b4breeding

I was doing some research recently for a blog reader who has an Angus Hall mare he wants to breed from. What sire might suit? As always, I probe into the mare’s own pedigree and type, and try to identify the things that you would want to reinforce or build on, and the things that might be weakness to counteract.

It all led me, quite excitedly, to one of the French sires offered by Haras Des Trotteurs (loosely translated as The Trotters Stud Farm) which is doing down under breeders a huge favour by negotiating good deals to give more consistent access to frozen semen from top French sires.

French sire Quaker Jet

The sire that came up as a great match for the mare was Quaker Jet, a son of Love You but perhaps more importantly a grandson of the great Coktail Jet.

The thing that struck me most when looking at Quaker Jet’s pedigree is how beautifully balanced it is, to the point, almost, of in-breeding. He reminds me of pacing sire He’s Watching in that regard. I described that sire’s pedigree as “a perfect Easter Egg” and like Quaker Jet he offers huge opportunities to add fuel to the fire or to out-cross for “hybrid vigour”. But you have to think a bit.

Quaker Jet is 2 x 2 to half siblings Coktail Jet and Delmonica Jet, so the mare Armbro Glamour appears 3 x 3 in his pedigree, in the maternal line of his sire (Love You) and in the maternal line of his dam (Jenny Jet). Both Coktail Jet and Delmonica Jet were very well performed horses – Coktail Jet legendary at almost $2m EU, and Delmonica Jet 6 wins and over $100k EU.

But wait, there’s more! as they say in the “infomercials”.

Go back further in Armbro Glamour’s pedigree and you find a lot of really lovely influences that could add a lot of value to certain mares in this part of the world. The timing of Quaker Jet is almost perfect. Armbro Glamour comes from the incredibly important trotting family of Goddess Hanover. In this case, Cassin Hanover (a Hoot Mon daughter of Goddess Hanover, and so a sister to Arpege). Yes, this is the family of Angus Hall, Andover Hall, and Conway Hall, as well as Texas. Ayres and many others. And it is a family equally well known and highly regarded in Europe and North America. It is a family that likes finding itself again, but also has some well discovered “clicks” with sires/families like Speedy Count and Super Bowl.

But what does this mean for New Zealand and Australian trotting breeders?

It is great news. As I said, the timing is really good. Although we look to American sires to add speed to our down under trotting families, there is growing recognition that European sires (especially those with a dose of historical American breeding) will really enhance the quality of our trotters in the long term. Already some sires – like Love You – have caught the imagination. They may not be so much sires of speedy 2yo trotters, but they are sires of class and have the ability to strengthen and improve our mares.

And for breeders, that is gold. Well, gold at the end of the rainbow. But we all know that you have to keep building a stronger and stronger foundation to maximise the likelihood of consistent successful breeding. Looking at what works well with these bloodlines, I see strongly the influence of Speedy Count and of Super Bowl adding value when it counts, and folding back into the family in the pedigrees of some of the best offspring in modern times.

What is exciting is that we have some lines already here that could do well to look at Quaker Jet as a cross – older lines (such as Count Bay mares, Straphanger mares), as well as newer ones from the “Hall” brothers, particularly Angus Hall but in future Andover Hall. Some of these mares are at or will be reaching breeding age. Look at the potential there! Goddess Hanover is a driving force in those brother’s pedigrees, through Texas on their maternal line linking with Genya Hanover (a daughter of Ayres) on their sires maternal line.

Then let’s go wider. As I mentioned, this Goddess Hanover family clicks well with itself but also with Speedy Count and Super Bowl – those are the intersections that seem to really step up to another level. Not every time, but enough to make us sit up and take notice.

So here is a popular broodmare sire that is putting his hoof in the air for a chance with Quaker Jet – Armbro Invasion. Look at his pedigree, particularly his maternal line – and you will see a heap of added values to this match.

I will go into the detail in the next blog. But keen to hear from people who have thought about this and already acted on it.

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