b4breeding

This article looks at the damsires and grandamsires of horses entered in the 2012 New Zealand Sales of the Stars Yearling Sales, and reflects on sire and damsire trends over the past 10 years or more. The article was originally published in Breeding Matters, the magazine of NZ Standardbred Breeders Assn.

At yearling sales time the focus is rightly on the individual yearlings and the sires. However there is much to muse over in the damsires and grandamsires of the yearlings. While the financial ‘bottom line’ of selling yearlings is about covering costs or making a profit/loss, the other bottom line of interest to breeders is the changing genetic pool of our better broodmares.

I use the term “better” with some caution because there are many excellent mares whose progeny don’t appear at a yearling sale, mainly from the breeder’s choice to keep a filly, race a colt or because the individual foal had an issue. However overall our best performing families are represented at the sales much of the time and the sales remain a good way to judge what breeders and buyers perceive to be commercial and attractive.

It’s also interesting to see which sires are making an early appearance as damsires. Like those before them, the genetic makeup of our new damsires will have considerable influence on the genetic pool of our mares and therefore what future stallions might have more ‘luck’ when they dip into that pool.

In the past 20 years New Zealand has been a leading player in the resurgence of the Direct Scooter line through In The Pocket. We’ve also brought a ton of Tar Heel into our pedigrees, with both Holmes Hanover and In The Pocket having Tar Heel as their damsire. Falcon Seelster chipped in with Overtrick as his damsire as well as Breath O Spring close up in his sire’s predigree.

We have been very loyal to Falcon Seelster, In The Pocket and Holmes Hanover over a considerable period of time and as a result a significant number of our broodmares carry ‘great old bloodlines’ relatively close up in their pedigrees.

The lack of Abercrombie, Artsplace, Western Hanover and the more successful siring sons of Cam Fella in most of our maternal lines (until very recently) has given us, as breeders, a different perspective from our northern hemisphere counterparts when we are assessing potential sires for our mares. It works the other way too; our different genetic pool of mares gives North American sires a chance to access something a bit different from much of their own mare populations.

In my view, this is a good thing, and the success of some of our homegrown sires like Christian Cullen, Courage Under Fire, Elsu and in future perhaps Changeover, Gotta Go Cullect and Gotta Go Cullen and others will help keep a “point of difference” to some extent in our broodmares.

Old timers still there

Looking through the 2012 Yearling Sales Catalogue and making comparisons with catalogues and stud books from 5, 10 and 20 years ago, you can see a natural changing of the guard.

Grand old names still strongly featuring as grandamsires of 2012 yearlings include Noodlum, Lordship, El Patron, Lumber Dream, Mark Lobell and Nero’s BB.

Of the dominant sires that followed them, our ‘elder statesmen’ damsires Vance Hanover and Smooth Fella are represented as damsires 10 times each in the 2012 sales catalogue, and as grandamsires 34 and 27 times respectively. Game Pride appears 15 times as grandamsire only.

Their producing daughters are now around 20 years old, and although a few will go on for another year or so, the names of Vance Hanover and Smooth Fella and Game Pride are shifting quickly now one column further to the right in the pedigree chart.

The enduring sires from the 1990s

Of the “newish” sires that were available 20 years ago, which ones are still making their presence felt in 2012 as a damsire and grandamsire?

Glancing through the 1991/92 stud book there were many stallions early in their careers who have made little impact in the longer term – but also several who succeeded as sires and damsires and are already matching numbers with Vance Hanover and Smooth Fella as grandamsires.

Holmes Hanover and Soky’s Atom are the key ones, of course, with New York Motoring, Butler BG and OK Bye also having significant grandamsire credits for 2012 yearlings (see Table 1).

Holmes Hanover is the standout, represented in the 2012 yearling sales catalogue 55 times as a damsire and 34 times as a grandamsire.

Table 1: Sires relatively new 20 years ago who are showing up strongly as grandamsires in the 2012 yearling sales catalogue:

Sires	Grandamsire credits
Soky’s Atom	48
HolmesHanover	34
New YorkMotoring	19
ButlerBG	18
OK Bye	12
Bo Scots Blue Chip	11
Tuapeka Knight	9
Talk About Class	8
ChiolaHanover	8
Gee Whiz	8

Young guns take over

Of course in mid 1990s, three stallions were about to arrive who would change the look of our future pedigree pages.

In The Pocket, Falcon Seelster and Sundon were exceptional sires and over the past 5-10 years they have shown up strongly as damsires too – not only by the sheer weight of mare numbers but also because of they add genuine class to pedigrees. Their reputation as sires grew quickly – and that meant many of their mares who were not raced or only lightly raced were still desirable as commercial broodmares for the yearling sales.

By 2002 their mares were just popping up in the yearling sales catalogue – In The Pocket with 10 damsire credits, and Falcon Seelster and Sundon with 1 each.

Ten years later, in the 2012 catalogue, they play a huge role as damsires: In The Pocket has grown to 52 credits, Falcon Seelster to 34 and Sundon to 31. Already they are sneaking into the grandamsire column as well – In The Pocket with 17 grandamsire credits, Falcon Seelster with 1 and Sundon with 2.

Of the 52 In The Pocket mares in this year’s catalogue, 10 have gone to Bettor’s Delight, 9 to Art Major and 8 to Elsu, 5 to Grinfromeartoear, and 5 to McArdle, while other breeders are trying matches that add more Direct Scooter influence either through the dam or sire line – American Ideal (5), Mach Three (3) and Santanna Blue Chip (1).

The popular choice for the 34 Falcon Seelster mares in the 2012 yearling sales catalogue were sons or grandsons of In The Pocket – Christian Cullen (7), Courage Under Fire (5) and Gotta Go Cullect (2) and Gotta Go Cullen (1). Add in Mach Three (3) and Somebeachsomewhere (1), and you find that 55% of the Falcon Seelster mares in the catalogue were crossed with Direct Scooter line sires.

Sundon remains a highly commercial damsire. Monarchy is the cross of choice for Sundon mares at the sales (8), but he is equalled for 2012 yearlings by newcomer Majestic Son (8).

Some of the challengers may surprise you

It comes as no surprise that Christian Cullen is at the top of the next up-and-coming damsires in the 2012 catalogue with 33 credits, but I was surprised to see that Badlands Hanover is level pegging with him, also the damsire of 33 yearlings (up from 28 in 2011).

The handsome local rich boy and the immigrant blue collar worker are both doing a fantastic job.

Of the Christian Cullen mares, 6 have yearlings by sires that are also from the Direct Scooter line – Mach Three (5), Somebeachsomewhere (1), and one by Santanna Blue Chip who has Direct Scooter in his maternal pedigree. Art Major, Bettor’s Delight, Elsu and Grinfromeartoear make up the majority of other sires for Christian Cullen mares in the catalogue.

Badlands Hanover’s siring career has had commercial ups and downs, but he is now a major player as a quality broodmare sire as well as having another turn in favour as a commercial sire (12 yearlings in 2012).

Of his 33 mares in the 2012 catalogue, 9 were crossed with McArdle. It’s the same cross as Le Sol and Smile With Me, but nothing much else among McArdle’s successful progeny to date, so it will be interesting to see if there is any similarity in type among those yearlings and how they perform in future. Of course Badlands has crossed quite well with Falcon Seelster, sire of McArdle, and that might have formed part of the thinking here, as well as looking for earlier strength and speed.

Badlands’ reputation of producing tough fillies has probably been a factor in persuading breeders and buyers to take a punt. He carries a lot of Hal Dale blood well back in his pedigree, and as a sire he has crossed well with Holmes Hanover mares, In The Pocket mares and other mares with Direct Scooter and Tar Heel blood, but also with Falcon Seelster. So I would think his chances are good of clicking as a damsire with some of the new sires who have those influences in their maternal lines, like Art Official, Santanna Blue Chip, Shadow Play and Tintin In America – and these are sires that may add some early speed as well.

Tip o’ the hat to Nevele R Stud who managed Badlands’ siring career and breeders who kept the faith.

Another up-and-coming damsire is Presidential Ball, who was always in a higher service fee range even though his reception at the sales was mixed. He belongs to the Cam Fella sireline, which Kiwi breeders became a bit wary of, but he brought in some very different maternal bloodlines that probably relished the older genetic references in many of our mares.

In the 2012 sales catalogue, Presidential Ball is the damsire of 24 yearlings (up from 16 in 2011). Eight of the 24 Presidential Ball mares have gone to Christian Cullen, and 3 each to Art Major, Grinfromeartoear and McArdle. Presidential Ball was a finer, medium sized sire who often left that sort of foal but for that very reason many of them could get up and run early, and they were quick. It’s possible that breeders may be looking for sires that can add a bit more physical scope and strength in the type of sires they are going to.

Live or Die has 31 mares represented, with Art Major (6), Christian Cullen (5) and Mach Three (5) the preferred sires, and 10 other sires getting a go – which reflects his versatility as a damsire.

Worth a mention are Beach Towel (9 damsire credits) and Sands A Flyin (12), a son of Beach Towel. The Mach Three-Beach Towel cross that produced Somebeachsomewhere and Sir Lincoln has encouraged breeders to send 6 of the 9 Beach Towel mares to Mach Three, and 5 of the 12 Sands A Flyin mares to Mach Three or his full brother Extreme Three. Jenna’s Beach Boy, another son of Beach Towel, has only 3 damsire credits and one of those was sent to Mach Three.

Artsplace and Artiscape (7 each) are trying to find a niche as damsires, with their mares’ sires mainly chosen from the Direct Scooter sireline. None have gone to Badlands Hanover, a son of Western Hanover, which is a little surprising – and likewise only two Badlands mares were sent to Artsplace or Art Major, a son of Artsplace. It looks like type and speed are greater influences in choice than the so-called Western Hanover/Artsplace “golden cross”.

New kids on the block

It’s never a sudden transition. From when a sire stands his first season, it is at least 8 years until one of his daughters can have a yearling at the sales, and another year at least before that foal can show ability as a racehorse. So the reputation of a stallion as a damsire takes many years to get established.

Making an early appearance in the damsire column are Mach Three (4 credits in 2012, up from 2 in 2011), Bettor’s Delight (2,1), Courage Under Fire (2,3), McArdle (1,1) and Washington VC (4,4). Western Terror has one damsire credit, as does Elsu. (There are a few others, but here I am focusing on successful, commercial sires that are likely to play a bigger role in future as damsires rather than one-offs.)

A few years from now, Mach Three and Bettor’s Delight dams will be much more to the fore, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some early Art Major and Grinfromeartoear mares arriving in the catalogue who will be nicely placed with some of the newer sires available such as Jereme’s Jet and Shadow Play as well as our speedy young sires from the Direct Scooter sireline.

There are also plenty of 4 and 5 year old McArdle mares around now that owners may be wanting to try as broodmares, and it will be interesting to see if he follows in his father’s footsteps and over time becomes a highly regarded damsire in spite of not producing many really top fillies to date.

Thanks to people like Brian West having confidence in Courage Under Fire fillies, I’d expect his numbers of commercial damsires to grow quickly too, and his mares will be spoilt for choice with existing and incoming sires.

Perhaps the most interesting damsire credits for trotters are the 5 for Muscles Yankee – these wouldn’t have been cheap mares to breed and those that haven’t raced or not raced successfully are bound to be tried as broodmares. The 5 Muscles Yankee mares are crossed to Majestic Son (2) and CR Commando (2), and Continentalman (1). Continentalman also has 5 damsire credits, and those mares are crossed to Majestic Son (2), Sundon (1), Monarchy (1) and Brylin Boyz (1), but Continentalman doesn’t carry the same commercial aura as Muscles Yankee so he will need to develop his reputation the hard way if he is to grow in numbers as a top trotting damsire.

Train spotting

Only 5 sires appear as a sire, a damsire and grandamsire in the 2012 catalogue – Sundon (13 as a sire, 31 as a damsire, 2 as a grandamsire), Falcon Seelster (7, 34, 1), Live Or Die (6, 31, 2), Sands A Flyin (5, 12, 1) and Artsplace (3, 7, 1 but via imported mare). In The Pocket would have sneaked in last year with two as a sire, but this year he is represented only as a damsire and grandamsire. It was technically feasible that Holmes Hanover could have been represented as a sire also via frozen semen, but the last Holmes Hanover yearling through the sales was in 2010 Lot 447 on Christchurch’s third day, his sole representative. So Holmes Hanover also only appears as a damsire and grandamsire.

For those who like trainspotting, the yearling sales are a great hunting ground. If horses are bred on very similar crosses, will they be a similar type? Or are there elements in the pedigree that make us go “Oh I see what they are trying!!”

Table 2 shows the lots with the same sire, damsire and grandamsire.

Sire	Damsire	Grandamsire	Christchurch	Karaka
American Ideal	In The Pocket	Soky’s Atom	328, 388
Art Major	Christian Cullen	Soky’s Atom	58, 230
Art Major	In The Pocket	HolmesHanover	173	188
Art Major	Live or Die	HolmesHanover	109, 113
Bettor’s Delight	BadlandHanover	Nero’s BB	14, 319	100
Bettor’s Delight	In The Pocket	New YorkMotoring	65	19
Christian Cullen	Falcon Seelster	Vance Hanover		26, 121, 165
Christian Cullen	HolmesHanover	El Patron	133	179
Christian Cullen	Live Or Die	HolmesHanover	303	128
Christian Cullen	Presidential Ball	ButlerBG	99	52
Christian Cullen	Presidential Ball	In The Pocket	80	172
Elsu	HolmesHanover	Noodlum	382	110
Elsu	In The Pocket	Smooth Fella	289, 305
Elsu	Sands A Flyin	Nero’s BB	52, 342
Elsu	Soky’s Atom	Lordship	90	129
Grinfromeartoear	In The Pocket	New YorkMotoring		87, 148
Grinfromeartoear	In The Pocket	Soky’s Atom	42	126
Grinfromeartoear	Soky’s Atom	Lordship	142	28
Jereme;s Jet	HolmesHanover	Smooth Fella	45	71
Mach Three	BadlandsHanover	Soky’s Atom		37, 135, 185
Mach Three	HolmesHanover	Bo Scots Blue Chip	83, 329
Mach Three	HolmesHanover	Smotth Fella	91	79
Majestic Son	Sundon	Game Pride	35, 97
McArdle	BadlandsHanover	HolmesHanover	89, 335
McArdle	BadlandsHanover	Nero’s BB	46, 286
McArdle	HolmesHanover	Bo Scots Blue Chip	130	7
McArdle	HolmesHanover	Lordship	20	159
McArdle	In The Pocket	Vance Hanover	18, 53,	132
Monarchy	Sundon	Game Pride	34, 354	103

In this article I’ve just focused on overall trends and the shifts that may have most impact on our future breeding stock.

What I haven’t covered are some interesting ‘one-off” pedigrees where breeders are trying something different, perhaps inbreeding or the Rasmussen Factor or where imported mares are trying to establish a Downunder family, or where a three quarter brother or sister to a well known horse has been bred.

I’m not aware of the rationale behind specific breeding decisions for yearling sales, so I may well be missing some important reasons why a sire is being favoured for a particular damsire. I would be very interested to find out – and happy for anyone to share thoughts in general or describe their specific cases througha comment to my blog or you can email me at bee.pears@xtra.co.nz

Table 3: Sires with 5 or more credits as damsires in 2012 yearling sales catalogue

Name of sire	Credits as damsire in 2012 catalogue
HolmesHanover	55
In The Pocket	52
Soky’s Atom	36
Falcon Seelster	34
BadlandsHanover	33
Christian Cullen	33
Sundon	31
Live Or Die	31
Presidential Ball	24
New YorkMotoring	12
Sands A Flyin	12
Dream Away	11
Life Sign	10
Smooth Fella	10
Vance Hanover	10
Beach Towel	9
Artsplace	7
Artiscape	7
Fake Left	7
Armbro Operative	6
Caprock	6
ButlerBG	5
OK Bye	5
Gee Whiz	5
ButlersBG	5
Continentalman	5
Muscles Yankee	5