FROM STUD AND STABLE Influences in the success of brilliant young stallions

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32564, 25 March 1971, Page 8

FROM STUD AND STABLE Influences in the success of brilliant young stallions

Battle-Waggon and Mellay, young stallions whose influence in New Zealand racing is already considerable, are both from English Oaks winners, and were both sired by Never Say Die.

Now it is being wondered which influence has been the stronger one in the success stories of these young horses on the New Zealand thoroughbred scene.

An Australian pedigree student Mr Ken McLean, forthrightly opposes arguments supporting the idea that Never Say Die has been the influential parent with these stallions. “This quick assumption is unfounded,” Mr McLean claims in an article m # Australian Thoroughbreds. Mr McLean has observed that these horses were not noted for their racing abilities; Battle Waggon won a moderate stayer’s event at York and Mellay was injured and failed to stand training. And his study of the pedigrees of their dams showed no real pattern of affinity that would suggest genetic compatibility (even for BattleWaggon, which is closely inbred to Nearco “in the most common but unfortunate position on the sire line of both parents”). Mr McLean finds justification for his belief that the successful influence almost certainly came from both stallions’ dams, Garrozza (Battle-Waggon) and Meld (Mellay) because the outbred nature of Never Say Die’s distaff line was not proving capable of tying in with fashionable strains; in Great Britain, Never Say Die had been disappointing with some of the cream of English broodmares.

Bright future The influence of Carrozza and Meld was being felt in their second generation, and Mr McLean predicts that both horses will be leading broodmare sires of the future. One of the few facts available to the thoroughbred breeder, Mr McLean writes, is that knowledge that certain strains when united are responsible for the creation of excellent performers. Strain affinities (nicks or blends) are rare and often discovered when the individ-

iuals concerned are in their twilight years or defunct. Mr McLean points to some of tiie best known blends Phalaris with daughters of Chaucer, Hyperion with Blue Peter, Midstream with Magpie, Nasrallah with Princequillo, Todman with any strain of Blandford. A New Zealand student j would hasten to add Le Filou 1 with Red Mars mares. "The stallion or mare bred ' from a blend will pass similar genes to future generations even if no reintroduction of portions of the blend occurs; yet when portions of the blend are brought in later the influence can naturally increase and be very beneficial,” Mr McLean writes.

“Our great race mare, Flight, with heavy saturations of Chelandry, Illuminata, Bona Vista, and St Simon, was not able to breed top performers in her first generabut she was of immense influence in the second genera-

tion (grandsons Skyline and Sky High). The probable reason for disappointment in the first generation could have been due to the lack of compatibility with her stallion partners.” Hoping for best If a champion is mated to a champion with no genetic compatibility present between them only a mediocre performer with blunted stamina can be expected, Mr McLean writes. There are numerous instances of such matings which were based on the old theory of putting the best to the best and hoping for the best.

One has only to study the failure of English Oaks winners in their first generation offspring to note the disturbing results of that theory. On the other hand, one can find that good race mares bred many of their

best winners from matings with recessive stallions, many of which were unfashionable sires. Mating a dominant with a dominant where incompatibility exists is, Mr McLean feels, like trying to mix best grade oil with pure water—they just will not blend.

If a dominant mare is mated with a recessive stallion the offspring must inherit most influence from the mare. Although each parent transmits 50 per cent of the offspring’s genotype it is obvious the most dominant partner will transmit the most influence and it is influence in pedigrees that was vital to locate, Mr McLean says. A study of pedigrees of English Oaks winners in the last 50 years revealed that a large majority were sired by unfashionable and sometimes unsuccessful sires. This also applied to Australian and New Zealand Oaks winners.

A constant to be found in such a study is the unusually high degree of duplication to leading broodmare sires (fourth and fifth removes) and of great race mares.

More importantly, although the unfashionable sires of those Oaks winners possess a number of recessive traits, those traits do not prevent the duplicated favourable traits inherited from both parents to flourish successfull even after four generations. Many stallions require specific strains to sire winners if they lack prepotency. Mr McLean believes that if Phalaris had not covered the Chaucer mares it is doubtful if he would figure in many pedigrees today. By chance he was able to cover many Chaucer mares early in his career. Mr McLean feels that with the recent purchase of Agricola for Australia there is an extraordinary opportunity to breed great performers in Australia by mating daughters of Sabaean with him.

Mr McLean might spark off Australian "raids” on New Zealand matron’s paddocks in search of Sabaean mares by drawing attention to the well proven fact that Hyperion nicks with Blue Peter; that Agricola’s dam, Aurora, is one of the best representatives of her sire, Hyperion, in the world; and that the mating of Agricola with Sebaean mare would give close line breeding to the influential mare, Selene. Lowland was a highly successful representative of such a blend.