Lauries CrusadorA Hanoverian Thoroughbred"A foal reflects the dominant pedigree pattern in its genetic background." (Harper) You should expect to find a physical reflection of the dominant genetics in your sport horses. The greater the quanity and balance of the target ancestor lines, the stronger the physical resemblance should be. I believe you will see this trait demonstrated very plainly in the "Hanoverian Thoroughbred": Lauries Crusador. I am going to show you two photos right away so you can judge for yourself if there is a resemblance or not between Lauries Crusador and his ancestor St. Simon. 
Laurie has been a quandary of sorts for the Warmblood world. The original buyers wanted a refining jump sire for the Dutch Warmblood. But he arrived too late to participate in that years inspection and so he was offered to Holsein instead. Holstein didn't find him to their liking and he was passed to Hanover. There he stuck, and he has been confounding the experts ever since. Hanover admits it has a resistance to full blood sires (Thoroughbred), but giving Laurie a chance, he defied their prejudices in his first crop and he hasn't stopped amazing them yet. He turned out to be a premier dressage sire- not jump, with a rating of 138 he ranks near the top. And he did the unfathomable,; he- a Thoroughbred, produced Grand Prix dressage horses in the first generation.
He has a tremendous build up of the full brothers Pharos and Fairway in the 5th through the 8th generation. Pharos and Fairway are not stamina Thoroughbred lines- another surprise. Plus Lauries sire, Welsh Pagent, was a sprinter, and his grand sire, Tudor Minstrel, was the top sprinter in England of his era. This will be a shock to American breeders especially, who have experienced continual subtle and sometimes not so subtle put down of the "American" Thoroughbred for its alleged sprinter bent. Laurie is a typical sprint type- brilliant at 2 years in the shorter races, but unable to train on for success in the classics. So, Lauries Crusador, a 16 hand well conformed brown horse, born in 1985, is not only a full Thoroughbred, but he is a sprinter! Yet, here he stands in the Hanoverian Celle, rated among the top dressage sires of Hanover. There is a lesson in this. The miler/sprinters, Pharos and Fairway, are inbred to St. Simon and his full sister Angelica. In addition, Nearco, a Pharos son found here in 4 sex balanced lines, is out of a dam by Havresac who is also inbred to St. Simon. As far as pre-potency (concentration of specific genes) Lauries' pedigree is a St. Simon home run. Laurie, described as a well conformed horse, with great presence and plenty of the desired refining quality, also possessed exceptional movement. As a sire in Hanover, he was an immediate success by being able to transmit his good movement, his trainable mind, a nice large shoulder, long legs and an overall frame improvement to his warmblood progeny. So where does a sprinting Thoroughbred get these qualities? The Phalaris line is known to give good movement, and great acceleration power, coming from its excellent hind quarter. Breeders should note that acceleration can be an indication of collection power. Phalaris will be important to us as sport horse breeders- because he often passes on lovely movement. The weakness in the line can be poor front legs and an excitable temperament. Lauries Crusador's overriding visible genetic concentration is 11 lines of the full brothers Pharos and Fairway in the 5th through 8th generation. This is powerful. "The great Tesio was the first breeder to develop pedigrees involving the own brothers Fairway and Pharos." (McLean) Tesio targeted lines that could give acceleration. Polymelus the sire of Phalaris was a source of this ability. Polymelus forelegs were not so good, but his hind end was fabulous- with big strong hocks and tremendous impulsion. On the way to creating Nearco (4 balanced lines in Laurie) , Tesio started with a weedy looking mare he bought at a bargain price: Catnip. A Spearmint (Derby winner) daughter, this was a line he desired because, besides the obvious racing talent, it transmitted toughness and soundness, coming through the sire of Spearmint- Carbine. Tesio liked Carbine because he descended from the taproot mare Brown Bess through his dam Quiver. In later matings Tesio would create linebreeding to Brown Bess through lines of Quiver and her brother Musket. Why was he looking to concentrate a mare named Brown Bess? Because he felt she was the real source of the soundness, the weight carrying ability, and with her strong hocks she gave the tremendous acceleration power that Spearmint and Carbine displayed. Laurie has 10 lines of Quiver and 5 of her brother Musket. That means 15 lines of the impulsion genes of Brown Bess. The weedy Catnip (a stayer) was mated with Havresac, a known source of soundness and speed (sprinter) to produce Nogara, dam of Nearco. Usually the focus is in the Phalaris part of Nearco, but Nogara should be valued for her own potency is well established (dam of Niccolo Dell'Arca as well as Nearco). Nearco's movement has been described as so fluid and elastic that it resembles the gaits of the big cats. His exceptional way of going was strongly influenced by Nogara's contribution. Nogara was remarkable for her great beauty and balance, and her gait was fluid with great impulsion. We can see that this pre-potency for such wonderful movement is why Nearco is found in so many top dressage performers. Havresac, Nogara's sire, was inbred, like Pharos and Fairway, to St. Simon. The bay St. Simon was a phenomenal race horse, who won at all distances from 5 furlongs upto 2 miles-5 furlongs. He was temperamental and many of his descendants are hard to "rate", that is, they are pullers. His hind quarters were exceptional, and he could accelerate from any distance at any time- a true wonder horse. He is also considered a source of "sickle hocks", which he received from his ancestor, Blacklock, to whom he is strongly linebred. Some say that St. Simon is greatest Thoroughbred of all time. He was powerfully bred: 2x2 to the 3/4 brother and sister Merope and Voltigeur and carries Voltigeur's full sister Velocipede in the 5th (close duplication of close relatives produces speed). And he was 5x6x6x7 to the full siblings Whisker, Whalebone and their sister Web. Plus he is 6x6x6x7 to the full siblings Orville and Orvillena- duplication of full siblings gives class and quality, while background duplications give stamina. His complex lineage explains his potency. The power of St. Simon was focused in many lines in Lauries Crusador through Pharos/Fairway and Havresac 7x6x7x7x7x6x5x6x5x5. And his genes are refocused from there in the 4 lines of Nearco, and brought closer yet with the double of Court Martial 3x5, Owen Tudor 4x6 and Dante 4x5. Therefore, the genetic punch from the build up of St. Simon was not lost, it was refocused again and again and brought down to Laurie, who looks just like him. It is obvious he has received the strong hind end, the great hock action and beautiful movement, which he passes on reliably now to his progeny. A powerhouse mare was born around the same time-1875, as St. Simon (1881). This was Pilgrimage, who is also a potent presence in Laurie. Pilgrimage gives Laurie a nice solid stamina factor while reinforcing the genetics of St. Simon. Pilgrimage is strongly related to St. Simon in that she has linebreeding to the same full siblings: Whalebone/Web/Whisker - 6x8x7x7x7x7x7x7x6x7.Pilgrimage acts as a reinforcement of the St. Simon lines rather than overpowering them.
Pilgrimage is where Lord Derby's racing success began, she is the dam of Canterbury Pilgrim (seen here) and Loved One. Canterbury Pilgrim was dam of Chaucer who in turn gave us the elite mares Selene and Scapa Flow, from whom came Hyperion/Pharamond/Sickle. She was also dam of Swynford from whom came Blenheim and therefore Mahmoud. And the dam of Harry of Hereford from whom War Admiral descends. Her brother Loved One, a good broodmare sire, gave us Gondolette, the dam of Sansovino (in Owen Tudor) who is 2x2 to Canterbury Pilgrim /Loved One, and so is 3x3 to Pilgrimage. Tesio also loved this line.Lauries Crusador is an extremely potent sire. Strongly bred horses like Laurie, do well when crossed with mates who also have strong linebreeding, but of different lines (outcross). His excellent son Londonderry's dam brought in strong line breeding (Wohler- sex balanced and close 4x6) and full siblings of her own. Londonderry has a 160 dressage breeding index. The super sire
Landgraf
is another good example of successful out crossing- he is found on the Critical Mass page.
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Well, what do you think? How can a horse born in 1881 determine the phenotype of a descendant born a 100 years later? With 51 lines of St. Simon in 10 generations, plus 38 more of his close relatives: Galicia and Galliard, Lauries' genetics are saturated with St. Simon's type and he shows it.