Joy: Broodmare ProspectAn Episode in my Quest for Critical Mass Each new foal is a learning experience and Joy is no different. Joy, a broodmare prospect, is by Lions Den Daniel, an Irish Sport Horse, out of Lady Sarid, a full Thoroughbred. It is a struggle always to decipher the genetics- it is still not easy, even after all my years of study, to stand back from the pedigree and look clearly at a horse. At first, Joy appears to favor her sire more than her dam. She has that Fair Play look about her that comes from her sire, while her dam is the image of Somethingroyal, so much so they could be twins.
I picked up a few older Thoroughbred mares last year for test breeding of my young stud colt. The first of these to have a live birth for me is Lady. Lady Sarid is inbred to Secretariat and his full sister Syrian Sea 2x3, and my young colt has their 3/4 brother Sir Gaylord in his 4th generation. These 3 siblings are the best offspring of this top broodmare, all of them grade 1 stakes winners and top sires or broodmares. Doubling and tripling up on Somethingroyal is practiced by Thoroughbred race horse breeders, and has proven successful for producing winners. Somethingroyal is considered a blue hen- what we sport horse breeders would call an elite mare. This mare that I picked up is aged (18), and had disappointed her last owner by not conceiving when he bred her to his stallion multiple times. I took a chance on her because of her genetics. The year before while my stud was only 2 I bred her with frozen semen to a well linebred German Warmblood stallion, but she slipped the foal and I thought she was not going to produce anything for me either. But I put her in the pasture with young Dan and now I have a beautiful filly on the ground. The triple of Somethingroyal would be enough in a broodmare prospect to put me into sustained elation, but there are actually other super genetic connections in this mating. Lady carries Comic a 3/4 brother to Cap and Bells in Dan, they are 4x4. This line is one of the pedigree strengths of my colt, as he carries reinforcement for this combination by having the 3/4 sister of their sire, Tom Fool, in his lineage, Attica. Further, Attica's dam Athenia is 3/4 sister to Tom Fool's sire Menow. In addition, Comic's second dam in Businesslike, a full sister to Big Event in Dan. Dan carries Eastern Princess, the full sister to Bold Ruler in Lady. And the son of Eastern Princess: Shady Character, a turf winner, is 3/4 sibling to Syrian Sea and Secretariat through the Bold Ruler/Eastern Princess side of the pedigree. As if this full sibling Secretariat/Syrian Sea inbreeding isn't powerful enough on its own, it is reinforced on both sides of the lineage. So this incredible potent full sibling duplication 2x3 in her dam is reinforced by their 3/4 brothers, Shady Character and Sir Gaylord, in the sire. It took me awhile to determine who in her lineage Joy resembles physically most closely. When studying pictures of her ancestors, I noticed that Joy is the image of Miss Disco, the dam of Bold Ruler. Joy looks very much like her, with the Fair Play front end and high neck set, the long pasterns and even the peculiar Arabian forehead, all which are found in Miss Disco. This is a bonus, that Joy is dominated by Miss Disco's genetics. Miss Disco was a great racer, winning many stakes races, even against the colts- not many fillies are able to do this. Besides being dam of Bold Ruler, she had other excellent offspring, including Bold Ruler's full siblings: Nasco- a good race horse, Independence- a champion steeplechaser and Eastern Princess- a valuable broodmare who we find here. Dan, the sire of this filly, brings in 6 lines of Man O'War and 2 of Discovery: Miss Disco and her sister My Recipe. This is a strong concentration, and the majority of the lines are found in the bottom quadrant. Dan resembles the Fair Play type, as does his mother. Little Joy has carried this forward. Secretariat, who we discussed on the
Pedigree Study page,
has a typical stayer pedigree, with little close breeding, most activity in the rear of the pedigree. Physically he seemed to throw to the Discovery influence more than the Phalaris- he was a sound, calm stayer as opposed to the temperamental, brittle, sprinter Phalaris type. Lady, inbred to Secretariat and his full sister 2x3, throws to the dam: Somethingroyal. Joy, with her Fair Play concentration from her sire picked up more on the sire's (Bold Ruler) dam: Miss Disco, a Discovery daughter. I think the reinforcement by Shady Character of the Bold Ruler side of the inbreeding may have tipped the balance away from Somethingroyal to Miss Disco. Joy's pasterns are a little long and her back tendons were weak when she was born, taking several days to tighten up. If there is a weakness then, this may be where it will manifest. However, after looking closely at the sound Miss Disco, with her long pasterns, I am not so concerned. Joy is a strong willed little girl, full of spunk and curiosity. She tends to rear for defense instead of trying to kick from the back, this also is more like her sire's side of the lineage. Curious and full of confidence she is already great friends with the dogs and the other horses. With a elite mare dominance (Somethingroyal/Miss Disco) established through her Thoroughbred lines, Joy's breeding career will be directed to developing her Irish lines. Look over my shoulder here and see a few of the possible good mating choices for Joy. The best overall match for Joy that I can find right now is with Kilpeck Diamond Knight (IDH). He is a fairly even balance for her inbred strengths in that he carries the full brothers: King of Diamonds and Slyguff Hero 2x4, through a son and a daughter. This will engage the Errigal part of her sire's pedigree as Dan carries the sister to these brothers, so that would put Errigal 6x4x6, sex balanced. This combination would also balance Skippy 4x4, and Ben Purple is present in a strong filly factor. These are all good to great performance lines (jumpers). This proposed mating would produce strong, sound jumpers or eventers. And I believe has a good chance of producing a world beater for me. Another excellent match for Joy is the elusive Penmerryls Rhythm and Blues(IDH). And if I can ever locate this stallion again he may be my first choice. But I have not been able to locate him since he was standing in Germany 4 years ago. This mating would create sex balancing of the Irish mare Barna Lucy 4x4, Skippy 4x5, sex balance of the Irish mare Harepark Pink 5x5, and sex balance of the good sire Slievenamon 4x4. Any time I can double up on good mares in a pedigree I want to do it, so this would be a nice match.
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