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Total Eclipse of a sire line
Total Eclipse of the sire line
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 June-July issue of International Thoroughbred in which he pondered how a relatively small number of sires have wielded a disproportionate influence on the continuing development of the thoroughbred.
In our final installment, Alan Porter brings the series together and argues that the “Eclipse wipeout” was in fact caused by his descendant Phalaris and, that although sire line variability has diminished over the years, the international outcross has in fact created more broadly bred horses than previously.
THIS WINNOWING DOWN of sire lines is actually just the continuation of a 300-year process.
The Acaster Turk was the first horse to be recognised as a leading sire in England and Ireland when he headed the list in 1721, the year before the Darley Arabian finished on top.
There were several other stallions who were not from the Darley Arabian, Byerley Turk or Godolphin Arab lines that also headed the leading sires’ list. They include the Thoulouse Barb in 1723, the Bloody Buttocks Arabian in 1739, and Bald Galloway (by St. Victor’s Barb) in 1725.
The D’Arcy White Turk founded a male line that saw two great-grandsons take the title – Fox in 1731 and 1735, and Bay Bolton seven times from 1724 to 1734, with his son Bolton Starling scoring in 1744.
The last leading sire in England and Ireland not to descend from one of the three “founding fathers” was Crab, who topped the list for the third time in 1750. He was by another leading sire –Alcock’s Arabian, who was a son of Curwen’s Bay Barb.
Looking back and with the benefit of hindsight, the “Eclipse wipeout” of other sire lines was really ensured by the advent of Phalaris.
A faster horse than the most fashionable stallions of his day, his progeny allied that speed with an ability to run at least middledistances.
The damage was done with a pair of brothers bred on the Phalaris/Chaucer cross – Pharos and his brother Fairway, and Pharamond and his brother Sickle.
At one stage all stood at the head of sire lines of their own.
Pharos is sire of Nearco and through him appears in the male line of Northern Dancer, while Sickle is in the male line of Native Dancer and so of Mr. Prospector.
Speed, or at least acceleration, was also the driving force behind the way in which the Northern Dancer line swept away older European Classic strains in the 1980s and 1990s.
A point made by Willett which I agree with, and which these pedigrees bring out, is that it really is a small number of horses who wield a disproportionate influence. Northern Dancer is a Nearco (Pharos)/ Native Dancer (Sickle) cross, with a second dam by Mahmoud.
Mr. Prospector is by a son of Native Dancer (Sickle) out of a mare by a son of Nasrullah (by Nearco out of Mumtaz Begum, a three-quarters sister to Nasrullah).
Going further, Halo is Nearco line through Royal Charger (three-quarters brother to Nasrullah) and his dam is by a grandson of Pharamond (brother to Sickle) out of a mare by Mahmoud.
Sir Ivor, who similarly advanced the cause of the Turn-to line, was by a grandson of Royal Charger, and his dam was by a son of Mahmoud out of a mare by Pharamond. Even the dam of A.P. Indy is a Nasrullah (Nearco)/Pharmond cross.
Phew!
Not to be left out, a single mare has also wielded a disproportionate influence in pedigrees of late.
Almahmoud (Mahmoud) is the grand-dam of Northern Dancer, of Halo, and of Arctic Tern (the horse that extended Sea-Bird’s sire line in Europe), and fourth dam of Danehill, who was inbred to Almahmoud’s daughter, Natalma, and Machiavellian, whose dam was inbred to Almahmoud.
In Northern Dancer, Halo (as sire of Sunday Silence) and Danehill we have three horses who reshaped breeding in Europe, Japan and Australia.
That’s not always the case as many began their stud careers with everything in their favour, but we can reflect that perhaps Phalaris, the greatest game changer of the last century, wouldn’t have retired to Lord Derby’s stud had he been able to find a buyer at the price of £5,000; Northern Dancer, the epochal sire of the second half of the century, was deemed too small to reach a reserve of $25,000 as a yearling; Mr. Prospector, who rose as counterpoint to Northern Dancer, had a racing career cut short by multiple injuries and retired to stud as a regional stallion in Florida rather than to Kentucky, and Sunday Silence, a seminal influence if ever there was one, was passed over twice as a yearling, and then rejected en masse by breeders in his home country.
Although the process of reducing down sire line variability has been a continuous one over the centuries it’s doubtless been accelerated by the trend to bigger books, the difficulty of filling stallions in their second, third and fourth seasons and the likelihood that a stallion will be sold to a breeding backwater before he’s had more than the scantest opportunity.
Of course, the bigger sizes have dramatically decreased the number of stallions at stud, and it’s likely that several major links in modern sire lines would not receive an opportunity in the current environment.
Phalaris would not have ended up standing at Lord Derby’s stud if someone had bought him for £5,000 in 1914 Photo: Rouch Library
Paradoxically though, while there is concern about a reducing gene pool, current top performers have a marked trend towards pedigrees with a much higher number of “Unique Ancestors” within ten generations than major runners of stallions in the early to mid-19th century.
For example, ten generation Unique Ancestor scores for Phalaris, Pharos, Hyperion and Nearco, are 625, 630, 617 and 674.
In a study of 12,000 contemporary commercial yearlings (foaled 2014), TrueNicks found that the 85 Group or Grade 1 winners in the sample had a range of Unique Ancestors at ten generations between 753 and 1,012, and no Group or Graded winner had a score lower than 745.
This shift is probably down to something that Willett identified as the “international outcross.”
Northern Dancer: was deemed too small as a yearling and failed to make his $25,000 reserve
Mr. Prospector was initially retired to stud as a regional stallion in Florida, and then became North America’s leading freshman sire of 1978. He transferred to stand at Claiborne in 1980. He topped the North American sires’ list in 1978 and 1979 and, from 1,195 named foals, he sired 182 stakes winners – 15.1 per cent. Photo courtesy of Claiborne Farm and studio 34
In the late 1970s and through most of the 1980s a bloodstock bubble caused imports to major racing countries – particularly to the US – from all across the globe, and it’s likely that this resulted in somewhat more outcrossed pedigrees.
It’s also worth remembering that horses such as Phalaris, Pharos, Hyperion and Nearco were far nearer the founding ancestors, who were much less talented athletes than their descendents, and narrowing what was then a fairly heterozygous gene pool would have at that point likely been beneficial.
Talk of whole pedigrees reminds that “sire line” doesn’t equal “influence.”
This is unlike the direct female line, which is the source of the mitochondria. Thus a stallion may no longer be represented by a sire line, but that doesn’t mean their influence is gone from the breed.
For example, as we’ve seen Herod’s male-line is very likely soon to be gone, but, as we mentioned early on, he has the greatest marginal contribution to the genetic make-up of the breed, and is also the founder who has the greatest popular influence.
So, if from a sentimental standpoint it’s sad to see some of the historic names we’ve loved cease to be represented by a sire line, we do have the compensation that their influence on the breed may remain undiminished.
Top, Sunday Silence at Shadai Stallion Station, Hokkaido Japan. He was passed over as a yearling and then as a stallion by breeders in the US Photo courtesy of Shadai Stallion Station
