Pedigree Insights
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Andrew Caulfield, April 1, 2008–Big Brown P EDIGREE INSIGHTS Big Brown=s year-younger half-sister by Horse Chestnut made it into last year=s Keeneland September BY ANDREW CAULFIELD catalog, but as hip no. 5031 in Book 8. But, before you go jumping to any wrong conclusions FLORIDA DERBY-GI, $1,000,000, GPX, 3-29, 3yo, about the quality of Big Brown=s bloodlines, let me 1 1/8m, 1:48, ft. assure you that this son of Boundary has a fascinating 1--#@BIG BROWN, 122, c, 3, by Boundary pedigree, which owes a lot to Claiborne Farm. 1st Dam: Mien, by Nureyev Big Brown is out of Mien, a mare by Nureyev out of a 2nd Dam: Miasma, by Lear Fan daughter of Lear Fan. Mien, a winner on turf at three 3rd Dam: Syrian Circle, by Damascus from only two starts, is the only representative of this ($60,000 yrl '06 FTKOCT; $190,000 2yo >07 particular pairing, but the reverse cross--Lear Fan on KEEAPR). O-IEAH Stables & Paul Pompa Jr, et al; Nureyev mares--enjoyed significant success. B-Monticule (KY); T-Richard E Dutrow Jr; J-Kent J The motivation for the Lear Fan--Nureyev cross lay in Desormeaux; $600,000. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, the fact that it created 4x5 inbreeding both to Nantallah $662,700. Werk Nick Rating: B. Click for the and the celebrated mare Rough Shod, through their son eNicks report and 5-cross pedigree. Lt. Stevens and their daughter Thong, one of the most Click for brisnet.com chart, brisnet.com PPs or free brisnet.com influential broodmares of modern times. You=ll hardly catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Taylor Made. need me to remind you that Nantallah=s other matings When a colt wins his first three races by a total of 29 with Rough Shod resulted in Ridan, winner of the lengths and is described by Kent Desormeaux as Florida Derby before finishing third in the Kentucky Apossibly the best horse I=ve ridden,@ it=s time to sit up Derby in 1962, and Moccasin, the champion juvenile and listen. Could this colt, Big Brown, follow Unbridled, filly of 1965. Thunder Gulch, Monarchos and Barbaro as the fifth The potency of the Nantallah--Rough Shod pairing Florida Derby winner to follow up in the Kentucky seemed to be successfully transmitted down the Derby in the space of 19 years? Everything about his generations by mating Lear Fan to Nureyev mares. Of track performances suggests he can, yet Big Brown this cross=s 49 foals, eight (or 16 percent) are credited cost no more than $60,000 when he was offered at with becoming stakes winners (although those eight Fasig-Tipton=s Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale, where the include Vaporetto, a leading jumper in France). average price was little more than $15,000. Caulfield cont. www.coolmore.com Among the cross=s best representatives were Loup Bred by the partnership of Claiborne and the late Solitaire (G1 Grand Criterium), Verveine (G2 Prix de William Haggin Perry, Boundary established himself as a l=Opera and now the dam of two Group 1 winners) and very talented performer in the colors of Perry=s widow. the Group 3 winners Fantastic Fellow and Far Lane. Boundary displayed great potential in winning his first Big Brown=s second dam, Miasma, won a six-furlong two starts in April and May of his three-year-old season maiden before being tested at up to Group 1 level at but, unfortunately, was unable to race again until the two in England. This daughter of Lear Fan then following January. He didn=t make his stakes debut until continued to compete well at around a mile at three, to the end of May in his four-year-old season, when he the extent that her price at the end of the year was extended his unbeaten run to five with his win in the equivalent to nearly four times the $20,000 she had GIII Roseben H. Another fine win later came his way in cost as a yearling. the GIII A Phenomenon H., when he narrowly defeated Miasma=s owner, Dr Gary Knapp of Monticule, has Cherokee Run, but that proved to be his last continued to seek out this Nureyev/Lear Fan cross, and appearance. He clearly wasn=t easy to train. the mare produced three consecutive foals by Although Boundary=s fee never rose higher than Nureyev=s son Theatrical, the latest being a two-year- $20,000, and was markedly lower for much of his old colt which sold for $130,000 last year and is now career, his ownership brought him some outstanding with rookie trainer David Lanigan at Newmarket. opportunities for a stallion in his price range. He made Part of Miasma=s appeal as a broodmare is that her the most of some of these chances, notably siring the bottom line traces to some famous mares. Her sixth champion European juvenile Minardi from the royally dam was the noted English mare Carpet Slipper, which bred Yarn, and he also sired the Grade I-winning means that her fifth dam, Her Slipper, was a half-sister sprinter Pomeroy. to Godiva (1940 1000 Guineas and Oaks), Windsor One clearly can=t rely on Boundary to provide Big Slipper (Irish Triple Crown in 1942), and the noted Brown with much stamina, but this appears to have broodmares Coventry Belle (ancestress of the 2004 been remedied by some of the inbreeding in the Florida Derby winner North Light), Blaith na Greine and Silken Derby winner=s pedigree. Slipper. This family has been a fertile source of Classic Big Brown is inbred 3x3 to Northern Dancer, who winners in Europe, and Her Slipper played her part as triumphed in both the Florida and Kentucky Derbys, and the dam of the outstanding producer Vali, whose recent descendants include Aragorn, Atticus and One Cool 3x4 to Damascus. Although Damascus ran only third in Cat. the first leg of the Triple Crown, he won the second Perhaps the most important thing to mention here is and third legs and confirmed his stamina with victories that Carpet Slipper herself had a distinguished in the Travers, Woodward and Jockey Club Gold Cup half-sister in the Yorkshire Oaks winner Dalmary, who (then over two miles) later in the year. Big Brown is found fame as the dam of none other than Rough Shod. also inbred 4x5 to Round Table, who was third in the In other words, there seems to have been a conscious Kentucky Derby as a prelude to numerous terrific effort to duplicate this blood, and Mien--another performances over 1 1/4 miles. Boundary=s good turf member of the Monticule broodmare band--has three miler Conserve is inbred 3x3 to Northern Dancer, and lines of this family in her pedigree. Mien=s mating to his fast daughter Roxelana is inbred 3x4 to Damascus. Horse Chestnut was probably designed to add yet Incidentally, this is the second consecutive week I another line. have mentioned a leading winner which is inbred 3x3 to For those who prefer to concentrate on the less Northern Dancer and which was sired by a fast son of distant generations of a family, the best winner from Danzig from a Nureyev mare, Big Brown=s predecessor Big Brown=s family in recent years has been Hidden being the dual Grade II winner Costume. Desert King, Lake, the champion older mare of 1997, who is a another horse bred on this cross, stayed well enough to half-sister to Big Brown=s third dam, the winner Syrian win the Irish Derby. Circle. I suppose if you are going to inbreed closely to Hidden Lake, who collected three Grade I wins at Northern Dancer, it might as well be through two four, was foaled when her dam, the Round Table mare stallion sons who achieved the extraordinary rate of Friendly Circle, was a veteran of 22. Friendly Circle around 18- percent stakes winners. therefore provides a ray of hope for all elderly mares, Although the Kentucky Derby was the only leg of the showing that perseverance can pay off. Hidden Lake Triple Crown to elude Danzig as a sire, this brilliant was her 12th foal, and she had previously hit the stallion has made quite an impact on the Churchill stakes target with first foal Ginistrelli, winner of the G3 Downs Classic. His sons Stephan=s Odyssey and Hard Derby Trial in England, and her fourth, Midway Circle. Spun found only one too good for them, and another Most modern-day Kentucky Derby candidates raise son, Polish Navy, sired the 1993 winner Sea Hero. the question of whether he will be as effective (or Fusaichi Pegasus is out of a Danzig mare, while Funny better) over 1 1/4 miles as he is over shorter distances. Cide is by a stallion out of a Danzig mare, so it wouldn=t With Big Brown, this question is particularly relevant be too much of a shock to see a Kentucky Derby hero because of his sire, Boundary. This former Claiborne by Boundary. stallion, who was pensioned at the age of 15 in 2005 because of declining fertility, made seven of his eight appearances over six furlongs, his other start being his Caulfield cont. third in the GII Tom Fool S. over a furlong longer. BIG BROWN, c, 2005 Nearctic Northern Dancer Natalma Danzig Admirals Voyage Pas de Nom Petitioner (GB) Boundary Sword Dancer Damascus Kerala Edge Round Table Ponte Vecchio Terentia Nearctic Northern Dancer Natalma Nureyev *Forli Special Mien Thong Winner Roberto 4Fls, 1GSW Lear Fan Miasma Wac SP 8Fls, 4 Wnr Syrian Circle Damascus 11Fls, 1SP Friendly Circle.