With the arrival of He’s Watching as a top racehorse and now a siring option, the closer in/line breeding of the Adora/K Nora bloodline is having quite a resurgence. A double up to the magnificent mare Three Diamonds (a grand daughter of K Nora) should be worth its weight in gold and of course He’s Watching also has a double up to Leah Almahurst who is from another branch of the K Nora family.
This K Nora maternal line is very classy and enduring and, like the Golden Miss one, seems to throw up some exceptional horses when bred back to itself.
American Ideal at Woodlands Stud. (Photo Bee Pears)
The closest we can get in New Zealand is the American Ideal x Life Sign cross which puts Three Diamonds 3×3 in a horse’s pedigree. Remember American Ideal is also bringing in K Nora via Leah Almahurst in his sireline.
So far in New Zealand American Ideal has had 12 foals from Life Sign mares. Two of those are unregistered, 8 are of racing age and 3 starters for 2 winners to date. I checked the USTA statistics for the same American Ideal x Life Sign cross: 26 foals so far, 24 starters, 73% winners, 42% <1.55 and 19% (5 horses) winning $100,000+. The best horse so far has won $248,686 to date.
Given US-type statistics of this nature often result in percentages well above NZ equivalents (for a number of reasons), I would describe the cross as a very solid one but yet to result in any outstanding foal.
Those American Ideals that have been outstanding, such as fantastic filly American Jewel and colt He’s Watching, have had a dam who is a direct descendant of K Nora. But given how hard it is for us to get Adora/K Nora on that maternal bottom line in New Zealand, we may just have to work with what we’ve got.
So is the doubling to Three Diamonds adding value in practice? I would say: yes. No guarantees and other factors are at work, but doubling on a great female line with a great individual mare is a good move. All too often the focus is on doubling the males. But the drivers of many pedigrees downstream will be the classy females.
For the 2014 yearling sales I flagged up the nicely bred Six Diamonds and I noticed he had his first start at Gore the other day, and rattled home for a good third after getting an early check. He was sold for $34,000, and his full sister Southern Rain is in this year’s 2016 Premier Yearling Sale in Christchurch.
She is one of two yearlings in the PGG Wrightson Sale Of The Stars 2016 yearling sales bred on the American Ideal x Life Sign cross, both selling at the Premier sale in Christchurch:
Lot 353 Southern Rain (filly)
Lot 353 American Ideal x Raindowne
American Ideal x Raindowne – Life Sign
Breeders/vendors: Mrs J M Davie, P T and D J Cummings
Preparer: Dan Cummings
I think Six Diamonds will go on to win quite a few races, and this filly would be an “ideal diamond” as a broodmare. For New Zealand this filly’s family heritage is “solid as” in its own right, going back to Maureen’s Dream (half sister to Tuapeka Knight) – and of course her daughter Tuapeka Wings was the dam of the American Ideal multiple group winner Ideal Scott. The more immediate family is very consistent and it is reassuring to see that Raindowne herself was a well performed race horse with 5 wins and time trialled at 1.56.4.
Check out the video on the PGG Wrightson Sale of the Stars catalogue online, and she is a powerful looking filly.
Lot 487 Jack Starr (colt)
American Ideal x Zoe’s Charm – Life Sign
Breeder/vendor: M Caig
Preparer: Michelle Caig
Photos now posted on PGG Wrightson Sale of the Stars catalogue website.
Again, this brings the Three Diamond double up into a very well known family – Bella Ragazza, the dam of the great Holmes DG and Giovanetto, and several other good winners. Of her 11 foals, 9 were colts. Of her 2 fillies Zoe’s Charm is, to be blunt, the one to carry on this line.
The fact the mare was by Life Sign was a factor that influenced her to get Zoe’s Charm. The mare had an Art Official filly at foot which was sold. Michelle is stepping up the quality of breeding, with her first choice being American Ideal for Jack Starr and next to Bettor’s Delight.
Michelle describes Jack Starr as an outstanding type, a good size, quite thoroughbred looking, and correct.
“He’s got a lovely head and a beautiful eye. He’ll click naturally into a pace when we are exercising them on the jogger.”
There is another yearling, this time in the Australasian sale at Karaka, who is bred with a double up of Three Diamonds, but through her grandam:
Lot 144 Lady Liberty (filly)
American Ideal x Bonnie Maguire – Dream Away.
Breeder/vendor: A K W Bublitz, Mrs E E Bublitz
Preparer: Tony Grayling, Woodlands Stud
No photo available yet.
The filly’s grandam is a Life Sign mare.
This filly is from a mare that Andrew Bublitz trained and raced with his mother. The family is quite thin on the page – you need to go back to the 3rd dam, Body Electric to get some black type and find her son Body Armour who toughed out 15 wins over 5 years of racing in Australia. And back further Robert Harlyn was also a good Aussie campaigner, and his sister Janet Harlyn has produced a branch of tough raceway horses in New Zealand.
The Bublitz have been wise to resist going to less worthy siring options as some branches have, and instead are building on the strengths in the breed and going to a top sire that suits. American Ideal is producing tough horses that sometimes are not show-off 2yo types. But they seem to have a touch of class and speed about them and trainers/buyers love them.
The fillies and mares have held their own as racehorses in this family – Body Electric (5 wins, 1.56.9), Janet Harlyn (5 wins, including 2nd in the Grt Nth Oaks Gp 1), Miss Abagail (8 wins, 11 places) and the dam of the tough Kilkeel Lady (3 wins, 26 places), and in Australia My Killarney Miss went 1.57.4 … and so on. So I’d look at this filly in terms of racing potential. If Life Sign can add the gems from his own genes, then this family has potential to pop up a durable, tough but also very classy mare that might in future win some damn good races.
b4breeding 
Another way to get the Three Diamonds double up is American Ideal/Real Desire mare
I currently have a colt foal from Awesome Belmer with this cross & back in foal
Totally agree and I am going back to some of the other possible crosses like that in my next blog. I started to investigate those and got too diverted from the three yearlings I wanted to cover! Just checked out your Real Desire mare and wow! she did a great job as a racemare. Her own breeding a double up to Golden Miss line (which I love, and also reference in the blog I’m doing next) and then you are doing the Three Diamond double up with American Ideal. So very much going a similar path to He’s Watching and why not? Did the pedigree of He’s Watching directly influence you?
Hi Bee, I hope this helps with the Real Desire U20 Golden Miss family, It’s certainly a fine family with plenty of options breeding back to a different stallion from the same greater maternal family to try and duplicate Golden Miss, I tried this experiment a few years ago, I’m a big fan of Real Desire and sent a Safely Kept mare to him hoping to tap into a duplication of Golden Miss, The mare was safely in foal and then slipped, This was very disappointing but after following Real Desire and his progeny/broodmares, It’s clear that he’s throwing to Three Diamonds behind his sire Life Sign and not towards Golden Miss, I think if you want to explore the Three Diamond influence or double ups, The cross with Three Diamonds and Leah Almahurst is showing lots of promise, He’s Watching is a classic example and Western Ideal is the horse I use in this family as a reference point, If you have a look at Classic Families and look at the mares that Western Ideal has been bred to in his own greater U7 maternal family, It’s quite compelling, He’s left a few smart ones when bred this way but have a look at his U7 daughters, Some have raced but not all or their racing record might have been ordinary but look at what these daughters have left in the barn, Very interesting indeed, Lots of 1.50 speed.
Agree, and yes I’ve mentioned that myself regarding Real Desire throwing more to Life Sign on type of foal he’s left. But as you say it still brings in that classy Golden Miss maternal line that adds value to his pedigree in terms of being a sire or more likely now a damsire. It sits there in the background. He also brings the very consistent Shy Ann family via Trenton. I’ve written about that family previously. Real Desire is a bit of a puzzle because he often leaves foals with real speed ability, but sometimes their physical lankiness and size (not thickset, but tall) can cause confusion for trainers and owners. The can be weak as youngsters. They are intelligent horses but later developing in terms of mental maturity so definitely not natural 2yo types unless the mare has really stamped the foal. Those are my observations, but I still think he was hard done by here as a sire. With his larger most recent crop starting to come through now, we will probably get a better feel for his true potential downunder.
[…] bring in 2). Remember this whole discussion kicked off with my blog about three of them here, as they are ones who have gone to American Ideal to increase the number of […]