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Resurgent success

Resurgent success

New genetic evidence proves that the recorded pedigrees of the influential leading sires Bend Or and St. Simon were incorrect, writes Alan Porter

IN 1981, the year in which his cornerstone book “The Classic Racehorse” was published, the late Peter Willett penned an article which we reprinted in the last issue of International Thoroughbred in which he pondered how a relative small number of sires have wielded a disproportionate influence on the development of the thoroughbred.

The article delves into names from the progression of the thoroughbred, and the evolution of the sire lines descending from the founding fathers.

One thing that Willett could not have foreseen is the advent of DNA analysis and it’s revisory impact of older pedigrees. Using mitochondrial DNA, which is transmitted only in the tail-female line, a number of errors in female lines have been discovered.

More surprisingly is that there is now firm genetic evidence to amend the published pedigrees of two of the most important stallions of the late 19th century.

Bend Or pedigree questioned

One of these involves the long-disputed pedigree of Bend Or, the winner of the 1880 Epsom Derby and, via Bona Vista, Cyllene and Polymelus, the male-line ancestor of Phalaris, who in turn is now in the maleline of well over 95 per cent of the current thoroughbred population.

Bred by the 1st Duke of Westminster, Bend Or was supposedly by the stallion Doncaster and out of Rouge Rose (Thormanby).

Not long after the Derby, however, the owners of the runner-up Robert The Devil wrote to the stewards and to Weatherbys, objecting to the result on the grounds that Bend Or was not bred as he was registered.

This was based on evidence from Richard Arnull, the stud groom at the Duke’s Eaton Stud, who claimed that the horse that raced as Bend Or was in fact Tadcaster, a son of Doncaster and out of Clemence (Newmister), and that the two had been accidentally swapped when sent from the stud to Barrow’s stable in Newmarket, before going into training with Robert Peck at Russley.

The case was duly considered by the Jockey Club stewards, who faced a thorny problem with a number of issues.

Arnull, whose evidence contained several contradictions, had been working his notice from Eaton at the time of inquiry, and the stud-books at Eaton were notoriously sloppily maintained, off ering little credible evidence. The stud’s manager Major Barlow and other employees supported the claim that Bend Or’s pedigree was correct, although Barlow’s evidence was no clearer than Arnull’s.

Importantly, the Duke of Westminster was an extremely wealthy and powerful individual, who wielded considerable infl uence. Perhaps, not surprisingly, the stewards issued a verdict declaring that the pedigree of Bend Or was correct and that the Derby result would stand.

One of their number James Lowther later stated that he had subsequently acquired evidence to the eff ect that it was Clemence rather than Rouge Rose who was the dam of Bend Or, but that evidence never saw the light of day.

And so the version of Bend Or’s pedigree that the stewards accepted is the one that has been in the General Stud Book ever since, but it isn’t the correct one.

BEND OR’S “ORIGINAL” PEDIGREE

About a decade ago a team from Cambridge University led by Dr Mim Bower extracted DNA from the skeleton of Bend Or, which had long been in the Natural History Musuem.

The matter came down to analysis of the mitochondrial haplotype (group of genes). Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is passed only through the direct female line.

On paper Rouge Rose was a member of Bruce Lowe family No 1, whose tap-root was Tregonwell’s Natural Barb Mare, while Clemence was a member of Bruce Lowe family No 2, descending from the Burton Barb mare.

Using the Achilli mtDNA haplotype designations, that means that Rouge Rose should be mtDNA haplotype N2a, and Clemence, L4a.

Happily, both Rouge Rose and Clemence still have living descendents, and testing those confi rmed that both mares did indeed belong to the expected haplotypes.

However, the test on the mtDNA of the skeleton of Bend Or showed that he was from the L4a mtDNA haplotype, so was out of Clemence not Rouge Rose.

To be fair, this really has no implications for breeders today as it is irrespective, but it does, however, radically change historic pedigrees.

First affected is the famous Bend Or/ Macaroni nick, which produced the undefeated Triple Crown winner Ormonde, the leading racehorse and sire Kendal, the 2,000 Guineas winner and successful sire Bona Vista (in the male line of Phalaris), and the Goodwood Cup winner and prolific sire Martagon.

Bend Or’s “new pedigree” means he is out of a mare by a son of Touchstone, a half-brother to the dam of Macaroni.

It could also have great significance if studies such as “Founder-specific inbreeding affects racing performance in Thoroughbred horses”, that established 80 per cent of genetic material in the modern thoroughbred comes from a small group of ancestors. Some of those have positive and negative effects that are practically implemented, as those deep pedigrees will be significantly altered.

One horse for whom the revised pedigree of Bend Or makes even more significance is the mare Martha Lynn, who was a huge factor in the pedigrees of stallions of the middle of the 19th century onwards.

She appears as the dam of Voltigeur (who through Vedette and Galopin is the putative great-grandsire of St. Simon), of Voltigeur’s sister Volley (grand-dam of Lord Clifden, who is the male-line of Hyperion), and of Eulogy, the dam of Clemence, who, in addition to being dam of Bend Or, is also grand-dam of the great racehorse, and important sire Carbine.

Queries over St. Simon’s pedigree, too

We’ve mentioned that Voltigeur is the supposed great-grandsire of St. Simon, and the reason we question that is down to two papers “Y Chromosome Uncovers the Recent Oriental Origin of Modern Stallions” and “The horse Y Chromosome as an informative marker for tracing sire lines.”

These studies found that the three founding fathers from who all thoroughbreds now descend in tail-male line – the Byerley Turk, the Godolphin Arabian and Darley Arabian – have a Y-chromosome known as Tb.

This designates a northern Oriental population, which indicates that they were descended from Turkoman, rather than the more southern Arabian stock.

The Byerley Turk and Godolphin Arabian are from a branch that was more recently linked Tb-o – the Byerley Turk being Tb-oB1 and the Godolphin Arabian, Tb-oB3b.

The Darley Arabian, however was categorised as Tb-d. Around 95 per cent of the breed now traces in male-line to the Darley Arabian, through Eclipse. This is almost exclusively through Whalebone, a great-grandson of Eclipse, who owned a mutation that separated him from other descendants of Eclipse.

The study delivered a particular surprise with a test of descendants of St. Simon, an undefeated runner who was one of the greatest racehorses and stallions foaled in the 19th century.

Under the rules prevailing at the time, St. Simon’s Classic entries were invalidated, due to the death of his breeder Prince Batthyany, but, despite only being a threeyear-old, he thrashed his elders in the Ascot Gold Cup and the Goodwood Cup winning by 20l on each occasion.

He went on to become the leading sire in Britain and Ireland nine times, siring ten English Classic winners of 17 English Classic races.

The accepted pedigree for St. Simon shows that he is another member of the Darley Arabian line descended from the King Fergus branch of Eclipse.

That means he should carry the Tb-d Y-chromosome, but, when tested, male-line descendents of St. Simon actually carried the Tb-oB1y chromosome, indicating descent from the Byerley Turk.

That anomaly revives an old debate regarding questions that once hung over the origins of St. Simon’s sire, Galopin, winner of the Epsom Derby in 1875.

At the time, there were persistent rumours that Galopin was not by Vedette, a son of the previously mentioned Voltigeur, but by Delight, a Byerley Turk line horse who had stood alongside Vedette.

There is some circumstantial evidence both for and against Delight being the sire of Galopin.

There is a viable alternative possibility. As far as the stud-book is concerned the Galopin sire line goes back – Vedette, Voltigeur, Voltaire, Blacklock, Whitelock. The stud-book says that Whitelock was by Hambletonian, but in 1802, when Whitelock was conceived, Hambletonian stood alongside two other stallions, Delpini and Traveller. Both were from the Byerley Turk line, and it’s possible that either of these could be sire of Whitelock.

One hopes at some future point, whether the error occurred with Delight rather than Vedette being sire of Galopin, or at a more distant point in Galopin’s male-line, the question may be resolved by testing a sample from a bone of Voltigeur that is in the racing museum at York racecourse.

One horse for whom the revised pedigree of Bend Or makes even more significance is the mare Martha Lynn, who was a huge factor in the pedigrees of stallions of the middle of the 19th century onwards

St Simon’s one of the most important “breed shapers”

St. Simon’s male-line dominated the first 20 years of the 1900s, and was still potent in the mid-20th century when it was represented by such immortals as Ribot and Round Table.

At the time Willett was writing the Ribot branch was still well-represent with horses such as Alleged and Pleasant Colony carrying the banner in the last quarter of the century, but at this stage its future looks decidedly bleak.

The last high-class sire to represent it was probably the Australian horse Mossman, a foal of 1995, who was by the imported

Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) winner, Success Express, from the Princequillo branch of St. Simon. The fate of his sire line notwithstanding, St. Simon remains one the most important shapers of the breed.

Willett’s hopes for the Byerley Turk’s line has come from a different source

Even without St. Simon transplanted to it, at the time Willett was writing he held out some hopes for the Byerley Turk’s line, which had been recently represented by the highly successful stallion Luthier (by Klairon, from the Tourbillon branch), four time leading sire in France.

Unfortunately, none of Luthier’s sons proved to be consistently top-class sires, and none produced a successful sire son.

Instead, the Byerley Turk branch enjoyed what may have been it’s last fl ourish through a far less expected source.

Another son of Klairon, Lorenzaccio, earned notoriety by defeating Nijinsky in the Champion Stakes. Lorenzaccio himself was a disappointing stallion, but his sprinting son Ahonoora exceeded all expectations.

The Hurry On line, primarily noted for later-developing stayers, has long since died out as far as major racing countries are concerned

Although he had a pair of Classic colts in the 2,000 Guineas (G1) winner Don’t Forget Me, and Dr. Devious, who triumphed in the Epsom Derby (G1), his line has been best carried forward by the King’s Stand Stakes (G1) hero and one-time Irish National Stud leading sire Indian Ridge.

It had looked like terminating with him, as although he was an excellent sire, none of his sons were anywhere near as eff ective.

Though unable to secure the fortunes of his sire line, Ahonoora has exerted a considerable infl uence as a broodmare sire of sires, appearing in that role in the pedigrees of New Approach, Cape Cross and Acclamation.

Godolphin Arabian: relying on Dream Ahead and Tiznow Far North, Be My Guest and The Minstrel little impact and the Nijinsky line likely to go

Willett began his 1981 article by refl ecting on the dominance of that year’s fi rst-season sires’ list by Northern Dancer sons – Be My Guest, Far North and The Minstrel occupying the fi rst three places.

Ironically, however, much as the Northern Dancer line has fl ourished, this trio have left little lasting impression. Be My Guest was champion sire in Britain and Ireland in 1982, but was a disappointing sire of sires, – other than with Pentire in New Zealand – and he’s most notable now as broodmare sire of Rock Of Gibraltar and Manduro.

Far North made little long-term impact.

The Minstrel was a successful sire, but his best son, Cigar, the magnifi cent US champion, was infertile. The Australian colt Naturalism, probably his second-best runner, was a disappointing sire, and none of his other good sons could extend the line.

Far North and The Minstrel were siblings, and also three-quarters brothers, to the Triple Crown winner Nijinsky. Unlike them, Nijinsky was a successful sire of sires with representatives such as Caerleon, Green Dancer, Royal Academy and Whiskey Road.

Royal Academy’s son Bel Esprit sired the undefeated superstar sprint mare Black Caviar, but the Nijinsky line also looks unlikely to continue, unless it’s through the German-bred Silvano in South Africa.

Danzig, of course, overcame his modest status as a racehorse to enjoy stellar success at stud, and in particular two sons of Danzig, Danehill and Green Desert, have enjoyed tremendous success in Europe and Australia.

In Australia, Danehill fi rst crossed well with the previous dominant sire lines of Sir Ivor and Star Kingdom... and then virtually swept them from the board.

The Hurry On line, primarily noted for later developing stayers, has long since died out as far as major racing countries are concerned. Man O’ War’s branch has been extended through In Reality, a horse inbred to Man O’ War’s evil-tempered son, War Relic.

In Europe a branch of In Reality has come down through Known Fact, who was awarded the 2,000 Guineas (G1) on the disqualifi cation of Nureyev, Warning and Diktat to Dream Ahead.

Still only 13-years-old, Dream Ahead has become a successful sire of sprinter/milers, and already has four Group 1 winners to his name. He has Group 1 winner Al Wukair at stud, and has plenty of time to come up with another top-class horse or two.

In the US, the primary representative in recent years has been two-time Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) winner Tiznow (by Cee’s Tizzy, by In Reality’s son Relaunch).

Now retired, Tiznow has been a very successful sire of Classic distance runners, but to date a disappointing sire of sires. He does have the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) hero, Tourist, whose oldest are only three, but it could well be that this is the end of the line for Man O’ War.

Al Wukair: one of four Group 1 winners by Dream Ahead who traces to the Godolphin Arabian

Danehill first crossed well with the previous dominant sire lines of Sir Ivor and Star Kingdom... and then virtually swept them from the board

The Danehill line has had plenty of success in Europe, too, through such as the reverse shuttlers Fastnet Rock and Exceed And Excel, Danehill Dancer (sire of Choisir and Mastercraftsman), Dansili (whose son, Harbinger has started well in Japan), Rock Of Gibraltar and Kodiac, but really it now needs a new standout to establish it’s future.

The sprinter Green Desert came up with a trio of extremely successful stallions in Cape Cross, Invincible Spirit and Oasis Dream, all of whom proved capable of siring high-class middle-distance runners and sires.

Cape Cross has an outstanding Classic sire son in Sea The Stars (half-brother to Galileo), Invincible Spirit is most notably responsible for I Am Invincible in Australia – where he has combined well with other Danehill strains – and the sensational Kingman in Europe, while Oasis Dream has Showcasing, who has done well in Europe and New Zealand.

Danzig also has the very successful US sons, Hard Spun and War Front, still active, War Front having several young sons at stud, including Declaration Of War, who has already stood in Ireland, the US, Australia and Japan, and has proved capable of leaving good runners wherever he is domiciled.

There are also other thriving branches of Danzig in South Africa and South America.

Sadler’s Wells after winning the Eclipse Stakes in 1984. He and son Galileo have had an extraordinary impact on the breed – between them they have headed the sires’ list 26 times

The Sadler’s Wells / Galileo heritage

The other real long term game changer by Northern Dancer in Europe was Sadler’s Wells, a three-quarters brother to Nureyev.

His domination might best be expressed by the fact that he or his son Galileo have headed the leading sires’ list for Britain and Ireland 26 times in the last 31 years, 14 for Sadler’s Wells, and 12 for Galileo, who would appear to have a decent shot of catching or even surpassing his remarkable sire.

It’s hard to believe now, but there was a point where Sadler’s Wells appeared to be a questionable sire of sires, despite some early success by In The Wings (sire of Singspiel).

Then came El Prado, who was not only leading sire twice in the US but also sired the two-time leading sire Kitten’s Joy and the extremely successful Medaglia D’Oro, Montjeu, who has left Camelot, himself making a bright start with his fi rst few crops, High Chaparral, who in addition to doing well in Europe left two good young Australian sires in So You Think and Dundeel from his New Zealand-sired crops, Fort Wood, a star in South Africa; and Galileo.

In turn, Galileo has emulated his sire’s dominance of the stallion tables, but sired the non-pariel Frankel, himself now making a tremendous start at stud, as well as Teofi lo, New Approach, Nathaniel and Australia, among several other successful stallion sons.

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