Pedigree analyst compares Bonecrusher, Vo Rogue

Press, 8 March 1988, Page 38

Pedigree analyst compares Bonecrusher, Vo Rogue

.=> NZPA Wellington The outstanding racehorses, Bonecrusher and Vo Rogue, which wil) race in the Australian Cup later this month, share more in common than abundant ability and the trappings of fame and fortune.

A respected pedigree analyst, Mr Harold Hampton, the mentor of Bonecrusher’s purchaser, Mr Peter Mitchell, has discovered the duo share a -’Stunning array of “electric” genetic bonds, not least a common maternal iine — that of Eulogy.

And after comparing their pedigrees this week, at the prompting of a school of Vo Rogue’s more parochial Queensland supporters, Mr Hampton felt compelled to issue a warning to the Bonecrusher camp as it readies for the showdown.

"Let them be Vo Rogue can be given no quarter whatsoever.” Hampton said. "Certainly not the leeway Bonecrusher allowed his rivals on Saturday.

“He is a distinct danger. He has a very, very good pedigree; one blending many of the essential elements in Bonecrusher's make-up. “What the Australian Cup clash may provide is an opportunity to gauge the willpower these two horses have been imbued with by their common ancestry. “I believe that, should they be at peak, this race will provide a greater spectacle than the Cox Plate.”

Mr Hampton’s 45 years of dedication to the ; thoroughbred cause has included predicting success for both. Melbourne Cup winner,. Light Fingers, and Bonecrusher. It helped him quickly isolate the “keys” to Vo Rogue’s ability.

What initially intrigued Mr Hampton about Vo Rogue's pedigree was the balanced presence of a son, grandson and daughter of Nasrullah, and his sister, Malindi. As well, Nasrullah's three-quarter brother, Royal Charger, is patriarch of Vo Rogue’s sireline, that of Sir Ivor.

"This alwways lends itself to the making of a top racehorse,” said Mr Hampton, a disciple of the system of numerical family designations devised by a British bloodstock historian, Mr Bruce Lowe. Then, deeper, there were the recurrences of the No. 16 family (that of Vo' Rogue’s sire, Ivor Prince), with its complex intertwining of the No. 20 and No. 35 families. There he found the first mirror 'images of Bonecrusher’s pedigree. ! “There are fewer lines of it than in Bonecrusher’s pedigree, but enough to have set the tone of his genetic make-up,” Mr Hampton said. "Plucky' Liege is most prevalent. Her grand-dam ■was Comic Song, a daughter of Petrarch, of family ■No. 20. He carries four lines of Haphazard, family No. 35.” On'his damline Vo Rogue carries the blood of Star Kingdom, from which Bonecrusher descends in tail-male line, and Rocky Thumb.

“In Star Kingdom’s pedigree is the stallion

Hackler, , a son of Petrarch. “Rocky Thumb’s dam is by Blue Peter, whose dam has a double of Bustard (family No. 35). His third dam descends in tail-male line from Symington, of the No. 20 family. “Tying it all together, in i a knot whicfi has withi stood the strain of time, Bustard’s second dam is a I sister to Haphazard. “There is a lot of Bustard, which gives him a i very similar! background to Bonecrusher. It may not be quite as strong, but it appears to Ibe as effective.” Vo Rogue! and Bonecrusher share as a common taproot I Eulogy, the most lauded [ producer in the history of thoroughbred breeding in New Zealand. : Yet both j come from branches of! that family which Mr Hampton describes as "failure lines.” Bonecrusher’s first big win in Australia was in the Tancredl Stakes two years ago. In' that race he was chased home by Rant and Rave, another product of an ail but forlorn Eulogy strain.