By Sid Fernando

Inbreeding is a viable part of thoroughbred breeding that has been practiced from the earliest days of the breed’s inception (when it was unavoidable) to the present day, where the duplication of ancestors is mostly unavoidable beyond 5-generations and frequently planned within and beyond 5 generations. Within the parameters of 5-generations, a common practice these days is to inbreed to the sire line with the broodmare sire line. An example of this would be to breed a Mr. Prospector-line mare to a Mr. Prospector-line sire, which happens frequently to stallions such as Mr. Prospector and Northern Dancer (and Nasrullah and Bold Ruler, etc.) because they were such dominant sires of sires. With so many sons and daughters at stud, much of this type of inbreeding would happen randomly if it were not planned, anyway.

One of the most extreme—and successful—cases of this type of inbreeding took place in France in 1946, when Coronation was foaled. Celebrated French breeder and iconoclast Marcel Boussac planned Coronation’s pedigree by breeding the Tourbillon mare Esmeralda to the Tourbilllon sire Djebel, which resulted in Coronation being inbred 2×2 to Tourbillon. The filly won the French Guineas and Arc among other races.

The closest case of inbreeding I’m aware of in the US involving a high-class sire was a mare that was inbred 1×2—yes, that’s correct!—to Mr. Prospector, named Winloc’s Millie. I’ll spare you the details, but needless to say Seth Hancock, the master of Claiborne, was not pleased that a shareholder in the sire decided to follow that course. Winloc’s Millie was unplaced in 4 starts, and to date she has not been a successful producer, either.

The closeness of the inbreeding, for this particular variation of inbreeding, is something that bears monitoring, especially for racing in this country. At WTC, for example, we’ve found that inbreeding to Mr.Prospector on the sire x broodmare sire cross has worked at generational distances of 3×3 or more, but has not been successful at less. Indeed, there are no unrestricted SWs inbred this way to Mr. Prospector at 3×2 or less.

Fact: From 1910 to 2009, there have been only four Kentucky Derby winners inbred to the sire line with the broodmare sire line. That’s 4 of 100, or 4 percent. The most recent was last year’s winner, Mine That Bird, who is inbred 5×3 to Mr. Prospector. Mine That Bird is by Birdstone (by Grindstone, by Unbridled, by Fappiano, by Mr. Prospector) out of  a mare by Smart Strike (by Mr.Prospector). The 2008 winner Big Brown is inbred 3×3 to Northern Dancer (by Boundary, by Danzig by Northern Dancer out of a mare by Nureyev, by Northern Dancer). Winning Colors, the 1988 Derby winner, was inbred 4×4 to Nasrullah, and before her the only other instance of this variety of inbreeding was in the pedigree of 1951 Kentucky Derby winner Count Turf, who was inbred 3×3 to the brothers Sunreigh and Sun Briar (both by Sundridge from Sweet Briar).

Statistically, then, inbreeding to the sire line with the broodmare sire line has not been historically successful in the Derby, but it’s been trending that way based on the pedigrees of the last two winners. However, not a single Derby winner has been inbred this way at a degree closer than 3×3. Proceed at your own risk!

By Sid Fernando

You know how dominant a sire line is when even the lesser members of the line, along with the well-raced representatives, come up with high-class racehorses, and that’s been the story of the 2010 classic-prep season for several sons and grandsons of sire of sires Storm Cat of various racing class. Eskendereya, subject of a previous post here, is by Storm Cat’s best-raced son Giant’s Causeway — also his sire’s best son at stud. But how about the unheralded Cat Dreams, sire of Grade 2 Robert B. Lewis winner Caracortado? This past extended weekend, dating from Super Thursday at Meydan, saw three more Storm Cat-line sires of mixed racing class throw up classic candidates: G1 winner Harlan’s Holiday with Mendip; G3 winner Bernstein with Make Music for Me; and allowance winner Tribal Rule with Alphie’s Bet.

The latter two, Alphie’s Bet and Make Music for Me, are trained in California by the very sharp Ms. Alexis Barba and won stakes at Santa Anita Saturday. Make Music for Me spent most of his 2-year-old season chasing Lookin At Lucky in G1 races as a maiden and is multiple G1-placed with enough Graded earnings to make the Derby as it is. What he did accomplish  Saturday in the Pasadena Stakes – on turf — was to win a race for the first time! Equipped with blinkers Saturday, Make Music for Me was closer to the pace than he normally has been and had less ground to make up in the stretch on the one-male race. He won impressively and goes next in the G1 Santa Anita Derby.

Make Music for Me’s sire is Bernstein, who is good here and better in Argentina, where he’s a leading sire. In fact, he’s the sire of the last Argentine Derby winner, Storm Chispazo. The Argentine Derby — the Nacional — is contested on dirt at Palermo over 2500 meters (more than 12f).  Bernstein stands at Castleton Lyon in Lexington, Ky., for $25,000. He was a multiple G3 winner at 2 and 3 in Ireland and altogether won 4 of 8 starts.

Alphie’s Bet won the G3 Sham on the all weather over 1 1/8 miles. Now a winner of 2 of 5 starts, Alphie’s Bet paid a compliment to Caracortado by winning the Sham; on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita, the colt had been 2nd to the Robert B. Lewis winner in the California Breeders’ Champion Stakes. Alphie’s Bet is by the California-based Tribal Rule, who won 2 of 4 starts but no stakes. He didn’t make his first start until he was 4, then at 5 won both of his two starts impressively: a 6f maiden special at Del Mar in 1:08.82 by 8 lengths, and an allowance at the same track and distance in 1:09.09 by 5 lengths. Obviously plagued by soundness problems, the horse made only one other start, at 6. He stands for $6,000 at River Edge Farm in Buellton, Ca., and is the sire of 13 SWs, including the G1 winner and one-time classics prospect Georgie Boy.

Harlan's Holiday

Mendip won the Listed Al Bastakiya at Meydan Thursday and is undefeated in 3 starts and is probably Godolphin’s best Kentucky Derby prospect to date. He is by the Airdrie Stud sire Harlan’s Holiday, a grandson of Storm Cat. An accomplished racehorse, Harlan’s Holiday won 9 of 22 starts and earned $3.6 million. He was a multiple G1 winner, too, accounting for the Florida Derby and Blue Grass Stakes at 3 and the Donn Handicap at 4. At stud, he has sired 13 SWs through three crops, including G1 winner Into Mischief and G3 winner Dennis of Cork, who was 3rd in the Kentucky Derby in 2008. Harlan’s Holiday stands for $25,000 and is one of the leading sires of his crop.

Awesome Again: Sire of G3 Gotham Stakes winner Awesome Act.

By Sid Fernando

The Adena Springs stallion Awesome Again stood for $125,000 in 2009, but he stands for $50,000 in 2010, a 60 percent decrease in fee from a year ago. On Saturday, March 6,  at Aqueduct his 3yo son Awesome Act won the G3, $250,000 Gotham Stakes with an impressive move to become — until the next set of Derby preps, at least — the latest legitimate contender for the classics. With a steep drop in fee and a live 3yo colt, Awesome Again suddenly looks downright appealing with the breeding season only a month old.

Take a look at the facts: 16yo Awesome Again is the sire of 9 G1 winners and 36 SWs through 8 crops; 22 are GSWs; and his SWs have an average winning distance of 8.5f. Among them are: HoTY Ghostzapper, one of the best and most versatile horses of recent years and a Breeders’ Cup Classic winner; the outstanding female champion Ginger Punch, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff; Wilko, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile; and Round Pond, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Awesome Again won 9 of 12 starts, earned $4.4 million and himself won the Breeders’ Cup Classic. By champion Deputy Minister from Primal Force, by champion Blushing Groom, Awesome Again is half-brother to Macho Uno, also a champion, at 2, and a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner. That’s just the type of resume you look for in a high-priced sire!

Awesome Act is trained in England by Jeremy Noseda, who also trained Wilko before he was sold to American interests. Noseda brought Awesome Act, who’s co-owned by Mrs. Susan Roy and Vinery Stables and was bred by the Niarchos family’s Flaxman Holdings, to Santa Anita last year for the G2 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, and if you saw the race you’d remember he was the colt absolutely flying in the middle of the track late. I’d forgotten that he’d actually finished 4th that day — beaten only a length and a half for everything.

Noseda has the Kentucky Derby in the back of his mind, and that’s why the colt was sent on another transatlantic voyage for the Gotham — which actually hasn’t produced a Kentucky Derby winner since Secretariat in 1973. Although it was the colt’s first start on dirt, he handled it beautifully; his sire does has a terrific track record for getting dirt runners, after all. Awesome Act caught the eye in the paddock, too. Immaculately turned out, he’s an attractive chestnut with his tail squared off at the end in European style. He was a lukewarm favorite for the Gotham, but he won as if he were odd-on. His jock, Julien Leparoux, rode him with a lot of confidence, and on the turn for home Leparoux looked over his left shoulder as the colt went four-wide on the turn — a dead giveaway that he had plenty of horse under him. Awesome Act opened up by 3 lengths in the stretch and was mildly urged at the end to win fairly easily from the previously undefeated NY-bred Yawanna Twist by a length and a quarter. The colt covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.85.

Blue Blood

Awesome Act has an awesome pedigree on the bottom side, too. He’s out of the Mr. Prospector mare Houdini’s Honey and is now her first SW and GSW. She, however, is a sister to Machiavellian (sire of Street Cry) and a half-sister to four other SWs, and her 3rd dam is Natalma — dam of Northern Dancer. Awesome Act is inbred 5×4 to Natalma and 4×2 to Mr. Prospector. Houdini’s Honey sold for $900,000, in foal to Johannesburg, at the 2007 Keeneland November sale, and her buyer, Canadian diamond man Chuck Fipke, says the Johannesburg colt, now 2, is one of his best. There may be more to this act yet.

By Sid Fernando

Ben P. Walden Jr. does things on a smaller scale now. Once the master of Vinery during its stallion station heydays in the 1990s, and partner in Hurricane Hall from 2006 to mid-2009, Ben now runs the boutique-ish Pauls Mill on 265 acres in Versailles, Ky. Pauls Mill is home to three stallions: Bellamy Road, Artie Schiller, and US Ranger. The latter is a first-year horse, while the other two, who began their careers at Hurricane Hall, will have first crops racing this year. Both will be represented by 100-plus 2yos in 2010, which gives them an excellent chance to compete for the first-crop sire championship. Artie Schiller, in particular, will be watched closely by horsemen because he’s a G1-winning son of El Prado, who’s come up with two nice young sires in recent years in the elite Medaglia d’Oro and the surprising Kitten’s Joy. Will Artie be next?

Ben said today that Artie Schiller was booked full for 2010 with “around 120″ mares, which illustrated just how bullish breeders are in the horse. Most young horses struggle to fill the dreaded fourth-year book, which is usually the year for wild deal making and smallish books. Artie’s advertised stud fee for 2010 is $15,000 live foal and no doubts deals were cut off it, but to put his full book in perspective consider that one of last year’s leading first-crop sires, Roman Ruler, had less than 40 mares presented to him in his fourth year.

Artie Schiller is a good-sized bay who did his racing on turf, like Kitten’s Joy, but was perhaps a little sharper than that rival. In fact, Kitten’s Joy defeated Artie Schiller (2nd) in the G3 $500,000 Virginia Derby over 10f, but over shorter trips of 8f to 9f Artie was at his best. At 4, he won the G1 Breeders’ Cup Mile, the pinnacle of his career. The horse also won six other stakes races, including many G2 and G3 races at 8f and 9f. He was well developed enough at 2 to win a Belmont maiden special on turf at 6f and an allowance on turf at 8f; also, he was stakes placed at 2, too. All told, he won 10 of 22 starts, placed an additional 8 times, and earned $2,088,853. By any measure, he was a distinguished racehorse, and in this regard he is much like Medaglia d’Oro, Kitten’s Joy, and Borrego — another G1 winner by El Prado whose first crop will race in 2010.

Artie Schiller is out of G1 winner Hidden Light, a daughter of Majestic Light. This is a family that Howard B. Keck developed at Claiborne Farm and its members include Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand. Both Artie Schiller and Ferdinand trace in tail-female to the Dark Star mare Legato –Artie’s 3rd dam and Ferdinand’s 2nd. This family, known for its stamina — Hidden Light’s brother Prince True won the G1 San Juan Capistrano over 14f —  has been dispersed around the world, and its representatives include high-class stakes winners in such places as Japan, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.

On pedigree, Artie Schiller is an “outcross” through four generations — a rarity these days — and should suit a wide swath of the broodmare population. He is a member of a branch of  the Sadler’s Wells line that has made inroads in North America, and he has an excellent chance to continue the trend.

By Sid Fernando

Eskendereya, impressive winner of the G2 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Saturday, actually sold at Keeneland, for $250,000 as a yearling to Zayat Stable. High marks to the Zayat crew for another remarkable auction purchase, but the official breeder of the colt is Sanford R. Robertson, and he gets the full credit.

I don’t know Mr.Robertson personally, but by reading Eskendereya’s family tree, I’m impressed with his knowledge of pedigrees, his understanding of theory, and his patience — which has rewarded him now with a legitimate classics contender.

The breeder got into this family when he purchased the Alydar mare Altair — Eskenderya’s 2nd dam — in 1993 as an unraced 2-year-old at the Keeneland November sale, from the consignment of her breeder, Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm. Though unraced, she was classically bred, descending in tail-female to her 4th dam, Almahmoud, through Cosmah, her 3rd dam.  Cosmah, among others, produced Halo — the sire of Sunday Silence.  Cosmah’s half-sister was Natalma — the dam of Northern Dancer.

Cosmah’s daughter Queen Sucree — Altair’s 2nd dam — produced Derby winner Cannonade, as well as the Northern Dancer mare Stellar Odyssey, Altair’s dam. Stellar Odyssey, bred by North Ridge Farm, also was unraced, but she had an interesting pedigree pattern: As a daughter of Northern Dancer from the immediate family of Northern Dancer, she was inbred 3×3 to Almahmoud.

Bred to Alydar, she produced the unraced Altair, the filly that Mr. Robertson purchased in 1993, 17 years ago.

He decided to breed his young mare first to Seattle Slew, adding more classic blood to a pedigree rich in it — even if the first two dams were unraced. This mating, in 1996, produced Aldebaran Light, who won 3 of 5 starts but no stakes races.

Aldebaran Light is Eskendereya’s dam. Before him, she produced the European G2 sprinter Balmont, by Stravinsky (by Nureyev, by Northern Dancer). Balmont was raced by Mr. Robertson in partnership with Hatta Bloodstock and also was multiple G1 placed, too.

The pedigree pattern that produced Balmont is similar to that of Eskendereya, as both are by Northern Dancer-line sires from the family of Northern Dancer. In Eskendereya’s case, Mr. Robertson bred Aldebaran Light to one of the best young sires in the country, Giant’s Causeway — the best son of his exemplary sire, Storm Cat.

Click here to take a look at this pedigree. Note the surface classic strength of this pedigree: by Giant’s Causeway, a champion at 9.5 to 10f, out of a mare by Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew, out of a mare by Alydar, out of a mare by Northern Dancer, out of a mare by Ribot, from the immediate family of Derby winners Cannonade and Northern Dancer.

Now look at the pattern again: Mr. Robertson has inbred to the sire of a member of the tail-female line, notably Stellar Odyssey, the Northern Dancer 3rd dam of Eskendereya. Therefore, Eskendereya is inbred 4×4 to Northern Dancer. This specific pattern of inbreeding has been utilized through the years by some of the greatest breeders in the world; in Eskendereya’s case, there’s also been a layering of repitition to other points of Northern Dancer’s female family, obviously with Stellar Odyssey having Almahmoud 3×3.

David Miller’s View From the Quarter Pole blog has more interesting notes on this pedigree.

The late Jack Werk and associates at WTC Inc., utilized some similar constructs in designing the pedigree of 1998 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Real Quiet. Click here to view the pedigree. Note that Real Quiet’s 3rd dam, Gay Hostess, produced the Derby winner Majestic Prince (by Raise a Native), as well as his sister Meadow Blue, and Real Quiet was also a Raise a Native-line horse through Quiet American/Fappiano/Mr.Prospector/Raise a Native.

In a similar pattern to Eskendereya’s pedigree, then, Real Quiet is inbred to the sire of a member of the tail-female line, in this case to 2nd dam Meadow Blue’s sire Raise a Native 4×3.

Please click here to read it.

By Sid Fernando

Ashford Stud’s Giant’s Causeway, the leading US sire of 2009, hasn’t skipped a beat through the first seven weeks of 2010 and was the name of the game (along with trainer Todd Pletcher) in Saturday’s classic preps on both coasts. At Gulfstream Park in Florida, Zayat Stable’s Giant’s Causeway colt Eskendereya was dominant in the G2 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth Stakes, winning off by 8 ½ lengths from the good Florida stakes winner Jackson Bend; in California at Golden Gate, the Giant’s Causeway colt Connemara won the G3 El Camino Real Derby by 1 ¼ lengths for Michael Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier, and Derek Smith – the Coolmore group. Both colts, by the way, are trained by Todd Pletcher, who also was responsible for G2 Risen Star Stakes winner Discreetly Mine at the Fairgrounds in Louisiana on the same day.

Both Eskendereya and Connemara won their races over trips of 9f, but the former won on dirt in 1:48 4/5 while the latter covered the distance in 1:51 1/5 over the all weather to underline the great versatility of their sire, who raced over turf in Europe and not surprisingly is a sire of top-class grass horses, too. But as a son of the great American sire Storm Cat, Giant’s Causeway appropriately stands in Kentucky, at Coolmore’s US satellite Ashford Stud. He’s been here since 2002, after beginning his career at Coolmore in Ireland in 2001. He will always be remembered here for his brilliant last-race performance in the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Classic over dirt, when he gave Tiznow all he could handle in a runner-up performance after a full and busy season in Europe.

It’s become apparent every year that surface isn’t a problem for the progeny of this exceptional sire, who consistently gets high-class runners on turf, all weather, and dirt, despite having covered large books of mares that would ordinarily dilute a sire’s effectiveness statistically. Simply put, however, he is one of the most influential young sires in the world, and his few young sons at stud to date already have made impacts quickly, too. Note that on Feb. 11 at Meydan in Dubai, the Giant’s Causeway sire Shamardal’s 3yo first-crop daughter Siyaadah won the UAE 1000 Guineas on all weather; last year, Shamardal was the leading first-crop sire in Great Britain, while the another son, Footstepsinthesand (25 2yo winners), was ranked among the leaders, too.

Jack Werk wrote an outstanding piece on Giant’s Causeway in this space on Dec. 2, 2009, and I’m not going to regurgitate what Jack wrote about the sire here, except to note that Jack put the stallion’s 2010 stud fee of $100,000 – down from $125,000 in 2009 – in great perspective when he wrote: “Coolmore did breed him to very large books, which made it almost impossible for him to show profitability by yearling median sales, but GC’s absolutely amazing ability to get the ‘big horse’ – isn’t that what breeding is all about? – at a very consistent rate makes him an exceptional stallion at a very reasonable price!” Well put!

At this time of year, the “big” horse is a classics contender, and Giant’s Causeway has two more to date in the US so far.
Click here to read Jack’s Dec. 2, 2009, post.

Two of Jack Werk’s oldest industry friends paid tribute to him today.

Australian BLUEBLOODS  publisher ANDREW REICHARD wrote the following today: Farewell to Jack

New WTC president and former DAILY RACING FORM bloodstock editor SID FERNANDO wrote this in TDN today (pages 4-5):  Sons, daughters, fathers, friends, and Jack Werk

The family has requested that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the American Cancer Society.

Friends and family are invited to a memorial to celebrate his incredible life on Friday, February 26^th, 2010 at 11:00 am at Berge-Pappas-Smith Chapel of the Angels, 40842 Fremont Blvd., Fremont, 94538.