As the breeders of most any animal or bird can tell you; if one constantly breeds from the same source or within the same family a degeneration of the original eventually sets in. This degenerative process may not always be visible to the naked eye but exists none the less. People who look to buy pure bred dogs for instance, are always warned about being careful about who they buy dogs from. The reason is that many dog breeders start out with a pair of dogs and breed from them for many years, breeding close relatives to each other without ever introducing new blood into the kennel. The end result is that the degenerative process sets in and more and more sub par individuals are produced.
When introducing new bloodlines into a family great care must be taken to insure that one doesn't totally destroy what had been desirable in the original. The new introduction must be as close as possible to the original.
To better explain this I'll use an example of an experiment I once undertook with my racing pigeons. I caught some feral pigeons such as you see in the parks and under bridges. I set up a small loft for them and my object was to see what would happen when I crossed them with some good racing pigeons. I wanted to see if I could get these feral pigeons to fly like pure racing pigeons.
I first bred some young ones from the feral family and then entered them in some races. They couldn't find their way home from 100 miles. I then crossed them with the racing birds and they still couldn't fly 100 miles. I then bred the offspring of the cross back to the racing family and finally got them to home from 100 miles and after several generations of constant breeding back to the original racing birds they were able to home from a few hundred miles but were never really any good. Another point was that I was able to eventually produce a bird that was very similar in appearance and conformation to the racing birds but the homing instinct, which is an intrinsic value, was never really there. I attribute this to the fact that I was experimenting with a totally inferior bird to begin with. When I would introduce new blood into my family of birds it sometimes took numerous tries before I found something that was a satisfactory cross.
So what has this to do with horse racing?
When Tesio bred Nearco he ushered in a new era in horse breeding. Through his sons, Nearartic and Nasrullah, a line, or family was started that would proceed to dominate horse racing for many years. The fashionable breeding lines today are those of Northern Dancer, a son of Nearartic and also the Raise A Native line through his son Mr. Prospector who was out of a grand daughter of Nasrullah. As the years have gone by there have been tons of horses bred from this combination and they have basically dominated the American racing scene for a long time. All one has to do is look at the pedigrees of champions over the last 50 years and this family, which is really known as the Phalaris line because he was the grand-sire of Nearco, and the g.g.grandsire of Native Dancer can be found in almost all of them.
It has been noted in many circles that the modern American racehorse has been getting more and more fragile over time. This has been blamed on the penchant in America to breed more for speed than stamina and thus create a smaller boned more fragile horse more prone to injury. This may have been true initially but I attribute the present day circumstances more to a basic degenerative process that has set in. Since the early success of this line of horses there have been more and more of them bred along the same lines which has in turn made all of them more and more closely related. I look at these horses as a family and it has become an inbred family to the extent that it is well into the degenerative process.
I tend to disagree with Roman, in that, he begins to basically disregard horses that he considers too far back in the family tree. The closer a champion is in a pedigree the more weight he gives it. Unlike others, when looking at a pedigree I look at the family as a whole and am especially cognitive of where females are situated in the pedigree.
I personally think that too much emphasis is placed on the immediate sire, especially among handicappers. Take a look at the sires of horses like Smarty Jones. His sire, Elusive Quality, was considered a miler and I remember when I was touting Smarty Jones early on, the word was that he couldn't get the classic distance because his immediate sire couldn't. But Smarty was of the family of Nasrullah by way of the great Bold Ruler who sired and grand-sired more than a couple of derby winners. There are other milers that have sired good horses able to get the classic distances. It is for these reasons that I contend that it is the family or line that carries the most weight. This is another reason that when looking at pedigrees to determine my classic contenders, I don't go into all the details of who won what and when. I just look at the family, where the females are located in relation to one another, and then wait to see some performance from them. Early on I do make some predictions based on the pedigrees. When it gets to the nitty-gritty I then weigh their performance against the potential of the breeding.
Now, what has all this to do with Animal Kingdom? People with any knowledge of race horses know that ALL modern race horses were originally derived from 3 horses which in essence makes them all related so in reality it would be impossible to introduce new blood into the family unless they were crossed with something like a Zebra which is probably related to the horse if one goes back far enough. So what is meant by the introduction of new blood into a family?
When a breeder attempts to breed an animal or bird a particular model is set up which is determined by the characteristics desired in the finished product. This is normally conducted through the process of culling which is the discarding of those with undesirable traits in favor of those that are closer to the desired. Through the process of elimination the goal may be reached but at the same time the path followed will naturally lead to an inbred product. This has been the result of the constant striving for a faster and faster horse in America. And, as I have stated, I feel that at this point in time the American model of the thoroughbred is well along in the inevitable degeneration of the family that has been created.
In order to cross this inbred family we now have, a different model must be introduced. But what are we looking for? There have been crosses of the Phalaris family with non- Phalaris horses by way of the likes of St Simon through Princequillo in order to bring some stamina into the Phalaris family. This has met with some success and may have much more success with the introduction of the German bred horses which are really bred more for endurance than speed.
By the way, Zenyatta was of the Phalaris family with Princequillo-St Simon introduced through the maternal side of her dam's sire.
To illustrate the point consider these facts: Out of approx 300 early classic contenders there were only 10% that were a P/NP cross. Of that meager 10% there were 3 that made it into the KY Derby, Animal Kingdom, Mucho Macho Man and Twice The Appeal. Others of that 10% were Toby's corner, who would have made the derby if not injured, Mr Commons, who will go in the Preakness, Wilkenson, Silver Medallion and Bier Meister who were all good winners. Another interesting item is that almost all of these horses are come from behind horses that have had no trouble with distance. A rather amazing statistic don't you think? It is entirely possible that another as good as or better than Zenyatta may come along as a result of more outcrossing to that inbred line of Phalaris horses.
What these crosses produce is what's known as HY-BRED vigor. Hy-bred vigor is similar to what happens in the plant families when different strains are crossed to make the plant and it's fruits bigger, stronger and more disease resistant. In animals it produces a bigger, more robust and healthier animal that is more resistant to disease and injury.
Which brings us to Animal Kingdom who happens to be the result of a somewhat accidental mating. His dam was originally scheduled to be serviced by a stallion who was injured and was unable to fulfill his duties. Since a mare must be covered within a small time frame she was immediately sent to a stallion that was nearby and available and happened to be Leroidesanimaux. This sire is inbred to the Northern Dancer-Nasrullah line. The dam also has Northern dancer blood through her dam. The dam sire is Aceatenango who was a German champion up to and including 12 f. It is the introduction of this stallion into the Phalaris family that did the trick in my opinion. So, even though his sire was known as a miler, it has had no effect on AKs ability to get a distance of ground. So much for the miler business. When speaking of breeding from families or breeding only from performers, consider this quote I received from a reader:
This is a comment from the wife of J.J Vuillier the originator of the Dosage Theory.
The Aga Khan's best race mares have not been and presently are
not his best broodmares. His best horses usually come from the
sisters and half sisters of the great winning mare.
Will the breeding of Animal Kingdom, especially if he should win the Triple Crown, usher in a new era of breeding? I have high hopes for that although it will take some years to find out as it will come about gradually and not over night. Sadly, as I am now pushing 80 years, I won't be around to see it.
It is now 2016 and I see an abundance of colts with an out cross in their pedigrees, especially the Intentionally line.
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