Pedigree Insights

Andrew Caulfield, December 2, 2003 –Read The Footnotes P EDIGREE INSIGHTS son of the brittle Raise A Native, he was out of a tough mare, Gold Digger, who packed 35 starts into three BY ANDREW CAULFIELD seasons and his broodmare sire was Nashua, a veteran of 30 starts. Saturday, Aqueduct Breeders considering doubling up on Mr Prospector REMSEN S.-GII, $200,000, AQU, 11-29, 2yo, 1 1/8m, must have been encouraged by some of last year’s 1:50 3/5, ft. Grade I events, such as the Breeders’ Cup Classic 1--READ THE FOOTNOTES, 122, c, 2, by Smoke Glacken victory of Volponi (who is inbred 3x4), the Champion S. 1st Dam: Baydon Belle, by Al Nasr (Fr) win by Storming Home (inbred 2x3), the Prix Morny 2nd Dam: Vague Prospect, by *Vaguely Noble triumph of Elusive City (3x4) and the Futurity S. 3rd Dam: Prospector's Fire, by Mr. Prospector success of Whywhywhy (3x4). ($320,000 2yo 2003 FTMMAY). O-Klaravich Stables; As it is now 28 years since Mr. Prospector’s first B-L Goichman (NY); T-Rick Violette Jr; J-J D Bailey; foals were born, the number of horses descending from $120,000. Lifetime Record: 5-4-0-0, $240,660. him grows considerably every year. As his name moves steadily back through the generations it has now When Read The Footnotes took the GII Remsen S. reached a distance which many breeders consider safe three days ago, his decisive victory represented another for inbreeding. Inevitably, the number of horses inbred advertisement for the talents of his accomplished to him is set to rise steeply and so too, I think, is the young sire Smoke Glacken. And at the same time, it number of important winners carrying two lines to the provided another reminder that inbreeding to the great two-time champion sire. Mr Prospector is going to become part and parcel of the This year, for example, we have seen inbreeding to thoroughbred industry in North America. Mr. Prospector play an important role among the Of course it is only natural to want to try to reinforce two-year-old generation. The Remsen represented the the influence of this astonishing stallion. After all, how fourth win from five starts--and the second at Graded many stallions have bettered Mr. Prospector’s statistics level--for Read The Footnotes, who is inbred 3x4 to Mr. of 15 percent stakes winners and over 9 percent Prospector. The unbeaten Halfbridled, who numbers the graded winners? GII Oak Leaf S., GI Del Mar Debutante and GI Breeders’ When inbreeding to any horse, though, it’s important Cup Juvenile Fillies among her successes, is also inbred to realise that you may intensify not only its virtues but 3x4. Society Selection, heroine of the GI Frizette S., is also its vices or faults. This has to be a consideration inbred 3x3 and so is Limehouse, winner of the GIII with Mr. Prospector, even though his conformation and Bashford Manor S. bloodlines were sufficiently impressive for him to top Two more examples in North America are the GII the Keeneland Summer Yearling Sales at $220,000 in Summer S. winner Bachelor Blues, another son of 1971. Everyone knows that he did have some physical Smoke Glacken inbred 3x4, and the GIII Kentucky Cup flaws: his head was plain, he turned out from one Juvenile S. winner Mr. Jester, who is inbred 3x3. ankle, his hind-leg was a little straight and his feet were The Europeans are also going to have to get used to small. Everyone knows too that his racing career was the idea, especially in high-class juveniles, judging by interrupted by sore shins, a chipped fetlock and a the emergence of Carry On Katie, the G1 Cheveley Park fractured sesamoid. S. winner who is inbred 3x3 to Mr. Prospector, and the The question which needs asking is whether these Group 2 and Group 3 winner Much Faster, who is flaws had any serious impact on his stallion career. The inbred 3x4. answer was a fairly resounding no, judging by Mr. One interesting aspect of several of these pedigrees, Prospector’s achievement of siring 83 percent runners such as those of Read The Footnotes, Bachelor Blues, to foals and 63 percent winners to foals. Perhaps it’s Carry On Katie, Limehouse and Elusive City, is that they worth pointing out that, while Mr. Prospector was a also include inbreeding to Northern Dancer within four www.coolmore.com generations (and Storming Home is inbred 4x4 to Northern Dancer’s dam Natalma). Inbreeding to Northern Dancer is now hard to avoid in Europe and we are seeing major winners, such as Sulamani, with three lines to him. There was a theory at one time, though, that many of the early examples of successful inbreeding to Northern Dancer did not really count, because one line came through Nijinsky. The theory was that the sizeable Nijinsky bore little physical resemblance to his diminutive sire and wasn’t typical of the male line. A similar argument could be made about some of the good winners inbred to Mr. Prospector, because they owe one of their lines to Fappiano. This 16.3-hands colossus wasn’t typical in that he proved a stronger influence for stamina than many of Mr. Prospector’s sons. To my mind, this makes him an attractive participant in inbreeding to Mr. Prospector, and this option has already produced two Breeders’ Cup winners in Volponi and Halfbridled (plus the dual Grade I juvenile winner Strategic Maneuver). Another prominent name is that of Gone West, who features in the pedigrees of El Corredor, Whywhywhy, Much Faster, Elusive City and Limehouse. I was going to say earlier that it is important to consider the soundness of the horses involved in the inbreeding. However, the two lines to Mr. Prospector in Read The Footnotes’ pedigree are through his son Two Punch, who managed only eight starts, and his daughter Prospector’s Fire, who raced only twice. Perhaps it is more relevant that the Remsen winner is by a horse who packed plenty of action into his career before bone chips were discovered in a knee. Interestingly, Prospector’s Fire is a sister to Mr. P.’s Girl, a mare who ranks as the second dam of Pearl of Love, one of this year’s leading English-trained juvenile who has won at Group 1 level in Italy and Group 2 level in Ireland. Pearl of Love is inbred 4x4 to Mr. Prospector’s sire Raise A Native. As a daughter of the celebrated broodmare Native Street, Prospector’s Fire had every right to make a good producer and her progeny include Fire The Groom (GI Beverly D. S. and dam of Stravinsky) and the Group 1 winner Dowsing. Speed tends to be this family’s main asset, but Read The Footnotes’ first two dams are by Al Nasr, a very good performer at around a mile and a quarter in France, and Vaguely Noble, winner of the Arc. The Vaguely Noble mare, Vague Prospect, was a three-parts sister to Royal And Regal, winner of the Florida Derby. This helps explain why the nine furlongs of the Remsen S. caused no problems for a colt by a champion sprinter and it is going to be interesting to see whether Read The Footnotes can develop into a Triple Crown candidate. We have already seen Invisible Ink, a colt inbred 3x3 to Mr. Prospector, finish second in the Kentucky Derby. It surely won’t be long before one of the Triple Crown events is won by a horse inbred to the stallion who has dominated these races in recent years..

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