SHARPEN UP by "atan"....How come?

[Jorge]

How come did the modest racer and modest sire Atan managed to sire Sharpen Up ---who turned up to become a great runner and a great sire?

At the present, it's such a given to think that this lineage is so great that sometimes we don't realize how difficult was the aforementioned feat.

Sometimes great runners (Sharpen Up) pop-up from a non-auspicious modest sire (Atan), who is carrying a great sire (Native Dancer), but on many many occasions, that great grandson goes to stud and ends up becoming a mere modest influence (like say, Decidedly). Seems like Sharpen Up and his tail male descendants were an exception. What happened here in the case of Sharpen Up? Was it the Hyperion influence.
Anything else?

Thanks for your opinions.

[nferro9925]

Sometimes the genetic gene pops up in the most unlikely places -

Saggy (gr grandson of Equipoise) got Carry Back a great runner, stakes winner & Derby winner. Champion 3 year-old, won over $1 million dolalrs in the 60's!

[going4stamina]

I think we don't give enough credit to the female families, and too much to the sire line. If you look at our top 10 sires on the BH list right now, the prominent feature of each of those stallions is the strength of their female family.

Atan might have only had one start (and a win at that)--I don't know why, but who knows what his ability was? Having only one start did not get him to the masses, and he was shuttled all over the place and maybe not given a chance. Better mares, and who knows what kind of influence Atan could have had?

What you do have to see, when looking at his pedigree, are what a fine group of mares are on his tail female line, and what a strong influence they have had in racing:
Tamerett, Go For Wand, Tentam, Known Fact, Secrettame, Gone West, Lion Cavern, AP Jet, and Tappiano are from the same female family.

[Bettina]

Hallo,
after a longbreak, I'm back agin

One great mare from the same female family is Feolaaand her descents, Just to name a few, Round Table, Fabulous Dancer, Highclere, Unfuwain, Nashwan; Pebbles (by Sharpen Up!), Aureole etc.

Best regards, Bettina

[griff]

and where did Seattle Slew come from??

g

[going4stamina]

strong back class in the female family, for one. Not to mention, My Charmer having 2 strains of the La Troienne family. Look at My Charmer's pedigree and it is all female class and blue hens--stallion makers!

Myrtle Charm, Myrtlewood, leading to Frizette in the tail female--just like another modern sire of sires...Mr. Prospecter.

[Patuxet]

Coincidentally pedigree analyst and guru Jay Leimbach recently posted to another public forum these observations on Sharpen Up"

In reviewing the pedigrees of the stakes winners in Sept 19th's issue of Thoroughbred Times, I came across a recurring pattern I had not noticed before, namely Danzig blood crossed with the blood of Sharpen Up and his sons Kris, Diesis, and Trempolino...

Among the prominent stakes winners fron this cross were:

Chamberlain Ridge (War Chant--She's Got Class--Trempolino), who won the $250,000 Turf Monter H. at Philadelphia Park

Kingsfort (War Chant--Princess Kris--Kris), who won the G1 Coolmore.com Stakes in Ireland

Mac Love (Cape Cross--My Lass--Elmaamul), who won the G3 Select Racing Stakes in England

And toward the end of these stakes winners was one named Snafell (IRE), who won the G3 Irish Daily Mirror Stakes. Snafell is by Danehill Dancer, a leading sire in Ireland, and Danehill Dancer in turn is by Danehill (Danzig) out of a mare by Sharpen Up, which certainly puts an exclamation point on this pattern...!

Now I see the following week that undefeated 2YO, Behkabad (Cape Cross--Behkara--
Kris) likewise shows the same Danzig x Sharpen Up cross...(Behkabad won the G3 Prix des Chenes on September 19 in France.)

A quick look at the pedigree of Danehill Dancer shows him to be a grandson of both Danzig and Sharpen Up. Danzig's closest linebreeding was 4x6--Hyperion,
and his son Danehill was 5x7x5--Hyperion, in addition to his 3x3--Natalma
(Native Dancer).

Danehill Dancer's dam , Mira Adonde (Sharpen Up), is furthermore inbred
3x4--Native Dancer, and her sire Sharpen Up is 5x3--Hyperion...

So evidently this cross creates quite a bit of deep linebreeding to both
Hyperion and Native Dancer. (And I suppose it's noteworthy that Northern
Dancer was from a mare by Native Dancer, while his sire, Nearctic, was from a mare
by Hyperion, so we're seeing the old adage about "returning the blood of the
broodmare-sire"...in spades here...(Danehill Dancer appears to be 5x5x4x5--Native Dancer,
with five strains of Hyperion blood.)

Looking a step further, I see that Danehill Dancer's best son has been Choisir--a champion in Australia who is now ten and at stud. His dam, Great Selection (by Lunchtime) is further linebred 4x5--Hyperion, so again we see this bloodline reinforced repeatedly...

Doubtless there are other factors of conformation, running aptitude, and breeding- farm opportunity that have shaped this pedigree pattern as well, but for whatever reasons, it certainly looks like a strong one...

[hpkingjr]

One of the pedigree tricks that I use is to do a hypo mating with Danzig over Sharpen Up. The affinity for each other makes more sense that way.
http://www.pedigreequery.com/index.php? ... SHARPEN+UP

The two sires sex balance Native Dancer 4x3 and Hyperion 5x4 but the stallion I know little or nothing about in the pedigrees is Felstead also sex balanced 5x5. Does anyone have any insights into Felstead?

The tool I like is to look at equivalents in a pedigree. Sharpen Up has several interesting equivalents in his pedigree. He is 5x5 to full brothers Fairway and Pharos and the 4th dams on both sides are 50% equivalents. There are 13 equivalents in Sharpen Up's pedigree again showing a concentration of some of the better horses in the pedigree. I am not skilled enough to explain all the equivalents, I just know there is a lot in his pedigree.
http://www.pedigreequery.com/index.php? ... d=&x=0&y=0

When I run the equivalents for Danzig and Sharpen Up there are 16 equivalents in the 5 cross pedigree.

http://www.pedigreequery.com/index.php? ... d=&x=0&y=0

After looking at these pedigrees, the nicking affinity makes some sense to me. Byron Rogers had a nice blog on Combining Like Breds in August on his True Nicks site. He could perhaps shed more light on the affinity.

[erins isle]

[quote="going4stamina"]I think we don't give enough credit to the female families, and too much to the sire line. If you look at our top 10 sires on the BH list right now, the prominent feature of each of those stallions is the strength of their female family.

Atan might have only had one start (and a win at that)--I don't know why, but who knows what his ability was? Having only one start did not get him to the masses, and he was shuttled all over the place and maybe not given a chance. Better mares, and who knows what kind of influence Atan could have had?

What you do have to see, when looking at his pedigree, are what a fine group of mares are on his tail female line, and what a strong influence they have had in racing:
Tamerett, Go For Wand, Tentam, Known Fact, Secrettame, Gone West, Lion Cavern, AP Jet, and Tappiano are from the same female family.[/quote]

I looked at Atan's result and was surprised: was he so bad he only had one race of it could have been the trainer?? the owner?? I mean there can be all kind of circumstances why a horse doesn't run again.
Does anyone know?

[Firebrand]

The two sires sex balance Native Dancer 4x3 and Hyperion 5x4 but the stallion I know little or nothing about in the pedigrees is Felstead also sex balanced 5x5. Does anyone have any insights into Felstead?

Felstead was the third in a succession of English Derby winners, starting with his grandsire Spearmint, who won the Derby in 1906, his sire Spion Kop won it in 1920. For good measure, his great-grandsire, Carbine, won the Melbourne Cup. Felstead didn't seem to produce any sons that carried on the male line, however, he did get some good daughters, namely Rockfel and Steady Aim.

Rockfel won the Princess Elizabeth Stakes at Epsom, the 1000 Guineas, the Oaks and the Champion Stakes. Steady Aim also won the Oaks.

So, by combining Sharpen Up and Danzig, it brings together Felstead's two best (classic-winning) daughters. As an added bonus, Felstead's sire also provides a sex-balance of Spearmint, who was the sire of the great broodmare Plucky Liege, and 2nd damsire of Nearco.

[hpkingjr]

Firebrand:
Thanks for filling in the informaton on Felstead. I knew nothing about him until your excellent recap.

[Patuxet]

I just came across this decent horse with an RF to Atan's dam, Mixed Marriage, through Sharpen Up and Tamerett.

http://www.pedigreequery.com/talloires