FROM STUD AND STABLE St. Simon Male Line Strong In N.Z.

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30678, 18 February 1965, Page 4

FROM STUD AND STABLE St. Simon Male Line Strong In N.Z.

An American sportsman recently proposed to the editors of “The Thoroughbred Record” a question concerning the influence of St. Simon on the thoroughbred breed.

Implicit in the phrasing of his inquiry was a further question: How could he take advantage of this influence to breed another champion such as the one which has aroused

his curiosity in the matter? J. A. Estes, senior advisory editor of “The Thoroughbred Record” did not think the implicit question posed a

problem. He thought such a question could be answered at once, albeit somewhat arbi-

trarily. “In laying plans for breeding a future champion,” Mr Estes wrote, “St. Simon should be valued at the same rate of exchange as a tinker’s dam.” As Mr Estes points out, it is perhaps superfluous to remark that neither “prepotency” nor any other merit may be associated with a male line as such. Dams’ Influence The fortunes of a male line depended, perforce, oii the individual males which represented it, and their for-

: tunes were shaped, in the • main, by their dams and the : dams of their offspring. i In Italy the St. Simon line i was maintained in a strong I succession culminating in

Ribot. In North America it never ■had a chance until Princequillo was sent there in 1940. The Galopin-St. Simon

male line met with extraordinary success in the United Kingdom for about a quarter of a century, until just

before World War I. Then it declined so suddenly that by the 1930’s the male line was virtually extinct in England and Ireland, without a single prominent stallion to represent. It was 1952, when Tulyar was unbeaten as a three-year-old, before another scion of the St. Simon line was leading sire in England and Ireland. High-Class Mares The return to the pinnacle was accomplished largely through three high-class mares.

Vatout, a French-bred grandson of Chaucer, was mated with the outstanding mare Plucky Liege to produce the Derby winner Bois Roussel.

Stafaraila, another grand mare, produced Kurdistan’s sire Tehran to the cover of Bois Roussel; and the highelass Neocracy combined with Tehran to produce Tutyar.

New Zealand fared better through the St. Simon line between the two world wars. But who in England would have thought Limond would have sired winners of nearly £250,000 in New Zealand? This son of Desmond won one race worth £731 in England. He spent three seasons at stud at Newmarket at a fee of 18gns with reduced terms for approved mares and it is doubtful if he got a single winner before he was sent to New Zealand.

The St. Simon male line has struck a rich patch in New Zealand in the last two years thanks to a succession of victories by a fine crop of stayers. '

The combined efforts of stayers sired by De Filou, Kurdistan, and Tsaoko have brought off victories in the last two Wellington Cups, an Auckland Cup, and the New Zealand . Cup.

Jen Hal (by Tsaoko) kept a fine record “on the move” by winning the Rotorua Cup last Saturday.