Among the awards presented today by the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA) is a 2013 Broodmare of the Year award to Worldly Treasure:
The pacing broodmare of the year, Worldly Treasure, is the dam of world champion Captaintreacherous p,3,1:47.1 ($2,973,286). Worldly Treasure herself was no slouch on the track, taking a 2-year-old mark of 1:53.1 en route to earning $97,923. She hails from a strong maternal family, as her full sister is the outstanding pacing mare Worldly Beauty, who was a two-time Dan Patch Award winner with nearly $2 million in career earnings.
They are both out of World Order p,3,1:53 ($267,205), whose dam was Rodine Hanover p,2,1:54 ($231,630)-the dam of Real Artist p,3,Q1:51 ($424,94) and the grand-dam of Art Major p,4,1:48.4 ($2,727,224), Perfect Art p,3,1:51 ($629,122) and Panspacificflight p,3,1:50.3 ($368,843). She is also owned by White Birch Farm of Allentown, NJ.
See here for full report on all the awards
This is a maternal line (Romola Hal) which, for me, is really ranking up there with the all-time greats like Golden Miss, Spinster/Old Maid and Roya McKinney and her sisters. I’m talking about “engine room” power that endures and adds value.
Check out also my blog about Somebeachsomewhere crosses of gold and Captain Treacherous (the section down the end titled “Credit should go to strong maternal lines”. Often sires/sirelines get most of the credit for a great horse (“the brilliant son of …..”) whereas the maternal line may not get much of a mention. And yet, think how many shots a good sire has at leaving great progeny compared to a maternal family through broodmares – foal by foal, year by year.
This is one maternal line that is popping up in so many top-level cross-references that it is getting the recognition it richly deserves. Yet another branch of it leads to Sands A Flyin, which makes for some interesting crosses with Sands A Flyin mares and some of the very good sires from the same family, although it hasn’t been tried much as yet – more breeders are trying for a connection via the Mach Three-Beach Towel cross (Sands A Flyin being the son of Beach Towel of course), and are patronising Mach Three and his full brother Extreme Three in significant numbers. It’s an interesting thing to ponder on – which my blog on the Somebeachsomewhere crosses of gold canvases. Comments from readers and breeders welcome!
Other links
Worldly Beauty – Odds On Racing’s Legend Horse of the Month for September 2013
Comments from breeder White Birch Farm on World Order, their “foundation mare”
b4breeding 
[…] is that he is a son of Worldly Treasure, rather than that he is a son of Somebeachsomewhere. See my previous blog about his maternal family which is an exciting branch of the great Romola Hal […]
[…] Fifth on her maternal line is the great mare Romola Hal – she sits in the same spot on Art Major’s maternal line and appears in the pedigree of many top horses. Read here a Harnesslink article from 2008 that provides an overview of the Romola Hal/Romola Hanover family. Romola Hanover also pops up in the maternal pedigree of Live Or Die and others via her son Romeo Hanover. It’s a classic family now, one that was famous in its day and is coming alive again thanks largely to the efforts of Romola Hanover’s grand-daughter Rodine Hanover. See a previous blog of mine here […]