What mares for Invasor?

[kimberley mine]

Since the thought excercise with Candy Ride was so much fun and I don't have much else to do tonight, I thought I'd give his uncle Invasor a try. I have two starting assumptions:

*He was a great dirt runner with a heavy turf pedigree. Rather like Lemon Drop Kid in that aspect. Also like LDK I suspect that he will have more success with turf breeding (outside a few specific bloodlines).

*Although his tail female line is as Argentine as the day is long, 75% of everything else is French. I can work with that.

No matter what the commercial breeding market would like to believe, this horse is NOT going to succeed with your garden variety Storm Cat, Prospector, or Indy. The genetic variation between your typical big-name commercial US horse and Invasor is too great to expect them to click beautifully. Like Candy Ride, there is a lot in his pedigree which will work with the US mare base, but with few exceptions it's not the "fashionable" part of the US mare base. Here we go.

1. More Than Ready. This one is a no-brainer. He is the only commercial US stallion who has produced a stakes winner with anybody in Invasor's family (More Than Regal, out of a full to the dam of Invasor).

3. Quiet American, Cryptoclearance, and Unbridled. This one is another no-brainer. As I've mentioned before, Blushing Groom and Dr Fager/Great Above have a real love affair going on. Candy Ride is an example of this, as are the various stakes winners out of Equalize mares (at least 3 of whom are Gr-1, and not all of them are descendants of Empiric). Equalize is out of a Dr Fager mare. Of the three, I'm a bit leery of Unbridled (except Unbridled's Song) given the fact that he has run-all-day stamina thrown in there, and I think Invasor needs more speed.

3. Holy Bull and Green Dancer. Although closely related to the above trio, Holy Bull gets his own little spot courtesy of his 2nd broodmare sire Grey Dawn II. Both Liloy (broodmare sire of Interprete) and Grey Dawn II trace to the foundation mare Judy O'Grady. Green Dancer traces to Judy O'Grady through a half-sister to the dam of Grey Dawn II. This is a female line that likes to be bred back to itself; Holy Bull's daughter Confessional is an example. In addition, both Snow Goose (Liloy) and Polamia (Green Dancer, Grey Dawn II) are by Mahmoud, creating a nice cluster-breeding pattern.

4. Broad Brush. Here we get a little more obscure. He did nicely with Blushing Groom mares, including 2 stakes winners. He also had good results with Lyphard, Lyphard's Wish, and Lypheor (4 winners/6 foals)...and the one time he saw a Manila mare he got a horse who was one good allowance win shy of a million. Candy Stripes is bred on the same Wild Risk/Lyphard cross that produced Manila. Moving right along, Broad Brush is inbred to the superb producer *Pocahontas through Tom Rolfe and Cherokee Rose. When he had another strain of *Pocahontas returned to him, the result was usually a stakes winner. Invasor carries *Pocahontas through Hoist the Flag. Mares carrying Ack Ack and Chieftain will work here as well.

4. Cozzene. Son strains of *Ribot have been really important for Cozzene, which Invasor has through Crown Thy Good. Crown Thy Good is out of a Sir Gaylord mare, Sir Gaylord being the 2nd damsire of Cozzene and a good linebreeding target himself. Cozzene mares would provide speed to Invasor without sacrificing class. A similar mating--Candy Stripes out of a Ringaro (Caro son) mare out of a Liloy mare--produced Gr-1 winner Victory Stripes.

5. Dansili, Danehill, and Machiavellian. Linebreeding to Natalma through other strains besides Northern Dancer is EXPLOSIVE. Of all the Prospectors, I think Machiavellian's female line will "click" better with him than with any other. The return of Hoist the Flag and the cross of Halo is intriguing. Danehill, like Cozzene, brings class and speed and is a proven cross on Blushing Groom (see Blushing Away, et al). Dansili is attractive because he would be an extended cross of the mating that produced Leroidesanimaux. EDITED: I like Machiavellian better than any other Mr P horses EXCEPT for the Fappiano tribe.

6. Tom Fool. Like Candy Ride, for an Argentine-bred horse Invasor is strangely absent of Tom Fool. This is a key strain for Blushing Groom as well as most Argentine lines. I think Invasor could go either way here with Tom Fool...as in Daughters of Buckpasser and Everybody Else.

7. Nijinsky. Green Dancer got his own little description above, but Blushing Groom and Nijinsky do pair up well. I'd probably stay away from Caerleon and Niniski because I think they're too stout for Invasor but daughter strains and Royal Academy should work just fine.

8. And finally, if you can get a hold of one, Sunday Silence. See Bubble Gum Fellow and Silent Name.

[bdw0617]

I'm for anything that will put more Sunday Silence in american T'Breds.

[ak1]

Along the sames lines as Holy Bull, would you send a Waquoit mare?

Very interesting reading...thanks for sharing!

[winds]

Yes, when I'm explaining to others why I like a certain pedigree I wish I could do so as elequently. I can just say I like that stallion line and not explain why. I also can look at a weanling and know what it's going to look like as a yrlng, 2 yr old and older. I can't explain that either, I know what faults they will out grow and which ones they won't.

I might be in trouble if I get a client that wants to know all that stuff and doesn't just take my word on it. uhoh......................

winds