Bloodstock Briefing - examining the sire lines which are no longer popular and asking what has caused their demise?

Article by Jordin Rosser

The first breeders of the modern-day thoroughbred had imported 197 Middle Eastern stallions to breed to their English mares in the 17th and 18th centuries, but only three of those stallions’ sire lines are present today – the Darley Arabian, Godolphin Arabian and Byerley Turk (1). Of these three foundational sire lines, the Darley Arabian has dominated the bloodstock industry, with both the Godolphin Arabian and Byerley Turk sire lines having dwindled in number. Even with the abundance of the Darley Arabian line, there are branches in this foundational sire’s line which have been lost or are endangered.

To discover why these sire lines are disappearing, we must look at the thoroughbred breed on a global stage. We have gathered pedigree analysts and breeders from Europe, United States, and Australia to examine the less popular sire lines and what factors caused their demise. Suzi Prichard-Jones (the author of Byerley, The Thoroughbred’s Ticking Time Bomb and founder of The Byerley Turk & Godolphin Arabian Conservation Project) and Alan Porter (a pedigree analyst for Pedigree Consultants LLC and co-creator of TrueNicks) are pedigree experts from Ireland/United States and United States, respectively. John Messara (the founder and owner of Arrowfield Stud in NSW, Australia), David O’Farrell (the operations manager of Ocala Stud in Florida, USA), and Kirsten Rausing (the owner and operator of Lanwades Stud in Newmarket, England) are breeders whose high profile, highly successful, stud farms are shaping the landscape of the thoroughbred breed. 

Q: Why do you believe the Godolphin Arabian and Byerley Turk sire lines have become less prevalent? 

The pedigree analyst panelists weighed in with a history of these three foundational sires, explaining how the first champion progeny sires, born in the mid-1700s, are a coordinated blend: Herod (Byerley Turk sire line – Darley Arabian mare), Matchem (Godolphin Arabian sire line – Byerley Turk mare), and Eclipse (Darley Arabian sire line – Godolphin Arabian mare). 

These champion sire lines dominated the breed utterly until the 20th century.  The beginning of the fall of the Godolphin Arabian line in America, most recognizable as the Man O’ War line, occurred around World War II when a tremendous number of horses were being imported from Europe. 

Alan Porter mentions, “at that point, European horses were just better – dirt, turf, any surface. They swept aside the North American sire lines”. Furthermore, Porter mentions “for a 36-year period (from 1939 – 1974), with the exception of 5 times, a European stallion or son of a European stallion was the leading sire in America”- giving scale to the domination of the European imports in American pedigrees. 

During this period, Northern Dancer dominated the global bloodstock due to the mixture of American pedigree and European (specifically Darley Arabian) sire lines. Suzi Prichard-Jones believes the Byerley Turk and Godolphin Arabian lines dwindled for a different reason: Temperament. The Byerley Turk horses are very intelligent and high-spirited where the Godolphin Arabian horses are tough, hardy, and determined. These characteristics, Prichard-Jones explains, require a lot of time and patience which often leads to gelding the colts, thereby ending their chance to continue the sire line. 

Q: Given the dominance of some Darley Arabian sire lines over others and the shrinking of the Godolphin Arabian and Byerley Turk sire lines, what impacts on the breed do you expect if these sire lines disappear? 

One of the pedigree analyst panelists, Suzi Prichard-Jones, spoke extensively on this topic. She theorizes the Thoroughbred breed’s success relies on the “balance” between the three foundational sire lines. Due to at least one other foundational sire line being found within the first six generations of every modern Thoroughbred, she believes the traits of the Godolphin Arabian and Byerley Turk are maintaining the breed to be “fit for purpose”. 

Prichard-Jones speculates if these two sire lines disappear, Thoroughbreds will be “fast but heartless horses” due to the spirit, temperament, toughness, and hard-headedness characteristics the two sire lines bring. However, we truly do not know what impacts the narrowing sire lines will have as there has been insufficient genetic research available to produce future breed projections. 

Q: Does the bloodstock industry place more importance on results in the sales ring or results on the racetrack – particularly involving selection of sires or predicting future success of sires? 

Many panelists agreed: most of the market will select only sires whose progeny there will be a market for. Alan Porter mentions, “other than a few very high net worth individuals, a higher proportion of breeders, particularly in the US, are breeding with the expectation of selling” – dictating the change in the bloodstock industry from mostly “breed to race” operations to breeders providing a sustainable sales model. 

The panelists concur that the market believes when selecting stallions for breeding mares, the stallion’s own results on the racetrack matter first, then the narrative changes to the sire’s progeny performance after the first few crops. 

John Messara follows this approach and states he “is more interested in athletic performance and believes results in the sales ring will follow racetrack success”. He also mentions that Japan’s current model of breeding, by breeding the high performers with other high performers, has brought significant success on the track across the globe – giving much credibility to their methodology. 

However, there are also instances of the opposite, as there are a few examples where “stallions can give progeny better than themselves”, as mentioned by Kirsten Rausing, in reference to stallions such as Danzig, who raced only 3 times in his career and is a sire of champions.  This phenomenon is rare however, as the success rate of Danzig’s progeny provide a counterpoint to the conventional wisdom.

Q: How do we attempt to preserve unpopular sire lines or prevent narrowing the genetic pool of the breed? 

Fortunately, there are a few tactics to help: global shutting of stallions and importing stallions to allow for outcrossing. Outcrossing, a practice that brings in “new blood” to the region’s bloodstock, typically crosses stallions who are progeny of successful stallions in other geographical regions and/or stallions that do not have any inbreeding within four generations with a chosen mare. 

David O’Farrell of Ocala Stud says he is “a big believer of the outcross and not afraid to breed to certain sire lines that may not be as fashionable”. Ocala Stud is known for having stallions intended for outcrossing to local mares – many of their success stories include Girvin, Kantharos and the up-and-coming Win Win Win. Similarly, Kirsten Rausing’s Lanwades Stud has had success in “offering breeders and broodmare owners something outside of the ordinary” and a stallion who will “complement the mare population of Europe” including their current stallions Study of Man and Bobby’s Kitten. 

Over the years, the industry has seen how the importing of stallions has strengthened the breed to perform well on the racetrack and in modern times, particularly in Australia and Europe, the practice of shuttling of stallions is proving to have similar results. 

Through all these discussions, some panelists mentioned a glimmer of hope for the Byerley Turk, Godolphin Arabian and endangered Darley Arabian sire lines. There are multiple examples of sire lines coming back from the brink of extinction – a few favorites from the panelists include Fappiano’s Cryptoclearance line reemerging with Candy Ride (ARG), Nasrullah’s Caro line resurging with Uncle Mo, and the most successful story: Storm Bird’s Storm Cat line with 5-time American leading general sire Into Mischief. Each of these resurgences occurred after the use of the outcross technique, leading to future successful stallions and breathing new life into their sire lines. 

Prichard-Jones, Suzi. “The Thoroughbred’s Genetic Cocktail”. Chart. Suzi Prichard-Jones: The Byerley Turk & Godolphin Arabian Conservation Project. Suzi Prichard-Jones, 2021. https://suziprichard-jones.com/the-byerley-turk-godolphin-conservation-project/, 04/01/2024.

Dangers of inbreeding and the necessity to preserve sire lines in the thoroughbred breed

Words - Dr Bernard Stoffel, DVM

Inbreeding is the proportion of the genome identically inherited from both parents.

Inbreeding coefficients can be estimated from pedigrees, but pedigree underestimates the true level of inbreeding. Genomics can measure the true level of inbreeding by examining the extent of homozygosity (identical state) in the DNA of a horse. A mechanism to examine genomic inbreeding for breeding purposes has yet to be developed to be used by all breeders but once available, it must be considered as a tool for breeders.

Breeding of potential champion racehorses is a global multi-billion sterling or dollar business, but there is no systematic industry-mediated genetic population management.

Inbreeding in the modern thoroughbred

The thoroughbred horse has low genetic diversity relative to most other horse breeds, with a small effective population size and a trend of increasing inbreeding.

A trend in increased inbreeding in the global thoroughbred population has been reported during the last five decades, which is unlikely to be halted due to current breeding practices.

Ninety-seven percent of pedigrees of the horses included in a recent study feature the ancestral sire, Northern Dancer (1961); and 35% and 55% of pedigrees in EUR and ANZ contain Sadler’s Wells (1981) and Danehill (1986), respectively.

Inbreeding can expose harmful recessive mutations that are otherwise masked by ‘normal’ versions of the gene. This results in mutational load in populations that may negatively impact on population viability.

Genomics measured inbreeding is negatively associated with racing in Europe and Australia. The science indicates that increasing inbreeding in the population could further reduce viability to race.

In North America, it has been demonstrated that higher inbreeding is associated with lower number of races. In the North American thoroughbred, horses with higher levels of inbreeding are less durable than animals with lower levels of inbreeding. Considering the rising trend of inbreeding in the population, these results indicate that there may also be a parallel trajectory towards breeding less robust animals.

Note that breeding practices that promote inbreeding have not resulted in a population of faster horses. The results of studies, generated for the first time using a large cohort of globally representative genotypes, corroborate this.

Health and disease genes

It is both interesting and worrisome to consider also that many of the performance-limiting genetic diseases in the thoroughbred do not generally negatively impact on suitability for breeding; some diseases, with known heritable components, are successfully managed by surgery (osteochondrosis dessicans, recurrent laryngeal neuropathy, for example), nutritional and exercise management (recurrent exertional rhabdomyolysis), and medication (exercise induced pulmonary hemorrhage). This unfortunately facilitates retention of risk alleles in the population and enhances the potential for rapid proliferation of risk alleles if they are carried by successful stallions.

Types of inbreeding

Not all inbreeding is bad. Breeders have made selections for beneficial genes/traits over the generations, resulting in some inbreeding signals being favored as they likely contain beneficial genes for racing. Importantly, examination of a pedigree cannot determine precisely the extent of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ inbreeding. This can only be determined from DNA analysis.

Historic inbreeding (arising from distant pedigree duplicates) results in short stretches of DNA identically inherited from sire and dam. 

• This may be considered ‘good’ inbreeding.

• It has no negative effect on racing.

• The horse may be carrying beneficial mutations that have been maintained from distant ancestors through breeders’ selection.

Recent inbreeding (arising from close pedigree duplicates) results in long stretches of DNA identically inherited from sire and dam. 

• This may be considered ‘bad’ inbreeding.

• It is negatively associated with racing.

• The horse may be carrying harmful mutations that have not yet been ‘purged’ from the population.

Obviously, in terms of breeding, it’s always possible to find examples and counterexamples of remarkable individuals; but the science of genetics is based on statistics and not on individual cases.

Sire lines

Analysis of the Y chromosome is the best-established way to reconstruct paternal family history in humans and animal species. The paternally inherited Y chromosome displays the population genetic history of males. While modern domestic horses (Equus caballus) exhibit abundant diversity within maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA, until recently, only limited Y-chromosomal sequence diversity has been detected.

Early studies in the horse indicated that the nucleotide variability of the modern horse Y chromosome is extremely low, resulting in six haplotypes (HT).4.5 However, this view has changed with the identification of new genetic markers, showing that there is considerably more genetic diversity on the horse Y chromosome than originally thought. Unfortunately, in thoroughbreds, the male gene pool is restricted, with only three paternal lines remaining.

The Institute of Animal breeding and genetics of the Veterinary Medicine School at Vienna applied fine-scaled Y-chromosomal haplotyping in horses and demonstrated the potential of this approach to address the ancestry of sire lines. They were able to show the microcosmos of the Tb-clade in the thoroughbred sire lines.

It is interesting to note that more than half of the domestic horses in the dataset (76 of 130) have a Y chromosome with a thoroughbred ‘signature’. These includes thoroughbreds, standardbreds, many thoroughbred-influenced breeds (warmbloods, American quarter horses, Franches-Montagnes), a Lipizzan stallion, and the Akhal-Tekes.)

The General Stud Book shows that thoroughbred sire lines trace back to three founding stallions that were imported to England at the end of the 17th century. Now, the heritage of the thoroughbred sire lines can be better understood using Y chromosome information. It is now possible to clearly distinguish sublines of Darley Arabian, born in 1700 (Tb-d) and Godolphin Arabian, born in 1724 (formerly Tb-g, now Tb-oB3b). The third founder, Byerley Turk, born in 1680, was characterized by the Tb-oB1 clade. According to pedigree information, only few of the tested males trace back paternally to Byerley Turk, which are nearly extinct.

There are now 10 different Y chromosome sub-types known in the thoroughbred. Two come from the Godolphin Arabian, five come from Byerley Turk, and three come from Darley Arabian.

Even if genetic analysis shows that there was an error in the stud book recording of St Simon’s parentage and that horses descending from St Simon should be attributed to the Byerley Turk lineage, probably 90% of the current stallions are from the Darley Arabian male line. So, there is a true risk that we could lose a major part of the Y chromosome diversity.

Conclusions and solutions

We should do everything we can to ensure that thoroughbreds are being sustainably bred and managed for future generations. With the breeding goal to produce viable racehorses, we need to ask ourselves, are we on track as breeders? 

If inbreeding is negatively affecting the chances of racing and resulting in less durable racehorses, will this continue to affect foal crops in the future? How can we avert the threat of breeding horses that are less able to race? If the ability to race is in jeopardy, then is the existence of the thoroughbred breed at risk? 

International breeding authorities are studying the situation and thinking about general measures allowing the sustainability of the breed.

Breeders

What can individual breeders do to produce attractive foals that are safe from genetic threats? How do you avoid the risk of breeding horses that are less fit to race? 

There is no miracle recipe, and each breeder legitimately has his preferences.

An increasingly important criteria for the choice of a stallion is his physical resistance and his vitality, as well as those of his family. It is often preferable to avoid using individuals who have shown constitutive weaknesses, or who seem to transmit them.

The use of stallions from different male lines can make it possible to sublimate a strain and better manage the following generations. The study of pedigrees must exceed the three generations of catalog pages.

In the future, genomics—the science that studies all the genetic material of an individual or a species, encoded in its DNA—will certainly be able to provide predictive tools to breeders. This is a track to follow.

Trainers

Trainers should be aware of the danger of ‘diminishing returns,’ where excessive inbreeding occurs. Today, when animal welfare and the fight against doping are essential parameters, it is obvious that trainers must be aware of the genetic risks incurred by horses possibly carrying genetic defects.

Together with bloodstock agents, trainers are the advisers for the owners when buying a horse. Trainers already know some special traits of different families or stallions, but genomic tools might become essential for them too.

Sources

1. Genomic inbreeding trends, influential sire lines and selection in the global Thoroughbred horse population Beatrice A. McGivney 1, Haige Han1,2, Leanne R. Corduff1, Lisa M. Katz3, Teruaki Tozaki 4, David E. MacHugh2,5 & Emmeline W. Hill ; 2020. Scientific Reports | (2020) 10:466 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-57389-5

2. Inbreeding depression and durability in the North American Thoroughbred horse Emmeline W. Hill, Beatrice A. McGivney, David E. MacHugh; 2022. Animal Genetics. 2023;00:1–4. _wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/age

3. Founder-specific inbreeding depression affects racing performance in Thoroughbred Horses. Evelyn T. Todd, Simon Y. W. Ho, Peter C. Thomson, Rachel A. Ang, Brandon D. Velie & Natasha A. Hamilton; 2017. Scientific Reports | (2018) 8:6167 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-018-24663-x

4. The horse Y chromosome as an informative marker for tracing sire lines Sabine Felkel, Claus Vogl , Doris Rigler, Viktoria Dobretsberger, Bhanu P. Chowdhary, Ottmar Distl , Ruedi Fries , Vidhya Jagannathan, Jan E. Janečka, Tosso Leeb , Gabriella Lindgren, Molly McCue, Julia Metzger , Markus Neuditschko, Thomas Rattei , Terje Raudsepp, Stefan Rieder, Carl-Johan Rubin, Robert Schaefer, Christian Schlötterer, Georg Thaller, Jens Tetens, Brandon Velie, Gottfried Brem & Barbara Wallner; 2018. Scientific Reports | (2019) 9:6095 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-42640-w

5. Identification of Genetic Variation on the Horse Y Chromosome and the Tracing of Male Founder Lineages in Modern Breeds Barbara Wallner, Claus Vogl, Priyank Shukla, Joerg P. Burgstaller, Thomas Druml, Gottfried Brem

Institute of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Depart. 2012. PLOS ONE | www.plosone.org  April 2013, Volume 8, Issue 4, e60015

6. New genetic evidence proves that the recorded pedigrees of the influential leading sires Bend Or and St. Simon were incorrect. Alan Porter; ITB 2021

7. Eight Belle’s breakdown: a predictable tragedy William Nack; ESPN.com 2008.

8. Suzi Prichard-Jones: Founder of "The Byerley Turk & Godolphin Arabian Conservation Project".

Special thanks to Emmeline Hill for her help in the completion of this article

Golden anniversaries - The New York State Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund Corporation and the Jockey Club of Canada

Article by Bill Heller

The New York State Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund Corporation and the Jockey Club of Canada are celebrating their golden anniversaries in 2023, and both are as vibrant and vital as they have ever been.

Each organization benefited from strong leadership in its early days. Dr. Dominick DeLuke, an accomplished oral and maxillofacial surgeon in Schenectady, New York, became the first president of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc. DeLuke was seldom in the spotlight while he did the grunt work of getting New York-breds more competitive. 

E.P. Taylor, the co-founder of the Jockey Club of Canada, was a legendary figure in Thoroughbred racing who is most remembered for his immortal racehorse and sire Northern Dancer. Taylor was seldom out of the spotlight. Asked of E.P. Taylor’s impact, Jockey Club of Canada Chief Steward Glenn Sikura said, “How would I do that? I think the word that comes to mind is visionary. Would we have Woodbine racetrack without E.P. Taylor? Absolutely not.” 

New York-breds – Get with the Program

How do you start improving a breeding program? You begin with incentives. Using a small percentage of handle on Thoroughbred racing in New York State and a small percentage of video lottery terminal revenue from Resorts World Casino NY at Aqueduct and at Finger Lakes, the New York State Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund Corporation rewards owners and breeders of registered New York-breds awards for finishing in the top four in a race and provides substantial purse money for races restricted to New York-breds. The Fund pays out $17 million annually in breeder, owner and stallion owners awards and in purse enrichment at New York’s tracks.

“If it wasn’t for the rewards program, I wouldn’t be in the business,” Dr. Jerry Bilinski of Waldorf Farm said. “The program is the best in the country in my view and it helps the vendors, feed stores and all that.”

Bilinski, the former chairman of the New York State Racing and Wagering Board, bred his first New York-bred mare, Sad Waltz, in 1974. 

He acknowledges DeLuke’s vital contribution. “Dr. DeLuke was a forefather,” Bilinski said. “I had dinner with him a number of times. He was smart. He was a smart guy. He didn’t try to reinvent the wheel.”

Instead, DeLuke, a 1941 graduate of Vanderbilt University and the Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery, began breeding horses before the New York-bred program even began. He humbly visited every Kentucky farm that would receive him and asked dozens of questions about everything from breeding practices to barn construction to fencing. He learned enough to own and breed several of the fledgling New York-bred stakes winners. Divine Royalty, Vandy Sue, Dedicated Rullah and Restrainor won four runnings of the New York Futurity for two-year-olds in six years from 1974 through 1979. Restrainor also was the winner of the inaugural Damon Runyon Stakes in 1979.

DeLuke purchased a 300-acre farm in the foothill of the Adirondacks and named it Assunta Louis for his parents. Two decades later, Chester and Mary Bromans, the dominant owners of current New York-breds, many of whom have won open stakes, purchased the farm in 1995 and renamed it Chestertown. They named one of their New York-bred yearlings Chestertown, and he sold for a record $2 million as a two-year-old.

Fio Rito winning the 1981 Whitney Handicap.

Long before that, the New York-bred program needed a spark, and a valiant six-year-old gelding named Fio Rito provided a huge one in 1981. Fio Rito was literally a gray giant, 17.1 hands and 1,300 pounds. Twenty-two years before Funny Cide won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, Fio Rito, who was owned by Ray LeCesse, a bowling alley owner in Rochester, and trained by Mike Ferraro, who is still going strongly at the age of 83, Fio Rito put his love of Saratoga Race Course to the test in the Gr.1 Whitney Handicap. A legend at Finger Lakes, where he won 19 of 27 starts, he had posted four victories and a second in five prior Saratoga starts.

He almost didn’t make the Whitney. Two days before the race, Fio Rito, who had won his four prior starts, injured his left front foot. It wasn’t serious. But the competition was. Even though there had been three significant scratches—Temperence Hill, Glorious Song and Amber Pass—he was taking on Winter’s Tale, Noble Nashua and Ring of Light.

Fio Rito winning the 1981 Whitney Handicap.

Ridden by Finger Lakes superstar Les Hulet, Fio Rito broke through the starting gate before the start, usually a recipe for disaster. But assistant starter Jim Tsitsiragos, held on to Fio Rito’s reins and didn’t let Fio Rito get away. 

Though pushed on the lead every step of the way, Fio Rito held off Winter’s Tale to win by a neck in 1:48, just one second off Tri Jet’s track record and the fourth fastest in the Whitney’s illustrious history.

“TV and the media made sort of a big deal for a horse to come from Finger Lakes and be a New York-bred too,” Ferraro said. “It was kind of exciting for us to even compete in that race.”

The following year, another New York-bred, Cupecoy’s Joy, won the Gr.1 Mother Goose Stakes.

Still, New York-breds had a long way to go to be really competitive against top open company.

In 1992, Saratoga Dew won the Gr.1 Beldame and became the first New York-bred to win an Eclipse Award as Three-Year-Old Filly Champion.

In 1992 Saratoga Dew became the first New York-bred horse to win an Eclipse Award.

Two years later, Fourstardave completed a feat which may never be approached let alone topped. He won a race at Saratoga for the eighth straight year. Think about that. It’s the safest record in all of sports. Three years earlier, Fourstardave’s full brother, Fourstars Allstar, won the Irish Two Thousand Guineas.

And then came Funny Cide with Jack Knowlton and Sackatoga Stable, trainer Barclay Tagg, Hall of Fame jockey Jose Santos and a yellow school bus. Funny Cide was born at Joe and Anne McMahon’s farm, McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds.

The McMahons, 76-year-old Joe and 73-year-old Anne, have been breeding, raising and racing horses before the New York-bred program started. They now boast a 400-acre farm with some 300 horses including 70 of their mares, 70 other mares, stallions including their star Central Banker, yearlings and foals.

“We’re very proud of what we accomplished,” Joe McMahon said. “It feels very good. It’s something we focused on for 50 years. With all the farms that have come and gone, it’s amazing that we’re still here.”

Now they have their three children helping run the business. They had nobody when they started.

A wedding present from Anne’s father allowed them to buy their farm in 1970. “It was hard,” McMahon said. “There wasn’t any interest.”

Slowly, the New York-bred program created interest. The McMahons did everything they could to help, successfully lobbying for changing the residency rules for mares in New York and beginning the New York-bred Preferred Sales. “I recruited the horses for the New York-bred sales,” McMahon said. “I’m very proud of that because that changed the whole business. It created a market. It was the early ‘90s. That was a real-game changer, and it is today.”

Central Banker with Corey Nakatani up win the 2014 Churchill Downs Stakes.

Today, the McMahons stand Central Banker, the leading stakes sire outside of Kentucky. “We went from breeding $1,000 stallions in New York to standing the best horse out of Kentucky,” McMahon said. “That’s a huge thing. He and Freud are the most successful stallions in New York.”

He continued, “We should be the poster child for the breeding program because we didn’t have anything starting out. Everything we got, we literally put back in the game. We continue to operate. I thought that was the purpose of the program: to maintain agricultural land that otherwise would have been developed commercially.”

Funny Cide was a turning point. “Funny Cide was a real game-changer for the whole industry,” McMahon said. “It was like an impossible dream come true. It was remarkable that a New York-bred won the Kentucky Derby.”

It was also remarkable what his jockey said after winning the race.   

At the time of the 2003 Kentucky Derby, there had been a popular television commercial sponsored by the New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc., trumpeting the rich award program of New York State. After Funny Cide won the 2003 Kentucky Derby, commentator Donna Barton on horseback was the first person to interview Santos. She said, “You’re very happy about winning the Derby.” Jose replied with the catchline of the TV Commercial, “Get with the program, New York-breds.” Years later, Santos said, “I don’t even know how it came out of me. That surprised me when I heard it.”

Funny Cide added the 2003 Gr.1 Preakness Stakes and the 2004 Gr.1 Jockey Club Gold Cup. 

Tiz the Law wins the 2020 Belmont Stakes.

A steady stream of accomplished New York-breds, including 2006 Gr.1 Beldame Stakes winner Fleet Indian and two-time Gr.1 Whitney winner Commentator (in 2005 and 2008) followed, before New York-breds provided more jolts. Mind Your Biscuits, the all-time leading New York-bred earner ($4,279,566), captured the 2018 Gr.1 Golden Shaheen in Dubai. That summer, Diversify added his name to the list of Whitney winners.

In 2019, Sackatoga Stable and Barclay Tagg’s Tiz the Law began his sensational two-year career by winning his debut at Saratoga. He added the Gr.1 Champagne, then dominated in both the 2020 Gr.1 Belmont Stakes—the first leg in the revised Triple Crown because of Covid—and the Gr.1 Travers Stakes. He was then a game second to Authentic in the Gr.1 Kentucky Derby.

“When people buy a New York-bred, they hope he can be the next Funny Cide or Tiz the Law,” Fund Executive Director Tracy Egan said. “I think it’s the best program in the country.”

That doesn’t mean it’s been a smooth journey. “It’s been a bumpy road,” former New York Racing Association CEO and long-time New York owner and breeder Barry Schwartz said. “There were so many changes. But I think today they’re on a very good path. I think the guy they have in there (New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc. Executive Director Najja Thompson) is pretty good. Clearly, it’s the best breeding program in America.”

Thompson said, “The program rose from humble beginnings to today when we see New York-breds compete at the highest level.”

Certainly the New York Racing Association supports the New York-bred program. One Showcase Day of all New York-bred stakes races has grown into three annually. “NYRA has been a great partner in showcasing New York-breds,” Thompson said. “We make up 35 percent of all the races at NYRA.” 

There’s a great indication of how New York-breds are perceived around the world. Both the third and fifth highest New York-bred earners, A Shin Forward ($3,416,216) and Moanin ($2,875,508) raced exclusively in Asia. A Shin Forward made 25 of 26 career starts in Japan—the other when he was fourth in a 2010 Gr.1 stakes in Hong Kong. Moanin made 23 of his 24 starts in Japan and one in Korea, a 2018 Gr.1 stakes.

Mind Control ridden by John Velazquez wins the 2018 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.

This year, new stallion Mind Control, who won more than $2.1 million, brought together three New York farms together: Rocknridge Stud, where Mind Control stands, Irish Hill and Dutchess Views Stallions. Mind Control’s strong stallion fee of $8,500 certainly reflects confidence in the New York-bred program.

“If you look at the quality of New York-bred horses, it just proves that it’s a success,” Bilinski said. “We’re never going to be Kentucky, but we’ll be the best we can in New York. It’s improved by leaps and bounds.”

Thompson concluded, “Anyone there at the start of the program would be proud of where we are now.” 

The Jockey Club of Canada – Great Timing

Northern Dancer, Bill Hartack up, and E.P. Taylor after the 1964 Kentucky Derby win.

If timing is everything, then E.P. Taylor and his nine co-founders, knocked the formation of the Jockey Club of Canada out of the park. The Jockey Club came to life on Oct. 23, 1973, and its board of stewards were announced Oct. 27.

The very next day, the entire racing world was focused on Canada, specifically at Woodbine, where 1973 Triple Crown Champion Secretariat made the final start of his two-year career. Racing under Eddie Maple—a last-second replacement when jockey Ron Turcotte chose not to delay a suspension in New York, costing him the mount—Secretariat aired by 6 ½ lengths in the Canadian International as the 1-5 favorite.

At its initial meeting, Taylor was elected the Jockey Club’s Chairman of the Board and Chief Steward.

The other eight founders were Colonel, Charles “Bud” Baker, George Hendrie, Richard A.N. Bonnycastle, George Frostad, C.J. “Jack” Jackson and J.E. Frowde Seagram.

“These people were all very successful at what they did,” Jim Bannon, a Thoroughbred commentator who is in the Canadian Hall of Fame, said. “They were great business people who had a great sense of adventure and got in early when it was time for the Jockey Club. They were all gung-ho to be there. I think we got the best of the best right at the beginning. They were great enthusiasts, all of them. They saw E.P. Taylor’s success, and they were glad to join him.”

Edward Plunket Taylor was the first Canadian to be made a member of the United States Jockey Club in 1953 and also the first Canadian to be elected president of the Thoroughbred Racing Association in 1964. In 1973, he was named North America’s Man of the Year. He won Two Eclipse Championships as Outstanding Breeder in 1977 and 1983.

Northern Dancer with trainer Horatio Luro, Keeneland,1964.

Of course, by then, Northern Dancer’s brilliance on and off the track had been well documented. On the track, Northern Dancer won 14 of 18 starts, including the Gr.1 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, with two seconds and a pair of thirds including his six-length defeat by Quadrangle in the 1964 Belmont Stakes. Northern Dancer more than atoned in his following start, winning the Queen’s Plate by 7 ¼ lengths as the 1-10 favorite. Taylor won the Queen’s Plate 11 times under his own name or Windfields Farm and bred 22 winners of Canada’s signature stakes. But Northern Dancer bowed a tendon shortly after winning the 1964 Queen’s Plate and was retired.

Initially, Northern Dancer’s stud fee at Windfields Farm in Maryland was $10,000. That changed quickly in 1967 when his first seven sales yearlings all won. Five of them won stakes. Northern Dancer’s stud fee was up to $100,000 in 1980 and climbed to $200,000 just two years later.

Northern Dancer sired 146 stakes winners, including several who went on to be great stallions themselves including Lyphard, Nijinsky II, Nureyev, Danzig, The Minstrel, Sadler’s Wells, Storm Bird, Vice Regent and Be My Guest. “Of all my father’s accomplishments in racing and breeding, I believe he was most proud of having established the Northern Dancer sire line,” Taylor’s son, Charles, said in the book Champions.

Taylor’s impact on Canadian racing can’t be overstated. He consolidated Canada’s seven tracks to three, improving Fort Erie and Old Woodbine/Greenwood and building a new Woodbine. “Without Mr. Taylor, Canadian racing would not be!” Hall of Fame trainer Frank Merrill said.    

In 1973, Taylor resigned as the Chairman of the Ontario Jockey Club to head the Jockey Club of Canada. “We’ve never had a national Jockey Club before,” Taylor said at the time. “We felt it was important to Canadian racing to have this kind of organization, which could address important racing issues of the day.”

 Fifty years later, the Jockey Club is still leading Canadian racing. Its current membership tops 100 with owners, breeders, trainers and key industry stakeholders.

Among its duties are conducting the annual Sovereign Awards; annually designating graded stakes; working to improve federal tax guidelines for owners and representing Canada at the annual International Federation of Horse Racing Authorities Conference.

“There are a lot of running parts,” trainer and Jockey Club member Kevin Attard said. “It kind of opens your eyes to a different part of racing from a trainer’s perspective. There’s a lot of things that go on a daily basis to have the product we have and put on the best show possible.”

Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, also a member of the Jockey Club, said, “It’s a great organization. It’s always trying to do what’s best for horse racing.”

That means continuing the battle for tax relief. “This is something that is extremely important to the Canadian horse owners and breeders,” Casse said. “It’s definitely the number-one priority.”

Sikura, who is also the owner of Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm Canada, said, “Fighting to get tax equity has been a battle for decades. We haven’t made major strides, but that won’t mean we stop trying. It doesn’t compare favorably to other businesses.’’

Asked about progress on that issue, he said, “We’re marginally better off.”

In general, Sikura said, “I think we have the same challenges most jurisdictions have. I’m cautiously optimistic. It’s always been an uphill battle, but horse racing people are a resilient group.”

Diversification of the Thoroughbred Sire Lines

By Nancy Sexton

From the time the breeding of racehorses became a more commercial pursuit, bloodlines have ebbed and flowed freely across differing racing jurisdictions. The export of various high-profile horses out of Britain to North America during the first half of the 20th century added weight to the development of the American Thoroughbred, giving it a foundation from which to flourish. And when more American-breds came to be imported back into Europe, the British and Irish Thoroughbreds benefitted as well.

All the while, it stands to reason that some sire lines will strengthen and some will die out. Some of those that lose their vigor in one nation might thrive in another. Others will merely be overwhelmed by a more dominant line, as was the case with game-changer Northern Dancer.

A glance at the leading North American sires’ list from 1972 reveals quite how much the Thoroughbred has changed in 50 years. Round Table, Claiborne Farm’s brilliant son of Princequillo, sat at the top with approximately $2 million in earnings ahead of Hamburg Place’s T V Lark, a son of the Nasrullah stallion Indian Hemp. Princequillo and Nasrullah, both of whom stood under Claiborne management, were dominant influences of their day but interestingly each of the top five stallions that year—Herbager, Beau Gar and Count Fleet completed the quintet—represented different sire lines.

Is today’s Thoroughbred a melting pot of fewer viable lines? The 2021 North American champion sires’ table would suggest that might be the case—its top ten containing four male line descendants of Northern Dancer (Into Mischief, Ghostzapper, Paynter and Hard Spun) and four belonging to Mr Prospector (Curlin, Speightstown, Munnings and Twirling Candy). 

Of course, given how each surviving branch of Northern Dancer and Mr. Prospector has evolved over time erodes the importance of comparing different representatives; Into Mischief, as a great-grandson of Storm Cat via Harlan’s Holiday, is a very different beast to Awesome Again’s son Ghostzapper as is Curlin to Speightstown and his son Munnings.

Conspicuous by its absence, though, is representation from the once vibrant Hail To Reason line, its most high-profile representative being the veteran More Than Ready in 26th place. Caro’s line is prominent via the deeds of top ten stallion Uncle Mo, although whether that horse can be classed as a typical representative of that line is a moot point. The In Reality sire line, which traces back to Man O’War, remains relevant primarily through Tiznow. However, it doesn’t take too much imagination to envisage it petering out in the near future, much like that belonging to Princequillo, Ribot, Buckpasser and Bull Lea before it.

In Europe, the situation is much the same, dominated by Northern Dancer influences descending from Sadler’s Wells, in particular Galileo, and Danzig, who is at his strongest via Danehill and Green Desert. The outlier at the top end of the market is Mr. Prospector’s great-grandson Dubawi. 

Sadly, those lines descending from the likes of Mill Reef, the last British-based champion sire prior to Frankel, Blushing Groom and Sharpen Up today hang by a thread. Others, such as Dante and Habitat, have more or less died out across Europe.

Fiona Craig (right) with Molyglare Stud’s Eva-Maria Bucher-Haefner.

“It has definitely changed,” says Fiona Craig, advisor to the Irish-based Moyglare Stud Farm. “Success breeds success, so to some degree the situation is maybe better because of the dominance of the more successful bloodlines. However, as a result, we may well all lose some of the genetic variation that is so vital for the vigor of a bloodline. It is difficult to fully evaluate at this point as it may take another 50 years to see the effect of the current concentration of bloodlines.”

Duncan Taylor of Taylor Made Sales goes far back into the 20th century, pointing to the success of the Phalaris sire line, and its subsequent concentration, as a catalyst for the current situation.

“From 1956, the leading sire by earnings for each year since tells the story of the Thoroughbred breed and its evolution,” he says. “Speed has been the centerpiece of the story. During this 65-year period, the leading sire list has been topped on only eight occasions by stallions from sire lines other than the Phalaris paternal line. Princequillo (1957 and 1958), Ambiorix (1961), Round Table (1972), Dr. Fager (1977), Nodouble (1980), His Majesty (1982) and Broad Brush (1994) are those eight sires.

“Every other time it has been led by a Phalaris line stallion—Northern Dancer, Mr. Prospector, Bold Ruler and Hail To Reason. If you look back at the leading sires list by earnings for 2021, you see that all bar one of the top 50 stallions traces back to Phalaris: 19 of the 50 trace through Mr. Prospector, 16 through Northern Dancer, 11 through Bold Ruler, two through Hail To Reason and one through Caro. Only the In Reality line, represented through Tiznow [in 45th], does not trace back to Phalaris.”

Taylor adds: “Phalaris was a modest racehorse at stamina distance. As a four-year-old, his trainer [George Lambton] turned to sprint races where he won seven of nine starts and was ultimately crowned England’s Champion Sprinter. As a five-year-old, he became known for his ability to carry more weight than his competitors, doing so with brilliant speed. He went on to become a leading sire of two-year-olds in 1925, 1926 and 1927. He was Champion sire in England in 1925 and 1928.

Duncan Taylor

“What I see in Phalaris and what I have learned about the customers that create the “bullseye market” for buying a yearling in America are very similar. Our horse-buying customers want early two-year-old performers with speed, and they like it when the horse can go on and race at three.  They would love for that fast two-year-old to be able to go on and win up to a mile-and-a-quarter at three. Phalaris and his offspring have delivered the speed necessary to put most of the other sire lines out of business. You will still see these other sire lines in pedigrees, but not as the paternal sire line.”

Globalization

Whatever way you look at it, globalization of the business has also been a driving force. On the one hand, it has allowed international breeders access to different bloodlines. On the other hand, it has been a major factor in the commercialism of the industry; once breeding racehorses became big business, fashion gained a new importance.

“The pendulum swings back and forth,” says Dermot Carty, director of sales at Adena Springs in Canada. “For example, one of the biggest influences during the 1930s and 40s was Hyperion. His son Khaled came to America and with success; another son Star Kingdom was successful in Australia; and then Aristophanes stood in South America where he sired Forli, who then came back to stand in Kentucky.

“With the international economics of the 1940s, 50s, 60s, there was a huge movement of horses, mostly back into North America. Then it went the other way—the Sangster group and the Maktoum family were driving forces into sending those bloodlines back to Europe. And all the while, Japan has been importing a lot of bloodlines and with great success—that was obviously how they came to have Sunday Silence.”

Headley Bell of Mill Ridge Farm in Kentucky concurs.

Headley Bell of Mill Ridge Farm, Kentucky

“My grandfather [Hal Price Headley] imported Order out of England and from him bred [champion] Ornament,” he says. “Then he bought Pharamond from Lord Derby and imported him to stand in Kentucky, where he sired champion Menow [sire of champion Tom Fool, in turn the sire of Buckpasser].

“We go through these different phases, and we get these cycles. You look at what John Gaines did at Gainesway, Leslie Combs at Spendthrift and before that Bull Hancock at Claiborne. They tapped into the British Stud Book and reaped the rewards—and that was a long time ago.” 

Such cycles have underpinned the development of the breed, initially allowing for more variety. When Never Say Die won the 1954 Epsom Derby under Lester Piggott, he became the first American-bred winner of the race since Iroquois in 1881. 

Columnist Frank Jennings, writing at the time in the Thoroughbred Record, noted that: “Never Say Die did a great deal toward changing this thought [that an American-bred would not be able to win the Epsom Derby] and at the same time provided a fine example of the fact that American bloodlines, when properly blended with those of foreign lands, can hold their own in the top company of the world.”

Just over 40 years later, the race boasted a further 11 American-bred winners as well another, Nijinsky, who had been bred in Canada.

“Properly blended” is a key phrase in Jennings’ text, with the industry’s global nature allowing for differing lines to blend in elsewhere to the point that it's not uncommon nowadays for a horse’s background to host European, North American, Japanese and/or Australian-bred names.

“It is important not to underestimate just how much the mare population matters to a stallion,” says Bell, “and how he might blend. We stood Diesis at Mill Ridge Farm—he was a champion two-year-old in Britain by Sharpen Up; and when he came here, he was provided with those American speed mares. And it clicked; it worked for him.” 

As Carty notes, Adena Springs’ stalwart Silent Name is another fine advertisement for a Thoroughbred melting pot. One of the first sons of Japanese supersire Sunday Silence to stand outside Japan, the Gr. 2 winner is a proven Gr. 1 stallion and sits perennially among the leading Canadian sires.

“Silent Name was bred in Japan by the Wertheimer brothers from an European pedigree that had heavy doses of North American influences,” he says. “He’s out of a mare by Danehill, and his second dam is by Blushing Groom. You’ve got Raja Baba, a son of Bold Ruler, in there, too. So it’s a really international pedigree. 

“To build this kind of family requires the ability to think long term, and it’s a long process. Credit to the Wertheimer brothers as they had the vision and sight to send mares to Japan and tap into these different bloodlines. Credit to the Wildenstein family and Maria Niarchos for doing the same as well.”

Contraction

Are we closing in on a situation where the breed might be contracting too much?

“Any answer will be determined on what you are trying to breed,” says Craig. “A sound racehorse with a turn of foot or successful sales horse? Do you prefer to out-cross bloodlines, or are you happy to concentrate on currently successful bloodlines to meet market fashion and sell well?  

“For me, primarily trying to breed racehorses, I find it increasingly restrictive simply because so many of the broodmares are by or out of the current stallions. That is an increasing problem, and I see the same in yearlings at sales. 

“We can make statistics to say anything, but what they do show is that speed is essential for a racehorse. But class speed. Sadly we are now in a world where cheap speed sells, and class stamina is overlooked or not wanted at the sales.”

The power of the commercial market is certainly a factor.

As Bell notes, most breeders are in the position of having “to play the commercial card.”

“The reduction of the foal crop is also something that’s at play here,” he says. “When you’re going down from 35,000 foals to 19,000, you’re going to get limitations. So we’re playing with the cards that we’re dealt.”

Away from commercial dictations, the shift can also be attributed to the overwhelming influence of Northern Dancer, a great-great-grandson of Phalaris.

Bred by E.P. Taylor, it is part of racing folklore how the late May-foaled Northern Dancer was shunned by buyers on account of his size as a yearling yet went on to win the Kentucky Derby in record time several weeks short of his actual third birthday. 

Northern Dancer was sired by a horse, Nearctic, whose female family had been imported by Taylor out of Britain in the early 1950s. At stud, he wasted little time in transcending the gap between North America and Europe, with the deeds of his second-crop son, 1970 Triple Crown winner Nijinsky, prompting a heightened interest in the stallion that was subsequently justified through the likes of Sadler’s Wells, El Gran Senor, The Minstrel, Secreto, Lyphard and Nureyev.

Today, the breed is awash with Northern Dancer, particularly in Europe.

“You look at the role that Northern Dancer played,” says Bell. “He’s by far the most significant. And we’re now seeing Northern Dancer on Northern Dancer work. Delving further in, Danzig on Danzig is more prevalent and can work. Sadler’s Wells on Sadler’s Wells can also work, as we saw with Enable [who was inbred 3x2 to the stallion].”

The idea of major breeders experimenting by doubling up on bloodlines is nothing new. 

Ultimus, an unraced but successful sire bred in 1906 by James Keene, was inbred 2x2 to Domino. In Europe, the breeding empire belonging to Marcel Boussac rested primarily upon the influences of his stallions Asterus, Teddy, Pharis and Tourbillon. Indeed, his 1949 Arc heroine Coronation was inbred 2x2 to Tourbillon. 

More recently in Australasia, Danehill has become so powerful that in some cases it is hard to get away from his influence. To date, there are no fewer than 15,400 foals inbred to Danehill worldwide—310 of whom are stakes winners. While the list contains various Australian heavyweights such as Verry Elleegant, Farnan, Alizee and Bivouac, it is also interesting to note the number of Australasian farms who market their stallions as being free of Danehill blood when the opportunities arise.

Yet while history tells us that some people will never hold back from multiplying on lines, surely the concentration of today’s sirelines poses some quandaries for breeders.

While Round Table was the North American champion sire of 1972, his place was taken 10 years later by His Majesty, a son of Ribot. By 1992, Northern Dancer was changing the landscape; Danzig was champion in America while in Europe, Sadler’s Wells was in the midst of a championship run that would come to consist of a record 14 sires’ titles. Sadler’s Wells’ own son El Prado broke through with his own American sires’ championship in 2002, and remains a firm influence today via Kitten’s Joy and Medaglia d’Oro. 

At the same time, the faster and more precocious Storm Cat, a grandson of Northern Dancer via Storm Bird, was gaining traction on both sides of the Atlantic that would come to be reflected in the successes of Into Mischief, Giant’s Causeway and Scat Daddy—all of whom remain extremely powerful and commercial forces in 2022.

Meanwhile, the Mr. Prospector sire line flourished, whether it be through the likes of Gone West (sire of Elusive Quality, Zafonic, Speightstown and Mr. Greeley), Forty Niner (sire of Distorted Humor and End Sweep), Smart Strike (sire of Curlin) or Fappiano, who has become an increasingly powerful force via Unbridled and Candy Ride.

The Seattle Slew line has consolidated its place as one of America’s best, notably through A.P. Indy and his son Pulpit, who has been so ably represented in recent years by Tapit.

However, all this has come at the expense of other sire lines. Granted, not all of them possessed the vigor to remain relevant. But others were popular and successful options of their time and merely fell foul of commercial desires. 

For instance, would Sunday Silence have been so successful had he stood in Kentucky? As it was, Arthur Hancock of Stone Farm attempted to stand his Kentucky Derby winner but support for the horse—one who had been unsold at $17,000 as a yearling and in possession of a light female pedigree—was underwhelming; and he was sold to Japan, where he became an incredible success. While his blood today saturates the breed in Japan, Kentucky options belonging to his sire Halo are limited.

Other causes include a combination of geography, value and circumstances, says Craig.

Ribot at Darby Dan Farm, 1960

“Horses were at one time mainly bred to be raced by their breeders,” she says. “The public sales market was to dispose of those that were not wanted. Mares also often visited stallions that were local and then with time and travel, they went further afield; and a center such as Newmarket began to develop for breeding as much as racing. 

“Walter Haefner [Moyglare Stud Farm founder] was one of the first breeders to ship mares by air to Kentucky. He was very wealthy and loved U.S. racing. He sent two mares from Ireland in 1968, primarily to breed to Sea Bird and Ribot. Irish Lass produced Irish Bird, the dam of Assert and Bikala, to Sea Bird. Another mare, White Paper, produced Gp. 1 winner Carwhite to Caro.”

Craig touches upon the wealth of European runners available in America at that time, with Nureyev, Lyphard, Riverman, Irish River, Blushing Groom, The Minstrel, El Gran Senor, Storm Bird, Sir Ivor and Vaguely Noble, among those to leave a lasting impact alongside Sea Bird, Ribot and Caro.

“Many of the top European stallion prospects were abruptly sent to the U.S. in the 1970s due to fear of equine abortion [prompted by the contagious equine metritis (CEM) outbreak in 1977],” she says.

“Comparing stud fees and yearling values in the 1950s and 60s to those at the end of the 1970s and onward shows a vast change, maybe originating in the U.S. as a result of CEM and the flight of leading stallions from Europe, [which] then migrated quickly back to Europe. 

“I will always remember attending a Matchmaker seasons and shares auction in the old Radisson in downtown Kentucky in the late 1980s and watching a Northern Dancer season make $1 million. Big business arrived into breeding and as a result into sales, and as we all know, much of this current industry is dictated by fashion. Traditional owner/breeders continued but increasingly found the associated stud fee and broodmare costs limiting.

“Commercial breeders are guided by fashion, and so stallions have to fit the commercial parameters in order to get enough mares; and currently early success and speed are everything. Proven, fast, good looking and recognizable—that doesn't leave many spots for the tough old stallions doing it the hard way. Would Persian Bold have made a stallion now? Would Broad Brush? Both were more than able to get a higher percentage of top performers than the speedy two-year-old performer that gets three times the number of mares.

“And with increased commerciality and 'fashion' came numbers. Fashion and commercial aspects meant that everyone [wanted] to breed their mares to the same sire or sire line, and others were ignored.”

She adds: “Yes, we need the class stamina lines of Roberto, we need Halo, we need Princequillo and Ribot. But they are not flashy or speedy, and sadly not fashionable. Hence the demand is poor, and so those sire lines fade into history.”

Craig laments the contraction of the Grey Sovereign line: “There was a brilliance to those, also temperament, but they worked on all surfaces and in different countries.” Similarly, she is disappointed to witness the contraction of that belonging to Never Bend, a “line of class and brilliance” that supplied Mill Reef and Riverman. 

For Headley Bell, use of the Roberto sire line has yielded great rewards.

“Hail To Reason and his son Roberto is such a powerful line,” he says. “I’ve played Roberto and I used Dynaformer a lot with success—our client Lael Stable bred [Kentucky Derby winner] Barbaro by him. I played Halo, more recently through his grandson Hat Trick, the sire of Win Win Win [a Gr. 1-winning homebred for Live Oak Plantation]. 

“I was also a big Stop The Music player back in the day, although he was different to most Hail To Reasons; he was typey with more speed.”

Of course, the subject of bloodlines isn’t as cut and dry as favoring one sire line over the next. Each stallion represents a blend of influences and as such, opportunities are there to be tapped into.

“Ribot and Roberto remain influential,” says Bell. “In Reality, Relaunch, Fappiano—they are all common threads as well. The Rough N’ Tumble line has been hugely influential—we see him today playing an important role through his son Dr. Fager, the damsire of Fappiano. And that pays tribute to John Nerud and those Tartan Farm families. They bred all those good horses: In Reality, Dr. Fager, Unbridled, Quiet American; and they remain relevant today.”

Independently, Craig was also quick to pay tribute to the impact left by Nerud.

“Tapit is the Bold Ruler - Seattle Slew line, but maybe his real success is due to those tough old Tartan Farm bloodlines,” she says, alluding to the fact that Tapit’s dam, Tap Your Heels, is a daughter of Unbridled (bred on the Fappiano - Dr. Fager cross) and also inbred twice to In Reality.

There is an argument to think that the health of the Thoroughbred is not going to benefit from the current situation. Sure, North America is home to an array of accomplished sires, but at the same time, the variety of several decades ago—an era when some would argue that the breed was sounder and more durable—is lacking. 

While Northern Dancer and Mr. Prospector cast a shadow over the top echelons of the 2021 champion sires’ list, there is also a similarity to the next big names, among them runaway champion first-crop sire Gun Runner who represents a fusion of Fappiano, to whom he is inbred, and Storm Cat. Another successful freshman, Practical Joke, represents Into Mischief over Distorted Humor and therefore broadly speaking, Storm Cat over Mr. Prospector.

“It is both a luxury and expensive to be an owner/breeder now,” says Craig. "Most breeding is trial and error. For sure, you can afford to take a few chances—breed to Saxon Warrior or Study Of Man [both sons of Deep Impact based in Europe], keep a few mares in the U.S. or Australia to try to use more of a variety of sire lines, but it is a challenge. There are limited options, and I think we are breeding a lot of slower horses as a result. We are moving inwards not outwards.”