Byerley Turk Reaching the End of the Line Cont
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MONDAY, 11 JUNE 2018 It will be easy enough, at that stage, to be excited by the fact BYERLEY TURK REACHING that Study Of Man is out of a mare by one of the great modern broodmare sires in Storm Cat. But how many people, in THE END OF THE LINE renewing their admiration for Miesque, are still asking themselves how much of her priceless legacy might be credited to her mother Pasodoble--who was by Prove Out (Graustark) out of a Sanctus (Fr) (Fine Top {Fr}) mare? Prove Out was a brilliant horse with a fine pedigree, but I'm not going to pretend the male line of Sanctus means anything to me. Evidently it achieved a tenuous survival out of wartime France, so there must be a story to be told there. A comfort, in the meantime, to find that Pasodoble's second dam was by the linchpin Princequillo. Many breeders dismiss this as so many scrolls of parchment. And it is true that most genetic contributions are diluted generation by generation. Cont. p2 Study Of Man | Scoop Dyga IN TDN AMERICA TODAY By Chris McGrath Justify “Fantastic” After Legendary Belmont Win As we all know, the only bottom line most breeders really care Triple Crown winner Justify (Scat Daddy) exited his historic win in about is found at the base of a balance sheet. And the ink they Saturday’s GI Belmont S. in fine shape, according to trainer Bob use, red or black, tends to be ascribed sooner to the top line of a Baffert. Click or tap here to go straight to TDN America. pedigree than to the one running along the bottom. Commercial yearlings are branded first and foremost by their sires, even though the equal genetic contribution of the dam should make her family of critical interest. On the one hand, then, it was edifying to see three Classics in eight days magnify names in the bottom line: Miesque (Nureyev) as grand-dam of G1 Prix du Jockey-Club winner Study Of Man (Fr) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and great-grand-dam of G1 Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Alpha Centauri (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}); and the great Urban Sea (Miswaki) as fourth dam of Derby winner Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}), besides also being dam of his grandsire. Arguably, however, both Miesque and Urban Sea are exceptions to prove the rule. As such celebrities, in both their racing and breeding careers, they stand out luminously in a family tree: barely less of a short-cut, in terms of attention span, than crediting everything to the sire. But when Study Of Man, for instance, takes one of the best pedigrees in Europe to stud, we should be no less interested in all the other spars and buttresses that support the family around his famous grand-dam. TDN EUROPE/INTERNATIONAL • PAGE 2 OF 12 • THETDN.COM MONDAY • 11 JUNE 2018 Byerley Turk Reaching The End Of The Line cont. Ahonoora famously surpassed expectations at stud, above all Until science can link specific performance assets to specific in siring Derby winner Dr Devious (Ire), but was just 14 when he genetic strands, however, I will always find comfort in a died. His legacy largely rested with Indian Ridge (Ire) and comprehensive mesh of class behind a horse. Inchinor (GB). With Orientor (GB) running out of time, Inchinor In the case of Masar, relatively little attention has been paid to seems to depend on Notnowcato (GB), who has moved on to a the fact that Urban Sea's 4x3 imprint is exactly matched by National Hunt stud. What a pity, then, that the latter's son Ahonoora (GB) (Lorenzaccio {GB}). He recurs as dam-sire of both Redkirk Warrior (Aus), one of the top sprinters in Australia, lines New Approach (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Cape Cross (Ire) (Green up at Royal Ascot next week without the twin accessories Desert), who produced the dam of Masar with a granddaughter essential to a stud career. [Castration also cut off a promising of Urban Sea. Nowadays, unfortunately, it seems likely that this outlet for the Australian line in dual Cox Plate winner Fields Of kind of role will soon be all that remains for Ahonoora--and, Omagh (Aus) (Rubiton {Aus}).] indeed, for the entire Byerley Turk line. Thanks to Phalaris, who As for Indian Ridge-such a good stallion in his pomp, and transformed the modern breed a century ago, the Darley responsible for the dams of recent Group 1 winners Romanised Arabian sire-line has now all but extinguished those tracing to (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) and Lancaster Bomber (War the other two founding fathers. The Byerley Turk line has been Front)-it is surprising that a nugget of commercial speed like defunct in the U.S. for a while already, which is a shame when Compton Place (GB) (Indian Ridge {Ire}) finds himself depending you consider that transatlantic branches came through the on the rookie Pearl Secret (GB) for a viable heir. His two best inaugural Derby winner Diomed and the 16-time champion sire sons, Deacon Blues (GB) and Borderlescott (GB) were others in Lexington, and other great names like Hindoo. But its dying this line who suffered the unkindest cut of all; while Domedriver embers in America could not be stoked by Breeders' Cup (Ire) and Linngari (Ire) proved disappointing at stud. Namid (GB) winners Precisionist (GB) (Crozier {GB}) and Arcangues (Sagace and Definite Article (GB) had their moments without producing {Fr}), respectively through infertility and incompetence--and a persuasive successor, and Indian Haven (Ire) is probably out of elsewhere the line is clinging on by its fingertips. time to come up with one. Plenty of eggs, then, in the rather curious basket of Dunaden (Fr) (Nicobar {GB}), much the best son of his sire (albeit from limited opportunities). From an undistinguished family, Dunaden raced until the age of eight and mare owners will need fairly long memories to recall how he won the Hong Kong Vase straight after the Melbourne Cup, and continued to show elite calibre over middle distances thereafter-not to mention a heroic constitution and temperament. Standing at just ,3,000 he was favoured with a first book of 96, and if his debut runners this year can match the start made by Overbury neighbour Cityscape (GB) (Selkirk) then all may not be lost. The question, of course, is quite what is at stake in the effacement of the Byerley Turk's line. The science is still Masar | Racing Post exploratory. TDN EUROPE/INTERNATIONAL • PAGE 3 OF 12 • THETDN.COM MONDAY • 11 JUNE 2018 The Y chromosome, distributed through the paternal line, represents less than 1 percent of the equine genome and contains genes mostly associated with sperm production and fertility. But it does contain ancestry "information", and studies are underway to establish whether the genetic sequencing of the Byerley Turk line shows diversity from those of the Darley Arabian crowd. Pending more certainty, it boils down to instinct. Even to a sense of decency. What right do we have, in our avarice and myopia, to kill off such a colourful part of the Thoroughbred's heritage? The Byerley Turk was not, as was Vice President, International Operations once claimed, captured from the Ottomans in battle. In fact Gary King there is a good chance that he was foaled in England, son of Twitter: @garykingTDN another import from the Steppes. But he was ridden as a [email protected] charger at the Battle of the Boyne, and his descendants have + 1.732.320.0975 included some of the breed's greatest champions. International Editor And ultimately it can't possibly be right, for breeders to take Kelsey Riley such witless sanctuary in the same familiar genetic motorway. Twitter: @kelseynrileyTDN For nobody really knows what kind of diversity is being forfeited, [email protected] once and for all, as every other byway becomes overgrown and eventually inaccessible. You can't have it both ways, after all: European Editor can't obsess with sirelines, one minute, and the next say that the Emma Berry breed suffers no meaningful loss when you eradicate one. Twitter: @collingsberry It's not even as though breeders can bring themselves to [email protected] experiment within the Darley Arabian monopoly. (Hence the Associate International Editor attenuation or extinction of historically fertile lines through the Heather Anderson likes of Hyperion or Blandford.) When a horse as good as Enable Twitter: @HLAndersonTDN (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) is inbred as closely as 2x3 to Sadler's Wells, then it would be churlish to deny that the Northern Dancer Marketing Manager addiction functions splendidly at its best. But the pathetic track Alayna Cullen credentials of so many new sires would surely be enhanced if Twitter: @AlaynaCullen they could offer the rare virtue of diversity-instead of the [email protected] commonplace one of being, say, yet another great-grandson of Contributing Editor Danehill or Green Desert. Alan Carasso Happily the third patriarch, the Godolphin Arabian, has Twitter: @EquinealTDN enjoyed a revival through the apt agency of Relaunch (In Reality)-keeping alive the legacy of Man o' War through that Cafe Racing blossoming sire of sires, Tiznow (Cee's Tizzy). Young stallions Sean Cronin such as Strong Mandate (Tiznow), Tourist (Tiznow) and Tizway Tom Frary (Tiznow) should be in additional demand precisely because [email protected] breeders have painted themselves into such a corner, in terms Irish Correspondent of an outcross, with their craven lack of adventure. Daithi Harvey Perhaps one of the last men standing, Dunaden and company, could yet become a Tiznow for the Byerley Turk.