigrees of the other top stayers of 2008:
- Grand Couturier: like Champs Elysees, another representative of the Northern Dancer / Danzig line — in-bred to Northern Dancer, Sir Gaylord, Bold Ruler, and legendary broodmare Somethingroyal — dam Lady Elgar is by international “super-sire” Sadler’s Wells — dam’s pedigree also boasts Forli (sire of Forego) and Tom Fool, two possible X-factor sources.
- Church Service: like Big Booster, a grandson of A.P. Indy, and successful on both grass and synthetic — broodmare sire is Canadian Triple Crown winner With Approval — descended from Buckpasser and Somethingroyal through both his sire and dam, so his pedigree provides many sources of stamina.
- Herboriste: previously touted here as the best female stayer of 2008 — broodmare sire Gone West is better known as a “sire of sires”, but as a maternal grandson of Secretariat is yet another possible X-factor source.
- Warning Zone: heavily inbred to Native Dancer — also boasts Riva Ridge (1972 Belmont winner) and Alydar (near-miss in 1978 Belmont) on his dam’s side.
- Interpatation: yet another Northern Dancer / Danzig descendant — boasts prominent stayers Gallant Man and Youth in his dam’s pedigree — actually failed to win at a distance this past year, but he gets credit for in-the-money efforts in two GIs and a GIII on the grass.
- Muhannak: winner of the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Marathon, his lone distance win in North America — from the Raise a Native line, he also has Forli, Seattle Slew, and Double Jay (John Henry’s broodmare sire) in his maternal pedigree.
- Da’ Tara: a sone of the great Tiznow — benefited from the Big Brown debacle to win the Belmont Stakes, his only real success, as a stayer or otherwise, this past year.
- Marsh Side: by Gone West out of a Pleasant Colony mare, so lots of class on both sides of his pedigree — beat Champs Elysees in the Canadian International, and set a Woodbine track record for 1 3/4 miles in 2006, so he might be a horse to watch in the future.
- Conduit: won the Breeders’ Cup Turf, as well as the St. Leger and another distance race in England, finishing second in another, so he must be considered a proven turf stayer — like Grand Couturier, his dam (Well Head) is by Sadler’s Wells — tail-male descendant of English champion Mill Reef.
- Dancing Forever: no in-breeding within five generations — dam’s pedigree includes proven 12f runners like Buckpasser, Riva Ridge, Nijinsky, and Native Dancer.
Again, I don’t know enough about thoroughbred pedigrees to offer any in-depth analysis. However, what I do notice is that almost all of this past year’s top stayers show prominent sources of stamina in their dam’s pedigree. Whether that tends to give credence to the X-factor theory, or simply that stamina and class tends generally to be inherited from from the maternal side (as opposed to speed coming from the sire), is an important question. I offer it only as an observation — make of it what you will.
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