Continue reading »]]> Welcome back dear readers.

Recently some interesting races have been run the winners of which should be brought to your attention. By now you know that I’m an adherent to the theory that stallions can be used to reinforce their own female line thereby concentrating classic speed the result of which can be a classic racehorse or a cluster mare.

The two horses in question both two-year-olds of 2013 are Red Reveur winner of the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies G1, and Global View who was victorious in the Generous Stakes G3 run at Hollywood Park. There are distinct similarities in their pedigrees which will be apparent.

We’ll start with Red Reveur who is now 3 for 3 but was lucky to hold off the hard charging favorite Harp Star by a nose. Red Reveur has a pedigree that closely matches two beautifully bred stallions that stand at Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky. The stallions are Eskendereya and Astrology. Both of these stallions are by leading sires in Giant’s Causeway and A P Indy respectively, and because of their breeding are top stallion prospects.

First let’s look at the pedigree of Red Reveur and then we’ll compare her to Eskendereya and Astrology.

Pedigree Red Reveur

The place to begin an examination of Red Reveur’s pedigree is her 5th dam Cosmah. (It should also be noted that Red Reveur’s 6th dam is Almahmoud) Cosmah is a cluster mare having such horses as Cannonade (Kentucky Derby), L’Emigrant, ( Poule d’Essai des Poulains) Tosmah, (Beldame, Arlington Classic) Halo (Lawrence Realization) Flawlessly (Champion), tracing to her in tail female.

From Cosmah we move a couple of generations forward to Red Reveur’s 3rd dam, Dancing Free by Dancing Count. While Dancing Count is an unheralded Maryland stallion he is important in one way. He is by Northern Dancer and is the first instance in this pedigree where a stallion is used to reinforce the female line. By breeding Dancing Count to Flamingo Way inbreeding to Almahmoud resulted. This inbreeding didn’t turn Dancing Free into an outstanding producer but it did set the stage for what would come later. An outcross stallion is then added to produce I’m Out the 2nd dam of Red Reveur before another reinforcing stallion in the form of Dixieland Band is added. Desaucered, Red Reveur’s dam has three crosses of her own female family which traces through Cosmah to Almahmoud.

When Stay Gold is bred to Desaucered to get Red Reveur the 2nd cross of Cosmah is added and the 4th cross of Almahmoud. Although not yet a classic winner Red Reveur has already won over 1 million dollars as a two-year-old, and has her classic year ahead.

The question remains how the pedigree of Red Reveur compares to that of the top stallion prospects Eskendereya and Astrology. We’ll take Eskendereya first. Like in the pedigree of Red Reveur, Eskendereya’s 5th dam is Cosmah. Their 3rd dams Dancing Free and Stellar Odyssey are bred almost exactly alike. The difference is that Dancing Free is by a son of Northern Dancer, in Dancing Count while Stellar Odyssey is by Northern Dancer himself. We all know that Dancing Count is no Northern Dancer although he provides the same inbreeding to Almahmoud albeit one generation further back.

Pedigree Dancing Free

Pedigree Stellar Oddyssey

By the time Aldabaran Light is bred to Giant’s Causeway to get Eskendereya there are 4 crosses of Almahmoud present two of which come through Cosmah. The 2nd cross of Cosmah in Eskendereya’s pedigree comes from the presence of Halo in Rahy. Red Reveur also has two crosses of Cosmah and 4 crosses of Almahmoud.

Astrology is in possession of different horses producing the same pattern. A good place to start our investigation of Astrology’s pedigree is with his 4th dam the Tulyar mare Animosity. She is inbred to the great cluster mare Plucky Liege through both her male and female line.
Pedigree Quiet Eclipse

Pedigree Animosity

Pedigree Quiet American

When you look at the above three pedigrees you will see that Animosity and Quiet American are bred alike when considering that both are the result of using a stallion to reinforce his own female line. Considering this, Quiet Eclipse then has four direct crosses of Plucky Liege. By direct crosses I’m referring to those from the direct female line of one of the horses in question. In Quiet American it is through Fappiano and Demure. In Animosity it is from Bois Roussel and Hostility. In addition there are 5 more crosses of the full brothers Bull Dog and Sir Gallahad III to be found in Quiet Eclipse’s pedigree which are not direct crosses. We find that Quiet Eclipse is a mare with at least 9 crosses of the great cluster mare Plucky Liege.

Global View

Global View won the Generous Stakes G3 at the end of the final Hollywood Park meet. He should have a bright future in that he is a son of Galileo who began his racing career as a two-year-old in North America. So far he is 2 for 2 and is already a graded stakes winner. What brought the horse to my attention is that his dam Egyptian Queen by Storm Cat. She is inbred to her own female line as Storm Cat her sire is by Storm bird a son of South Ocean while Egyptian Queen’s 4th dam is also South Ocean. This family traces to the cluster mare Dark Display who is the ancestress of Battlefield (Travers, Withers) Spoken Fur (Coaching Club American Oaks), Green Tune (French 2,000 Guineas) and South Ocean herself (Canadian Oaks). In Global View’s pedigree are three different instances of the stallions being used to reinforce their own female families Galileo’s 2nd dam Allegretta is a result of this cross as is Quiet American. It will be interesting to watch the development of this young horse which is now at Tampa Bay Downs awaiting his 2014 debut
Pedigree Global View
Pedigree Egyptian Queen 5

Continue reading »]]>  The Kentucky Derby is May 3rd.2014, a little over 64 days away. Now is the time when most racing enthusiasts begin to calculate which horse may be standing in the winners circle bedecked with the blanket of roses. As you can see from the title of this essay I’ve already made my choice based on pedigree. Although invariably there will be many well bred horses vying for the winners share and possible immortality I have chosen Midnight Hawk because he represents a breeding pattern that has in the past resulted in a concentration of classic speed. With that in mind let’s look at what makes Midnight Hawk a very strong classic candidate.

We should begin with his connections as he is owned by Michael E. Pegram and trained by Bob Baffert. This combination was responsible for bringing Real Quiet to within a hairs breath of winning the Triple Crown. Experience counts in almost any endeavor and that is very true when preparing a horse for the classics where once slip can spell disaster.

Midnight Hawk is by Midnight Lute who was a dual winner of the Breeder’s Cup Sprint. Because Midnight Lute won the Breeder’s Cup Sprint twice one might come up with the mistaken idea that he will be a sire of speed. In fact, it looks like the exact opposite effect is in play. Most of Midnight Lute’s offspring are winning at middle distances over a mile despite being produced from mares by very speedy broodmares sires.

The list includes;

All of the races listed above are at 1 mile or over. The Queen’s Plate is Canada’s classic race run at 1 ¼ miles. Consider these additional facts. Mylute was 2^nd beaten a neck by Revolutionary in the Louisiana Derby. Mylute then finished 3^rd to Oxbow in the Preakness Stakes at 1 3/16 miles. Govenor Charlie won the Sunland Park Derby at 1 1/8 miles. Midnight Ballet finished 1^st in the Sharp Cat Stakes at 1 1/16 miles. Midnight Lucky won the 1 mile Acorn Stakes by 6 ¼ lengths over Close Hatches and Kauai Katie and the Sunland Park Oaks at 1 1/16 miles by 8 lengths in track record time beating 588,000 earner Unusual Way. The versatile Shakin It Up won the 7 furlong Malibu Stakes G1 before beating his stable mate Govenor Charlie in the 1 1/16 Strub Stakes. The broodmare sires of Midnight Lute’s best runners are not noted to be great stamina influences. Midnight Aria winner of the 1 ¼ mile Queen’s Plate is out of a daughter of Mt.Magazine and unraced son of Mr. Prospector. Even Storm Cat’s daughters, as good as they are as broodmares, are not known for producing classic winners. This leads one to believe that Midnight Lute will prove to be an influence for stamina especially when bred to classic type broodmares.

Where Midnight hawk is concerned we can see he has the right connections, and he is by the right sire. Our next concern is what does his dam contribute to the equation? Midnight Hawk is the produce of the Wolf Power mare Miss Wineshine. Although Wolf Power can’t be compared to a stallion like A P Indy as a broodmare sire, he does compare favorably in one area. Whereas A P Indy’s daughters have over the last few years produced no less than 15 runners that have earned a racing index of 100 or higher, Wolf Power’s produced only two.  A horse with a 100 racing index earns the equivalent of the average purse for the year in which it races, per start. A horse with a 1000 racing index earns 10 times the average purse per start.

While Wolf Power has had only two daughters produce high indexed runners with indexes of 100 plus the two happen to be multiple Santa Anita Handicap winner Milwaukee Brew with a 759 index and multiple Horse-of-the-Year Wise Dan with an index of 1139. This proves that Wolf Power’s daughters can produce runners of the highest class when other contributing factors are present.

Miss Wineshine’s racing index is 249. She was a very good two-year-old being a stakes winner who placed 2^nd to two-year-old champion Chilukki in the Debutante Stakes at Churchill Downs and 3^rd in the Spinaway Stakes G1 at Saratoga. In the Spinaway the filly that finished 2^nd ahead of Miss Wineshine was Surfside the following year’s champion three-year-old filly. A Summation of Miss Wineshine finds her to be a fast, sound filly which raced against the best and is sired by a broodmare sire that can get a mare which produces runners of the highest quality.

Now we get to the hidden factor that makes me think that Midnight Hawk will develop into a leader of his crop. If you look down his tail female line you will come to a mare named Best Dress a daughter of Roman and a foal of 1943. The following is a link to her pedigree.

Pedigree Best Dress

It’s easy to see that Best Dress is inbred to her own female line through Roman’s sire Sir Gallahad III and his full sister Marguerite De Valois. The dam of both of these horses is the immortelle matron Plucky Liege who produced 4 leading sires in Bull Dog, Sir Gallahad III, Admiral Drake and Bois Roussel. This cross of inbreeding to Plucky Liege is not an anomaly. One only has to look at the pedigree of Horse of the Year Roman Brother to see the exact same pattern. His dam Roman Zephyr is bred almost exactly like Best Dress. The only difference is the dam of one is by Man o’ War and the dam of the other is by haste. All of the other horses in the pedigree are the same.

Pedigree Roman Zephyr

Obviously when Plucky Liege was reinforced in Roman Brother’s dam a champion was the result, but when the same pattern reoccurred in Best Dress nothing happened. In the case of Midnight Hawk a second chance for the glory may be on the horizon. If you haven’t read my book Breeding by Design you might not understand the full implications of what I’m about to show you. If you follow the male line of Midnight Hawk you will come to his grandsire Quiet American. Like Roman Zephyr and Best Dress he is inbred to his own female line through sire and dam. Look at his pedigree

Pedigree Quiet American

Quiet American is inbred to Cequillo through both sire and dam. When you look at Cequillo’s pedigree you see that she traces through Marguerite De Valois to Plucky Liege. This scenario allows the male line of Quiet American (that of Fappiano) to reinforce the female family to which it is traces. Midnight Hawk has a quadruple cross of his own foundation female line and this very often leads to a concentration of classic speed.

Pedigree Cequillo

From my perspective Midnight Hawk has everything going for him. Top connections, up and coming classic sire, exactly the right sort of broodmare, and a quadruple cross of his foundation female line which often leads to classic success. He may not win the Derby but I think he will develop into a top three-year-old. For more information on concentrating classic speed visit broodmaresinc.com. If the concentration of classic speed takes place, as it likely will, then on the 1^st Saturday in May watch out for Midnight Hawk!

Continue reading »]]>

Heroic

In the book Great Thoroughbred Sires of the World Bill Whittaker calls Heroic the greatest all-around Australian bred Thoroughbred. That is a great accolade to place on Heroic making him an interesting subject for discussion. Whittaker goes on to say

“This handsome, prepotent son of Valais won 21 races from 5 furlongs to two miles in the best of company. He was tough and most importantly sound.”

As a stallion he led the sires list in Australia for 7 consecutive years until when 15 years of age he decided he was no longer interested in breeding mares. Since this website is dedicated to finding patterns that could reveal classic ability let’s look at Heroic’s pedigree.

Pedigree Horoic

Pedigree Valais

Pedigree Cicero

When looking at his dam Chersonese we see that she is a daughter of the great cluster mare Chelandry. We already know that Chelandry was inbred to her own foundation female line. She traces to Ellen Horne down her tail female line and picks up the 2nd cross from her great grandsire Bend Or. Heroic’s dam Chersonese picks up further reinforcement as her sire Cylgad has Bend Or as his great grandsire. Chersonese is in possession of three direct crosses of Ellen Horne.

That is the first half of the equation.
The 2nd part of the equation that makes Heroic what he is comes from his sire Valais.
Heroic’s sire Valais was nothing approaching a great racehorse but he did manage to win the very minor Newmarket Windsor Stakes. He was a much better stallion when imported to Australia where he not only sired Heroic but also Manfred who is sometimes mentioned in the same breath as Phar Lap. Valais is a son of Derby winner Cicero. A good place to begin with the examination of Valais is his 2nd dam Hamptonia. This mare is inbred to Beeswing through her son the great Newminster and his full sister Honeysuckle. With this powerful reinforcement Hamptonia earned the status of a star mare having produced 3 winners of 3 classics within the required 6 generations. They are Ixia (Irish Oaks), Pendennis (French 2,000 Guineas), Satanica (Argentine 1,000 Guineas). Hamptonia is important in this story here is her pedigree

Pedigree Hamptonia

Next look at the pedigree of Cicero the sire of Valais. Cicero’s dam is Gas by Ayrshire. You can see that Ayrshire is bred on the exact same pattern as Hamptonia. Newminster on top, and his full sister Honeysuckle on the bottom.

Pedigree Ayrshire

Ayrshire won the Derby, 2,000 Guineas, and Eclipse Stakes showing again that the pattern of using the male line to reinforce the female line works to produce classic ability. Remember Hamptonia with the same cross although not a classic winner developed into a star mare. One story concerning Ayrshire I’d like to pass on to you. His dam is the cluster mare Atalanta by Galopin. She once sold for seven shilling and sixpence (about 2 dollars), a wheelbarrow, and a service to a boar hog. She achieved cluster mare status by having the following trace to her within six generations. The previously mentioned Ayrshire, Bubbling Over (Kentucky Derby), Edelweiss (Coaching Club American Oaks), Brignano (Italian 2,000 Guineas), Hevresac II (11 times leading sire in Italy). She is also the 7th dam of Triple Crown winner Whirlaway.

Getting back to Cicero we see that he is bred on the exact same pattern as Chelandry. Just as Ayrshire and Hamptonia are bred alike; Cicero and Chelandry are bred alike in the same way. Cicero is the result of breeding a stallion from the male line of Bend Or (Cyllene) to a daughter of Illuminata (Gas). Chelandry is the result of breeding a stallion from the male line of Bend Or (Goldfinch) to Illuminata herself. Valais emulates Heroic’s dam in that he picks up a 3rd cross of Ellen Horne from his dam who is by Bend Or’s son Martagon. We then find Heroic’s sire Valais with 3 crosses of Ellen Horne and his dam Chersonese with 3 more.

Finally, it is important to recognize that Heroic is bred on the same pattern as Cicero and Chelandry. His grandsire Cicero traces to Illuminatta as does his dam Chersonese. In the case of Heroic he just happens to have six crosses of Ellen Horne, 3 from his sire and 3 from his dam.

Looking back at the essay on Midnight Hawk we see that he is inbred to Plucky Liege the same way that Heroic is inbred to Ellen Horne. In the case of Midnight Hawk he gets 2 crosses from his male line and 2 crosses from his female line. Is that enough to make him a classic horse? We shall see soon enough dear readers.

Continue reading »]]> This addition of Broodmares Inc will focus on the great cluster mare Chelandry. Although there are those who are familiar with her name few understand just how far reaching is her influence on the breed. We’ll get to Chelandry shortly. Before taking up the influence of Chelandry I’d once more like to take up the concept of cluster mares.

I’m using the term cluster mare rather then Matriarch or Foundation mare or any other term that describes the best producing mares in the history of the breed. Dennis Craig the author of Breeding Racehorses from Cluster Mares died unheralded and never achieved the status he deserved. It is only because I came upon his work 37 years ago that you are reading this now. The idea that certain mares are the source of classic speed in the Thoroughbred is paramount. That is the contribution that Mr. Craig made in the evaluation of pedigrees.  He wasn’t just interested in speed he was interested in classic speed. That is why the races he uses to determine a cluster mare are all classics of a mile or more. I believe the following is the reason he uses only classic distance races.

A thoroughbred can run ¼ of a mile splits at 24 seconds to a quarter for almost 2 miles as follows.

Here is my explanation of Mr. Craig’s work. Most thoroughbreds can run ¾ of a mile in 1:12, with 24 second splits, but when they reach a mile in 1:36 only good horses can accomplish this. When a horse runs 1 ¼ miles in 2:00 minutes flat it ranks among the elite. Only three horses in the history of the Kentucky Derby have won the race with times of two minutes or under they are Northern Dancer, 2:00, Monarchos, 1:59 4/5, and Secretariat 1:59 2/5.

When you reach the true classic 1 ½ mile distance of the Belmont Stakes only Secretariat was able to maintain the 24 second per ¼ split for that distance when he covered it in 2:24. Noor holds the 1 3/4 mile record of 2:54 4/5. If secretariat had been able to keep up his 24 second splits for a ¼ mile for another ¼ mile after winning the Belmont in 2:24 he would have completed a 1 ¾ miles in 2:48.

From this we can see that after a mile horses begin to slow down and after 1 ½ miles they slow down dramatically. Virtually no Thoroughbred can run 1 ¾ miles in 2:48 thus reeling off 24 second splits for that distance. It is my supposition that Dennis Craig chose the races he did to determine cluster mare status because he wasn’t just interested in mares that passed on speed, he was interested in mares that passed on Classic speed.

Bodemeister

That being said, let’s turn our attention back to the great cluster mare Chelandry. She was a foal of 1894 which was almost 120 years ago. The last top horse to appear in the United States from her direct female line was the 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes runner up Bodemeister, and there is no denying his quality. Again, since Chelandry was living over a century ago many of you may not be familiar with her. Since so much can be learned from a study of her let me begin by giving you an example of what a breed changing mare she was. To begin, within 12 generations 60 individual winners of 74 of the most important races in almost every major racing country trace in tail female to Chelandry. A further example of her importance can be found in Heroic who led the sires list in Australia for 7 consecutive years between 1932 to1938. The remarkable thing about Heroic is that he is bred along the same pattern as his great granddam Chelandry.

Heroic

Compare the two pedigrees;

Chelandry Pedigree

http://www.pedigreequery.com/chelandry

http://www.pedigreequery.com/heroic

Heroic Pedigree

In the case of Chelandry we see that her great grandsire Bend Or traces to Ellen Horse as does Chelandry’s dam Illuminata. In effect the sire line is used to reinforce the direct female line. Heroic is bred on the same pattern where his grandsire Cicero traces to Illuminata while his tail female line traces to the same mare.

To show the pervasive influence of Chelandry on the Thoroughbred I’m going to show all of the major winners tracing to her in tail female from each major racing country. I’ll show the horse, foaling date, major races won, and number of generations to Chelandry.

Chelandry

Obviously, Chelandry is a broodmare of profound importance historically. Previously we have shown that she is the result of male line reinforcement as her sire Goldfinch brings in the same strain of Ellen Horne her tail female line traces to. We’ve also show that Goldfinch after siring one crop in Great Britain (which included Chelandry) was exported to the United States to stand at James Ben Ali Haggin’s ranch in California where he was afforded little opportunity. Despite this lack of opportunity Goldfinch was able to sire another classic winner when his son Old England captured the 1902 renewal of the Preakness Stakes. Old England confirms that the breeding of Chelandry was no fluke as he has the exact same type of reinforcement found in her pedigree. Old England’s 4^th dam is Rouge Rose while his sire Goldfinch is a grandson of Bend Or whose dam is Rouge Rose.

Old England Pedigree

http://www.pedigreequery.com/old+england

So we find two classic winners descending from Ellen Horne (dam of Rouge Rose) on two different continents. Wouldn’t it be unusual if we spread our investigation a little bit farther and found another horse bred like Chelandry and Old England on a third continent. We only have to look at Westcourt, the winner of the 1917 Melbourne Cup to find such a horse.

Westcourt Pedigree

http://www.pedigreequery.com/westcourt

In the case of Westcourt his dam Trinket’s 4^th dam is Ellen Horne while his sire’s 5^th dam is the same mare. The classic winners Chelandry, Old England and Westcourt are all bred along the same lines, that being male line reinforcement of the female family.

By now you probably think you are in possession of enough information to breed your own version of Chelandry. Take a cluster mare and breed her to a stallion whose dam is also a cluster mare?  Well, that is almost right. 
But, (and it is a very big but) at the time of her foaling in 1894 neither Chelandry’s dam Illuminata nor her sire’s dam, Thistle had achieved cluster mare status. In the case of Illuminata she didn’t actually become a cluster mare until 1910 sixteen years after Chelandry’s foaling. Thistle didn’t become a cluster mare until 1907 which was thirteen years after Chelandry was foaled. So what appears to be a very simple procedure (breeding a cluster mare to a stallion whose dam is also a cluster mare) is not as easy as it would first appear.

For one thing very few horsemen know which mares were designated as Cluster Mares by Dennis Craig in his book Breeding Racehorses From Cluster mares. Since I’m resurrecting his book both through this website and my book Breeding by Design it is likely that the few remaining copies of Dennis Craig’s book will quickly disappear or become enormously expensive. Since this is likely to occur I will be listing on this site all of the mares that Dennis Craig designated as cluster mares.

An important fact to keep in mind is that Dennis Craig’s book was published In 1964, almost 50 years ago. At that time the last mares to achieve cluster mare status had occurred in the following years

It is easy to see that the last cluster mares designated by Dennis Craig achieved that status about 80 years ago. Since that time many mares in all of the major racing countries have become cluster mares. The problem lies in the fact that Dennis Craig is no longer around to document this. As I researched my book Breeding by Design I inadvertently discovered how to concentrate classic speed and therefore how to breed a cluster mare. With this information in hand I know who are the cluster mares in the modern era stretching from the 1930’s to the present. I also know which mares are in the process of achieving cluster mare status. By reading my book, Breeding by Design, and this website you will garner much information about these cluster mares.

However, if you understand the importance of the abstract concepts of thoroughbred horse breeding and are not the sort of person who has the time or inclination to deal with this concept, then I can help you realize your racing dreams and ambitions through my consulting service.

Consulting Services

For the rest of you that just love the study of thoroughbred genealogy I think you’re going to find the website very informative. I’m going to show how the breeding patterns highlighted in Breeding by Design show up continually in the pedigrees of classic horses. The next horse we’ll feature is the classic winning mare Diadem who annexed the 1917 running of the 1,000 Guineas. She is a treasure trove of valuable insight.

Continue reading »]]> Now that you’ve had some time to look at the pedigrees of the 9 great horses from my last edition, Solving the Puzzle let me explain what they all have in common. Just keep in mind one important idea as you read this edition; A cluster mare represents concentrated classic speed!

The Salient trait possessed by all of these great horses is that their dams are cluster mares, and if this were not enough, their sires are the sons of cluster mares. In effect, these horses have cluster mares as close up in their pedigrees as it is possible to find them. On the female side of the pedigree you can’t have a cluster mare closer than being the dam of the runner. On the male side the closest a mare can be is the dam of the sire. All of these great horses are bred on exactly this pattern.

At this point I’d like to point out what makes a cluster mare according to Dennis Craig’s definition. According to Dennis Craig, “A cluster mare is a broodmare who, within six generations, has produced two or more winners of five or more of the eight most important races in the calendar.” Taking this one step further Dennis Craig determined that a Star mare is “a broodmare who, within six generations, has produced two or more winners of three or four of the eight most important races in the calendar.” Why Dennis Craig chose to use these exact definitions to determine Cluster and Star mare status remains a mystery. I’ve searched through his written work but nowhere is this mentioned. However, the only important factor is that it works. I’d be interested to know why he chose 6 generations rather then 5 or 7. As breeders we can all make our own determinations for it is not the exact measuring of the number of classic winners tracing to a certain mare within a proscribed number of generations that is of primary importance. What is of primary importance is the idea of a Cluster Mare. As we proceed with this odyssey through the history of the Thoroughbred (because that is what this web site will prove to be) you will become aware that it is the Cluster and Star mares which are the building blocks of the breed.

Hermit

In the coming weeks I’ll be showing you horses that although not technically cluster mares should be considered such because of certain anomalies. For now let’s get back to an examination of the 9 great horses put forth last week as examples. We begin with Hermit who was a foal of 1864. If you are not aware of him or of the stature he attained back during the Victorian Era let me explain. Hermit won the Epsom Derby in 1867 but more importantly he was the leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland for 7 consecutive years from 1880 through 1886. He had a sire record not unlike the more modern Bold Ruler. If Hermit had lived today and had stood most of his life with a $250,000 stud fee, (which would be reasonable since he was 7 consecutive times leading sire), he would generate in excess of 250 million dollars in stud fees. It is in our interest to see if we can determine from where this horse derived his great ability both in racing and breeding. We begin with his dam Seclusion who we have already mentioned is a cluster mare. These are the horses that allowed her to achieve that status.

Seclusion achieved cluster mare status by having the horses listed above win five of the most important races on the calendar within 6 generations.

When we look at Hermit’s sire Newminster we find that his dam Beeswing achieved cluster mare status by producing the following horses.

One last observation concerning Hermit’s pedigree should be noted. His grandsire Touchstone, the sire of Newminster is also the son of another cluster mare, Banter. Is it any wonder that with this concentration of classic speed close up in his pedigree that Hermit was a Classic winner and a leading sire.

Man O’ War

Of course, when one makes such a discovery it then becomes logical to look for confirmation in the form of another great horse bred on exactly the same pattern. For that confirmation we’ll next look at the pedigree of the immortal Man O’ War. His dam is Mahubah, is a cluster mare. His sire is Fair Play whose dam Fairy gold is another cluster mare. And just as in the case of Hermit where his sire Newminster was sired by a stallion (Touchstone) whose dam was also a cluster mare, so is Man O’ War’s grandfather, Hastings the son of a cluster mare. Let’s take a look at the cluster mares in Man O’ War’s pedigree to see how they achieved cluster mare status. First, we’ll look at his dam Mahubah

At this point I’d like to advise you that the most important races designated by Dennis Craig back in 1964 that determined which mares would become cluster mares have changed. The powers that be in American Racing have allowed some of our most prestigious races to decline to the point where they have become irrelevant. One of the races won by Man O’ War was the Withers Stakes. Back in his day it was our equivalent of the 2,000 Guineas or the Poule d’ Essai des Poulains, now it is irrelevant. The same is true of the American Derby and the Arlington Classic. In a moment I’ll show you the horses that made Plucky Liege a cluster mare. One of them is Roman Brother who won the Jockey Club Gold Cup and the American Derby back in 1964. From 1964 through 1967 the winners of the American Derby were Roman Brother, Tom Rolfe, Buckpasser, and Damascus all of which were Horse of the Year except Tom Rolfe who was Champion three-year-old colt. From 2009 through 2012 the winners of the same race were Reb, Workin for Hops, Willcox Inn, and Cozzetti. Need I say more? Other major American Races that were downgraded to obscurity or removed are the Saratoga Cup, and the Arlington Classic. This year saw the demise of another great race, the filly Belmont Stakes, otherwise known as The Coaching Club American Oaks. At a later date I’ll write an essay about the decline of American racing and the “fools” that are behind it.

Getting back to Man O’ War’s pedigree we have shown that his dam Mahubah is a cluster mare. We’ll now look at the dam of his sire which is Fairy Gold. Fairy Gold achieved cluster mare status by being the ancestress of the following:

As in the case of Hermit, Man O’ War’s grandsire Hastings is also the son of a cluster mare in this case Cinderella. One difference between Hermit and Man O’ War is that in the case of Man O’ War’s dam Muhubah, her sire Rock Sand was also the son of a cluster mare. That mare named Roquebrune was not only a cluster mare but so was her dam St. Marguerite. You should be aware that Dennis Craig showed St. Marguerite to be a cluster mare in his book but did not show her daughter Roquebrune as having achieved the same status. Likewise, he shows Ellen Horne as being a cluster mare but not her daughter Rouge Rose when in fact all are cluster mares.

To get an idea of the effect of cluster mares on Man O’ War’s pedigree consider this. In the first three generations of Man O’ War’s pedigree there are 7 mares, and four are cluster mares. If what I postulate about cluster mares is correct (that they represent concentrated classic speed) then doesn’t Man O’ War’s pedigree make complete sense? It might be a good idea to print the pedigrees of these nine great horses and highlight the cluster mares. In the case of Man O’ War you will find 8 cluster mares within the first 5 generations. They are Mahubah, Fairy Gold, Cinderella, Roquebrune, Rouge Rose, St. Marguerite, Ellen Horne, and St. Angela.

Sceptre

Even those who are not experts on Thoroughbred history or genealogy know the name of Sceptre. She was an extraordinary racemare having captured the 1,000 Guineas, 2,000 Guineas, Oaks, and St. Leger. When you consider that her owner one Robert Standish Siever was a notorious gambler, frequently pressed for cash, and that he also served as her trainer you begin to realize how great Sceptre was. It wasn’t as if she had a great trainer like John Porter planning her campaigns, she was trained by a novice.

Sceptre was produced by Ornament a full sister to unbeaten Triple Crown winner Ormonde. Ornament achieved cluster mare status with these horses.

It’s easy to see that Ornament gave her daughter Sceptre a powerful dose of classic speed. From her sire’s side of the family Sceptre inherited an equal amount if not even more classic speed. Sceptre’s sire Persimmon was produced by Perdita II. Aside from his accomplishments on the turf Persimmon was leading sire on four occasions in England and Ireland, and leading broodmare sire four times as well. Below are the horses that made Perdita II a cluster mare.

Peridta II established quite a record, two runners that won nine of the most important races on the calendar. Sceptre was a great racehorse, one of the best of all time, but without the prism of cluster mares you would not realize how well bred she really is. If you did not have knowledge of the concept of a cluster mare you would not know that of the 7 mares present in Sceptre’s first 3 generations, all 7 were cluster mares.

Gallant Fox

The next horse we will examine is Gallant Fox who won the Triple Crown in 1930. Keep in mind that the races that determined cluster mare status for his dam were different then ones we would use today. The important races Gallant Fox won in 1930 were the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes, Arlington Classic, Saratoga Cup, and Jockey Club Gold Cup. Since Gallant Fox won six of the required races the only requirement for his dam Marguerite to reach cluster mare status was to produce one more winner of another important race. This was accomplished when Petee-Wrack a half-brother to Gallant Fox annexed the Travers Stakes and the Metropolitan Handicap. Marguerite only needed 2 winners of five of the most important races to become a cluster mare and she had two that won eight of those races. Like Hermit and Man O’ War, Gallant Fox had a dam which was a cluster mare and a sire that was produced by another cluster mare. In the case of Gallant Fox his sire Sir Gallahad III was a son of the great Plucky Liege who achieved cluster mare status by producing the following.

Gallant Fox was the only Triple Crown winner to sire another Triple Crown winner when in 1932 he sired Omaha. Omaha won the Triple Crown in 1932 and also won the Arlington Classic when it was one of the races used as cluster mare criteria. Since Omaha himself won four of the important races on the calendar his dam only needed one more runner to win one of the important races to achieve cluster mare status. She did this when Omaha’s full brother Flares won the Ascot Gold Cup. Since Omaha’s dam Flambino was now a cluster mare his pedigree then mirrored that of Hermit and Man O’ War in that his dam was a cluster mare, his sire was produced by a cluster mare and so was his grandsire. Keep in mind if you were not aware of cluster mares you could not see any connection between these great horses.

Gallant Fox

Up to this point we’ve examined three great horses and all are bred exactly alike when considering the implication of cluster mares. Moving on, the next two horses we’ll look at are the masterpieces of the “Wizard of Dormello”, Federico Tesio. The horses are Nearco and Ribot both of which were undefeated and had a breed altering impact as stallions.

Nearco

Nearco is the result of breeding Pharos to Nogara by Havresac. In this case Nogara is a cluster mare while Pharos’ dam Scapa Flow is a star mare. If you remember a star mare is one that has two or more offspring tracing to her within six generations that have won three or four of the most important races on the calendar. In addition to Pharos, who ran 2^nd in the Epsom Derby, Scapa Flow produced Fairway (Eclipse & St. Leger), and Fair Isle (1,000 Guineas). One of the reasons she never achieved cluster mare status is she only produced two daughters. However, when you consider that Fairway and Pharos became leading sires you can understand the genetic power of this mare. Nogara achieved cluster mare status by producing the following:

The other great horse bred by Federico Tesio was Ribot and he was by Tenerani-Romanella by El Greco. Ribot’s dam was a cluster mare and achieved that status by producing the following;

Ribot’s sire Tenerani received a powerful dose of classic speed from his dam Tofanella who is also a cluster mare. The horses that made her a cluster mare are:

When you concentrate all of this classic winning genetics into one individual is it any wonder that you come up with a Ribot?

Nasrullah

Nasrullah is a horse everyone reading this web page should be thoroughly familiar with. We already know that his sire Nearco was loaded with classic speed from the close up presence of the cluster mares Nogara and Scapa Flow. If Nasrullah’s dam Mumtaz Begum is a cluster mare then he has the same pedigree pattern as the previously listed horses whereas cluster mares are concerned. Of course she is a cluster mare and the horses leading to achieving this are:

Nasrulla impersonating a mule

Nasrullah wasn’t a classic winner probably due to his temperament (I once saw a picture of Nasrullah captioned “Nasrullah impersonating a mule”.) but with a great concentration of classic speed he would become leading sire on both sides of the Atlantic. In fact, like Sceptre, all of the mares in Nasrullah”s first 3 generations are Cluster or Star mares.

Chelandry

Moving on, I think I’ve saved the best for last. Then next two horses we’ll examine are Chelandry and Buchan. The reason I find them fascinating is they are both somewhat obscurely bred. Now if I was sitting across the kitchen table from you discussing pedigree I would ask you this question. Have you heard of Chelandry and Buchan? If you said yes I would ask you what you knew about them. In all likelihood unless you are really into Thoroughbred pedigrees you wouldn’t know who they are at all, or you might have very limited knowledge of their importance, In other words they are not as readily known as the first 7 great horses I’ve already presented to you. But, that doesn’t mean that they are not very important. In fact, Chelandry is one of the most important broodmares in the history of the breed. She is so important that I will devote the next addition of Broodmares Inc. just to her. I have to admit that I am intrigued by this obscurely bred mare. When I say obscurely bred what do I mean? Well to begin, her sire is Goldfinch, ever heard of him? Well not unlike Glencoe, Goldfinch was exported to the United States in 1894 after siring one crop in England. Just as Glencoe left behind the great broodmare Pocahontas from his one Great Britain sired crop Goldfinch left behind the great broodmare Chelandry. Unfortunately for Goldfinch he was purchased by James Ben Ali Haggin and stood at his Rancho del Paso in California. You must consider how awful the prospects were for a Thoroughbred stallion standing in California in the late 1890’s far from the breeding center in Kentucky and with no means of transportation to move mares. By now you should have a suspicion of what Goldfinch had to offer genetically to a super broodmare like Chelandry. If you were to guess that his dam was a cluster mare you would be absolutely right. In fact, his dam Thistle produced the English Triple Crown winner, Common. The horses that brought her this status are:

Of course Thistle didn’t provide Chelandry with all of her classic ability because if you remember all of the horses highlighted in this addition of Broodmares Inc. are bred exactly alike meaning Chelandry’s dam must be a cluster mare also. And so she is, for Illuminata by Rosicrucian is a cluster mare. The following are the horses that made Illuminata a cluster mare;

So when you take into consideration cluster mares, Chelandry isn’t obscurely bred at all. In Fact, she is bred exactly like the previously mentioned 7 great horses.

Finally, we’ll close this edition of Broodmares Inc. with one of my favorite obscure cluster mares. Actually, the mare in question is one of those Star mares that I designate a cluster mare for my own use even though she technically isn’t one. The final horse we’ll examine is Buchan and his dam is the unusual and obscurely bred Hamoaze. Again, if we were sitting across from each other I’d ask you, “What do you know about Hamoaze?” Unless you are a pedigree aficionado the answer is going to be “nothing”. However, there is a lot that can be learned from her and that is why I included her son Buchan as one of the 9 great horses bred exactly alike when considering the influence of cluster mares. She also ties into Chelandry in that both are by obscure stallions which did not get much opportunity at stud. Chelandry is by Goldfinch while Hamoaze is by Torpoint.

In the overleaf of his book Breeding Racehorses From Cluster Mares, Dennis Craig suggests the following: “He argues persuasively that Classic winners often are not worth the inflated prices paid for their stud services, and recommends the use of less fashionable non-classic winning stallions who have some of the same Star-Cluster mares close up in their pedigrees as the brood mares with whom it is proposed to mare them.

Breeding by Deign by Floyd Oliver

         When I wrote my book Breeding by Design, both Chelandry and Hamoaze were featured. My book essentially is about how to breed a cluster mare although when I was writing it I wasn’t thinking in the term cluster mare. It was more like I wanted to find out how to breed a matriarch or a foundation mare. I wasn’t thinking in the terms outlined by the quote listed above from Dennis Craig. As it turns out both Chelandry and Hamoaze fit Mr. Craig’s quote exactly. Let me explain. Chelandry’s great grandsire is Bend Or. The progression is from Goldfinch to Ormonde to Bend Or. Bend Or’s granddam is the cluster mare Ellen Horne. Chelandry’s forth dam is also Ellen Horne. In effect Chelandry is the result of taking a non-classic winning stallion which carries the stain of Ellen Horne in the male line and crossing it to a broodmare that carries the same Ellen Horne strain in the direct female line.

The same holds true in the case of Hamoaze. Her sire is the non-classic winning Torpoint (best he could do was 3^rd in the Ascot Gold Cup) who traces down his female line to cluster mare Miss Agnes. Torpoint also possesses a collateral strain of Miss Agnes through the stallion Tibthorpe. The 6^th dam of Hamoaze is Miss Agnes. In the case of both Chelandry and Hamoaze obscure non-classic winning stallions were used to reinforce the blood of a cluster mare resulting in the breeding of another cluster mare.

Getting back to Hamoaze, I should explain why I consider her to be a full fledged cluster mare even though she is only a star mare according to Dennis Craig’s criteria. Remember in horse breeding there are always exceptions and that the idea is not to adhere to a rigid set of rules but to follow the conception. No one can tell you what makes up a cluster or Matriarch mare; that will always be up to you. Whatever helps you breed classic winners is fine, as long as it works. I consider Hamoaze a cluster mare for the following reasons although on paper she only had two winners of three of the most important races. To begin, she never produced a daughter. Since she had no daughters she needed to produce 2 winners of 5 of the most important races from her sons, and she almost did it. Hamoaze produced four sons named Buchan, St. Germans, Tamar, and Saltash all of which were stakes winners. Buchan, St. Germans and Tamar all ran 2^nd in the Epsom Derby. Buchan finished 2^nd in the 2,000 Guineas and 3^rd in the St. Leger as well. Hamoaze became a star mare because Buchan won the Eclipse Stakes twice and Saltash won it once.

I still would not have put aside Dennis Craig’s criteria and pronounced Hamoaze a cluster mare (at least in my own mind) except for one other factor. Remember, cluster mares represent a concentration of classic speed and you would expect that to be passed on. It couldn’t be passed on by her daughters since she didn’t have any, but her sons made up for it. Buchan was leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland and St. Germans was leading sire in the United States. In view of this I have no doubt that had Hamoaze produced a daughter or two they would have produced the requisite number of classic winners to have officially made her a cluster mare according to the criteria set out by Dennis Craig.

To conclude, the horse in question is really Buchan, and not his dam Hamoaze. When we look at his sire Sunstar we find that his dam Doris is also a cluster mare. She achieved this with the following horses:

Now you have had the opportunity to look at the pedigrees of 9 great horses through the prism of cluster mares. I could show you many others but that would be redundant. In each addition of Broodmares Inc I’ll be showing you how to breed cluster mares (Matriarch’s or Foundation mares or whatever you may like to call them) and how they fit into the pedigree of great horses.