Pedigree Query

With Archipenko winning the Derby trial on the weekend. It threw into stark relief what an impact Special and her family have had in Europe. What will, Nureyev, Sadlers Well's and Fairy King's influence (along with a host of other relations) be on world racing in years to come?

Wallinga-

I noted the inbreeding to Special in Archipenko's page. I have a mare that is tail female Special and am trying hard to find a way to double up on Special, but while avoiding bringing in more Mr.P. Not easy that I can see...if you want to stay commercial.

I take it Theatrical isn't an option for you?

wallinga,

For the foreseeable future, Northern Dancer has things pretty well sewn up. He must have been baptized in the Catholic Church, because there's no end in sight for his descendants.

Having said that, though, one need only look back in history to find that even the most overwhelmingly successful sire lines rise and fall. In America--Lexington, Domino, Fair Play, *Teddy, *Princequillo, and to a much lesser degree, *Nasrullah--were all seen as invincible while at the zenith of their careers. Not so anymore. And if not for SEATTLE SLEW, even Bold Ruler would be essentially out of the major league sire lines today.

In Europe, the once monolithic St. Simon, Blandford and Hyperion sire lines are all but extinct. In Australasia, Star Kingdom line horses occupy far fewer positions in stallion registers today than even 20 years ago; the same is true for the mighty *Sir Tristram in New Zealand.

Ebb and Flow--that's what happens to all sire lines in time. The same will be true of Northern Dancer's, although probably not in my lifetime.

Speaking of Special, SAGARA (Sadler's Wells-Rangoon Ruby, by Kingmambo) ran a close 2nd in Monday's PRIX GREFFULHE MITSUBISHI MOTORS (G2) in France. He would be 2 x 5 SPECIAL if my counting is correct. This race should set him up well for the French Derby next month.

I think the stallions from Special's family are likely to have a bigger influence on the female side of pedigrees. Nureyev is already damsire of Kingmambo and Zabeel. Sadlers Wells mares are doing very well when mated to Danehill and his sons (also Serenade Rose is by Stravinsky out of a Sadlers Wells mare) Even Geiger Counter is proving himself as a broodmare sire.

Hallo,
Another racehorse with Special and her Fullsister Lisadell is owned by Gestüt Park Wiedingen in Germany. His name is Soldier Hollow (In the Wings - Island Race by Common Grounds), he is bred 4x4 Special/Lisadell (Car Colston Stud in England). Recently he managered
a 3rd place in "Premio Presidente della Republica" (Italy) as 7 year old.

Regards, Bettina

Perugino, grandson of Special, won a 2yo-maiden-race in his only start. He was sire in GER for 1 or 2 years and got an Oaks-winner (Next Gina) and a sire (Banyumanik) in that period.

And our Derby winner last year Aktion Power (GER)

clearly theres plenty of special blood in europe. nureyev through soviet star & peintre celebre. sadlers wells through montjeu, galileo, singspiel, barathea, refuse to bend, beat hollow, high chaparral to name but a few. perugino and fairy king are a bit rarer, unless you look in australiain the states sadlers wells thru el prado, powerscourt,perfect soul artie schiller & medgalia d'oro, none of these carry mr prospector. but dont forget inbreeding to rough shod, that works well too through say mocassin (apalachee) & lt stevens (lear fan) as in kittens joy. another good sire in the states is tail female mocassin is stormy atlantic. also look you could look to texas glitter (apalachee) at the cheaper end of the market

good luck

Hallo,
in Europe offen "Dalmary" or "Goody Two-Shoes" regarded as taproot mares of Special/Lisadell/Thong/Ridan and the french branch of "Vali" +several others of her Offspring.

An early sire of this family is Charles O'Malley(by Desmond). He is the dam sire of Blenheim. Blenheim's dam is Malva.
Her family is represented in Germany via the Sires Platini and Paolini. is Summertime (by Bahram) was sent to Australia and the latest good winner of Malva's offspring is FootstepsintheSand (by Giants Causeway). Interestingly his 3rd dam Croda Rossa is bred 5x5x5 Malva.

Charles O'Malley is the damsire of Bacteriophage (by Tetratema), he is in the sirelines of Alizier, Le Haar, Cobalt and Frontal. These sires had been used by Germanbreeders succesfully. Another instance is to find in the damline of Right Boy (by Impeccable) tracing to Canterbury Pilgrim.
Right Boy is the sire of the 4th dam of Next Gina.

Best regards, Bettina

BenB wrote:And our Derby winner last year Aktion Power (GER)

And champion Testa Rossa and Group 1 winning sprinter Sudurka

Hi Michael,

I've been writing for years about rise and fall of sire lines and their influence. Generally the more powerful and proliferated the influence the more spectacular the fall of the line and this can include the purging of that blood in any part of the pedigree from following generations of successful stallions.

Your post is dead on the money but few are interested or care and yet every breeder needs to select a stallion. Pedigree is no defense against a sire line that's being selected against. The simple result of breeding to stallions of declining sire lines is that they will get more average performers and that their sons will under perform at stud.

Sire foal crops have increased dramatically aided by technology that creates a blood monopoly by a few sire lines. The effective result is an artificial. ‘stretching’ of blood influence that results in lower SW percentages and more average performers. Since this blood stretching is occurring throughout the breed its effects are only clear when compared with sire performance of the past.

It’s been clear to me for years that a mare base can develop sensitivity (positive or negative) towards specific blood influences and the basis for this phenomenon is explained in the science of epigenetics. The raw numbers that account for blood stretching attempts to overwhelm the this sensitivity at the cost of condensed quality.

Diversification
A sire lines survival (longevity) requires that the blood of its’ descendant sires diversifies; to have qualities that represent significant changes from past members of the line. Northern Dancer is diversified from Nearco and so are many of his sons. To the mare base that they service they have different qualities that make them more successful when those previous qualities are overused (as we see in blood stretching). Sire lines that failed to diversify were selected against and eventually failed. Every generation is an opportunity to diversify and the remnant lines of Bold Ruler, Nasrullah and Teddy are almost exclusively through sires that were more distantly related (in generations) from their source.

There’s no absolute formula for diversification of a sire. Usually they are out of mares that represent new and or diverse blood. This is clearly seen in the rise of the Phalaris stallions that were catalyzed by the addition of Teddy as new blood. Fappiano and his line have been built with new and diverse blood through their dams.

The long term effect of blood stretching is that sire line prominence will be artificially extended. Since the standards for excellence in sire performance have diminished as blood stretching has increased (just look at Bold Ruler), it bodes well for highly diversified lines like Northern Dancer and it gives more time (in generations) for that diversification to occur in other lines as we see in Distorted Humor.

Regards,

Pete