Breeders All Over World Still a Long Way From Finding an Answer To Their Major Problems

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 229, 27 September 1941, Page 6 (Supplement)

Breeders All Over World Still a Long Way From Finding an Answer To Their Major Problems

During what might be termed the " formative period " of the standard breed, the fact that short and offbred horses frequently attained outstanding success, alike upon the track and at the stud, was only to be expected. Bur with that period behind us, how logically can similar conditions be expected to persist, especially in the breeding world?

For while " speed marvels" of indifferent breeding are bound always to crop up at intervals, under any and all conditions, with the great progenitors the opposite should seem to be the case. With the doctrine of the

" survival of the fittest " rigorously operative, the increasing prevalence of extreme speed and the severity of the struggle to get to the top—and, especially, remain there —it would naturally be anticipated that all but the very best bred stallions would speedily exit as successful sires. For, while sensational individual speed horses are

always present, horses ranking similarly high as speed-ge'tters and family-found-ers appear only at rare intervals and their attainment of such a position is only possible after years, sometimes generations, of struggle and effort. It would seem that in their hereditary cquipment any weak spot would be fatal—that only by virtue of possessing an inheritance of the best and most

had taken record? at that day considered fast, establishing him as a successful sire. Of the other three, two, Axworthy and Peter the Great, had as yet no foals old enough to race; while Bingcn had only one, Bingen, jun, that had been given .a breeder's record of 2min 27Jsec solely for the purpose of starting his sire's standard list. McKinney, moreover, was situated on the Pacific coast, where his influence upon breeding operations was limited

approved description, in all respects, to that region. Only a few of his procould they hope to achieve such emin- geny had as yet performed in the cast. en £ e / . and the best of them. Zombro, 2min Theoretically this should be the case, tlsec, was purely a Californian horse, But practically it is not. Here are a bred in that State and performing there few facts illustrative of this condition, only. It is unnecessary to go back to the Of the real greatness of these four beginning of things" 'in the history stallions, no premonition then existed; of the breed, for reasons already stated, even while the merits of McKinney Four Great Stallions. were admitted, nobody had any sus-

In the year 1900 there were alive four P! ci ° n tha * eventuall y he would . at tain stallions of the standard breed destined hIS preSCnt eminence as a Progenitor, to exert the greatest influence upon its B lo °d Still Predominant. fortunes, biologically speaking, of any To-day the blood of these four stalsimilar quartette that have flourished lions is absolutely dominant on the since the days of Hambletonian and harness race tracks of the world and in his great sons. They were, calling its trotting studs. There are a few them off in the order in which they select members of other tribes still trywere foaled, as follows: ing t0 " put up a f ront ," but their McKinney 2min 1 Msec—foaled 1887. efforts, while brave, in results bulkAxworthy, 3, 2min 15isec—foaled 1892. negligibly in contrast with the "Big Bingen 2min 6isec—foaled 1893. Four " that usurp the stage. Peter the Great, 4, 2min 7isec—foaled The first thing that strikes the 1""°- modern horseman in McKinney's pediOf the quartette, all had by 1900 gree is the fact that while Alcyone, sire finished their turf careers, but only one, of McKinney, was an exponent of the the eldest, McKinney, had as yet be- famous Wilkes-Mambrino Patcherr come prominent as a sire. He had cross, his dam, Rosa Sprague, was begun serving mares while still a colt distinctly off-bred. Her sire. Governor and at the close of 1900 had already a Sprague, in his day (the seventies and list of twenty-seyen standard perform- early eighties) a famous horse, while era to his credit, of which a number from a dam (iJelie lfrandoif) by'flam-

/\NE of the most inexhaustible topics for tlie speculator upon breeding problems, mysteries and enigmas, is: Why do certain horses prove great progenitors and certain others fail? There is also the associated one: Why do great progenitors, after having apparently founded families of enduring merit, all at once begin to '" go the other way " and in a few generations fade out? In effect falling from affluence into bankruptcy and then being sold out by tinsheriff; while at the same time, others previously not nearly so prosperous and themselves, to all appearances, living on borrowed time and destined soon for extinction, take fresh leases of life and begin to bloom and burgeon? These conditions obtain not only in the trotting, but also the thoroughbred world, there being many parallel cases existent in both; so, it would seem, breeding race horses, of whatever gait, presents identical puzzles, of which the solutions may differ in degree but do not in kind, all being alike insoluble.

bletonian. was from a line of male progenitors which virtually died with him. Rhode Island was by Whitehall, he by North American (the Bullock horse), of obscure antecedents.

In Governor Sprague this line rose to its highest peak and then swiftly declined into oblivion. While Sprague left a large number of foals. including thirty-eight with standard records, twenty-five producing sons and fortyone producing daughters, his blood had so little carrying power that today it is only through McKinney that it is found entering modern pecligrees.

Again, Rose Kenney, the grand-dam of McKinney, was a non-standard mare, daughter of a non-standard sire. Mambrino Messenger. Rose Kenney was, however, an own sister of two other producers. One of these was the stallion General George 11. Thomas, a horse that gained some success as a sire in the seventies, but soon dropped from sight and is now forgotten. Missing From Pedigrees. The other was an own sister that became the dam of Messenger Chief, 1825, a fairly successful Kentucky trotting sire in the eighties, whose best performer was Maud Messenger 2.161, A Grand Circuit star in her day. Messenger Chief also sired the dam of Gambolier, 2.22*, the sire of The Ee! 2.021. However, it is almost impossible to find Mambrino Messenger present in a modern pedigree, except as having sired the grand-dam of McKinney.

The pedigree of McKinney, therefore, is distinctly lop-sided, the maternal side being far inferior to the paternal. Alcyone, his sire, was a truly great stallion, |>ut he died when only ten years of age. He left, however, no fewer than fifty-six sons that became standard sires.

The ancestry of Bifigen presents a case different in details from those of McKinney and Axworthy, but, in the final analysis, similar in effect. Both McKinney and Axworthy were the sons of fashionable sires (Alcyone and Axtell), but from mares decidedly off-

bred. May King, the sire of Bingen, while a son of the great Electioneer and from a famous race mare of highwheel days. May Queen, 2.20, was never at any period of his long life (he died at twenty-five after having passed through the hands of many owners) either fashionable or popular. On the contrary, he was downright unpopular, being the object of criticism, depreciation and even contempt. Needed Weight To Trot. In order to make him trot it was necessary to weight him so heavily that he tired under the strain of carrying the load and was accused of being faint-hearted — a reproach without doubt due rather to his management than to iiimself. His opportunities as a sire were, for the greater part of his life, very poor, and while he sired thirty-four standard performers, there was no call whatever for either.his sons or daughters for breeding purposes, and had not Bingen proved a speed marvel of the first water, there is little doubt that to-day his name would be buried in oblivion. It is only through his foals from Young Miss that he exerted an influence, for she, besides Bingen, also produced to his cover Kinglyne, the dam of Morgan Axworthy, 2.17. sire of Rose Morgan, 2.045, of the dam of Lee Worthy, 4, 2.02*. etc.. etc.

Young Miss, dam of Bingen, was by Young Jim, a high-class son of George VVilkes, but one that was off-bred on his dam's side in comparison with the well-bred sons of Wilkes, such as Alcyone, the sire of McKinney, William L., the grandsire of Axworthy, and had it not been for Young Jim himself, today the name of Lear's Sir William would mean nothing in a trotting pedigree. On that account fastidious breeders .lever at any time showed any preference for the blood of Young Jim, though he was a positive speed sire, and deserved far more consideration, especially a? a sjje of beside

Yuunj; Miss lie Miuuiu Merrill, the dam of that wonderful matron Paron clla. Greatest of the Day. Miss Mambrino. dam of Young Miss and grand-dam of Bingcn, was by Red Wilkes, at that day considered one of the very greatest of the sons of George Wilkes and supposed to head a family of his own of enduring value—a belief that, however, was destined to be unfulfilled. To-day the blood of Red Wilkes appears only collaterally in modern pedigrees, and if it were n>>t for his having got Ringen's grand-dam, the tracings to him would be infrequent, the most important other carrier of his blood having been The Gaiety Girl 2.151, from whom descend in the direct female line both Lee Axworthy 1.581 and Mr McElwyn 1.591.

Alric, sire of the third dam of Bingen. was a son of the famous progenitor Almont, but aside from that distinction his name is a blank, as nothing whatever is known of his history and Miss Hark, Bingen's third dam, is, so far as known, the only foal he ever get.

Miss Mambrino, grand-dam of Bingen. was sold for export the year he was loaled. She left only three known foals, of which Young Miss was her second Young Miss was foaled when her dam. Miss Mambrino, was but five years old, she herself was but four years old when she produced Bingen and when carrying him sold for but i'SO, this in the "boom days" when enormous prices were being paid for all sorts of animals for breeding purposes.

Young Miss, the dam of Bingen, subsequently produced a number of valuable foals that became performers 'or producers, or both, especially Kinglyne. above-mentioned.

From this recital it will be seen that when he came into the world Binyen was one of the last foals in the entire U.S.A. that would have been ch'sen by either a breeder or a breeding expert as a future great progenitor. He came from a line of mares that had never, in any generation, produced a single 230 trotter; his sire was an unpopular horse, as yet without a single standard performer to his credit. Peter the Great's Ancestry. The ancestry of Peter the Great, cm sidered as a combination of blood lines resembles those of McKinney anci Axworthy, in that it shows a strong top line and a very off-bred maternal <»ne. Its male strength, however, may be considered far less po=itive than that of the other two progenitors named. When McKinney and Axworthy were foaled their sires were fashionable representatives of the most

fair price, either at auction or privately, and finally almost gave her away. She was not only a failure as a speed proposition on the track, but was also not a good road mare, so was put to breeding when but four years old, as several of her own brothers and sisters were trotting and producing weli. She was eight years old when she produced Peter the Great, and • previously had other foals, but was absolutely " unknown to fame."

From this slight sketch it will be seen that the qualifications of Peter the Great at the time of his production, also for years afterward, as a future great progenitor, were such that no breeder who aspired to be "in the swim " would have considered him.

This is further emphasised by the fact that J. Malcolm Forbes, who bought him from his breeder, D. D. Streeter, the winter after he won the Kentucky Futurity, discarded him a few years later after seeing and trying out the first few foals he had bred from him.

These four pre-eminent modern progenitors have been reviewed, their blood lines analysed, the circumstances of their origin and production rehearsed, and the reader given the opportunity to assess the circumstances, in the light of both previous and subsequent events.

An outstanding fact is undeniable. It is that at the time each and every one of them came into the world, he was among the last individuals that a breeder would have selected for a future stock horse, or nr> expert on blood lines would have predicted would jr. time to come heroine a progenitor of towering greatness. The Greater Achievement. With a'! V'e facts in evidence, what -. the man : ntcrcstod in the "breeding [•riililcm" in conclude? And how, ■'li'ivf a'!, s!-.< ;'ld he go about breeding a Mi Kinney. Axworthy. Bingen, or I'ctcr the Great? For surely, it is a much greater to breed uch a proj>t-nitor than to breed a world's champion, for champions come iid go, and with every new one the :ld ones pass into deeper shadow, while a great progenitor's enduring fame is insured, for his influence penetrates nto every shred of the trotting fabric md will henceforth be inescapable, as t is from such lines that the trotters of he future will descend.

The presence of such elements is the ■utstanrling feature of the ancestry of hesc four progenitors. The first immlse would be to reckon them elements -f weakness, making for the failure ather than the success of the stallions •assessing them. Rut results have alsified such an assumption, not only n their cases, but those of other preininent family-builders. It all points lo a deep tendency or broad fact in the processes of heredity that has its own logic, and cannot be ignored.

popular and firmly established of all the principal lines from Hambletonian 10, that of George Wilkes

On the other hand Peter the Great came before the public in a very different light. His sire. Pilot Medium, died before Peter was a year old. and while he had been a very successful sire of racehorses, it was the opinion among breeders that he had not founded a family and belonged to a line, that of Happy Medium, destined to early extinction in tail-male.

Many sons of Happy Medium had been used in the stud, and Pilot Medium had been the only one to score a real success. But Pilot Medium was situated in Michigan, remote from the great breeding centres, the majority of the mares bred to him were not of the select class, there was a prejudice against his get in some quarters on the ground that many of them were not strictly game, and this prejudice had been handed down from the previous generation, having also been held regarding the get of his sire, Happy Medium.

No breeder of importance was using, or had used, a son of Pilot Medium in the stud, while the favour shown his daughters for breeding purposes was

slight. The son of Happy Mediam and Tackey was regarded as somewhat in the line of an isolated phenomenon, a very remarkable horse, but one whose fame would die with himself. And this certainly would have been the case but for Peter the Great, which alone has saved him from oblivion in so far as modern breeding is concerned, it being exclusively through Peter that his blood survives as a potent element. Much Discussed By Experts. An immense amount of discussion has raged around the maternal breeding of Peter the Great, and it has been much exploited by pedigree experts, pedigree tracers, and breeding theorists. The version of its extension given above is that which seems most probable. Despite all efforts to discover the exact truth, it has never been established. But one thing is certain—the moment researchers get behind Peter's first maternal cross, that to Grand Sentinel, they strike what is familiarly known as " the woods "—and there they remain, when everything possible has been said that all research allows for. The grand-dam of Peter the Great, Shadow, originally called Lady Duncan, was picked up near Nashville, Tennessee, where she was bred a few vears after the close of' the Civil War, and taken to Michigan. She was speedy, but proved a failure as a race marc, and was put to breeding, proving a good producer for her day and location.

None of her foals was gifted with extreme speed, but four took standard records, and two proved producers—Sir* Knight, 2min 23Jsec, sire of several good racehorses: and Santos, the dam not only of Peter the Great, but also of J. Maicolm Forbes. 2.05, and other notable foals.

Santos's sire, Grand Sentinel, 2.271, was a short-lived horse whose earlydeath cut short what might have been a fine career. He left behind him two daughters that, as brood mares, rank as two of the greatest ever begotten by the same sire—Santos and Sorrento, the latter also the mother of a famous family that is breeding on.

Santos herself, however, was of no promise when young. Her breeder made repeated efforts to sell her for a