Pedigree Pointers: Cassie Tully on inbreeding and Enable's blood lines

The official definition of inbreeding states that it is ‘the interbreeding of closely related individuals especially to preserve and fix desirable characters of and to eliminate unfavourable characters from a stock’.

Essentially, in thoroughbreds, we are repeating the occurrence of a particular elite ancestor to reproduce the genes of this relative in double strength and in the hope that more of his/her superior genes will be expressed than if there was only one occurrence in the pedigree.

In many people’s minds the word inbreeding has countless negative connotations, most of which are never a reality because the umbrella term refers to repetitions too far back to be significant in this regard, and what is deemed as 'too closely related' is rarely risked by breeders.

An individual’s opinion on inbreeding and its success or detriment will vary with the success or failure of the subject horse being observed.

Enable being a prime example.

A horse can be inbred to a particular stallion or to a particular superior mare (the latter which is known as Rasmussen Factor), and there are some high-class examples of both.

Rock Of Gibraltar, winner of seven straight Group One races, is inbred 3x3 to Northern Dancer (i.e. Northern Dancer is the grandfather of both his dam and sire).

And Danehill is one of the most famous examples of inbreeding to a mare. He is inbred 3x3 to Natalma (the dam of Northern Dancer and also Danehill’s maternal great-grandam).

It is important to note that many of today’s racehorses do share ancestors in their fourth generations and further back, but they would simply be maintaining the influence rather than intensifying it. Successfully inbreeding as close or closer than 3x3 is far less common.

Taking a sample of the 47 top stallions in Europe (priced at 20,000 and above), 20 of them do have repeated ancestors within four generations (12 of those are to Northern Dancer, with a further four to a son of Northern Dancer).

But there are only two stallions that are inbred at 3x3 or closer and they are Exceed And Excel (3x3 to Northern Dancer) and Shalaa (3x3 to Danzig).

Side-note: In a similar sample of the USA’s top 44 stallions standing at $30,000 or above, none of them have inbreeding of 3x3 or closer.

All perhaps highlighting both how little success inbreeding that closely has at the highest level and/or its attempts by breeders.

There are of course other Group One scorers inbred 3x3, however, Parish Hall for example (3x3 to Sadler’s Wells), but not an abundance.

Horses with inbreeding at 3x3 or closer do catch the attention, and there were two notable maiden winners within the last month that did just that.

King Fairy is a three-year-old colt by Australia who won on his second start for William Haggas. He is owned and bred by Sunderland Holding, the same owner of Urban Sea and Sea The Stars, the latter whom is this colt's damsire.

This cross makes him inbred 3x3 to two horses - both Urban Sea and Cape Cross.

There are other examples of inbreeding to two horses – Oasis Dream is 3x4 to Northern Dancer and 4x4 to Danzig; Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown was 3x3 to Northern Dancer and 3x4 to Damascus; last year’s Breeder’s Cup Classic winner Vino Rosso is 3x4 to both Mr Prospector and Deputy Minister; and Epsom Derby hero Masar is 3x4 to both Urban Sea and Ahonoora.

But King Fairy is even closer doubling than those significant examples. Notepad out.

The second horse is the Jim Bolger-owned, bred and trained Mac Swiney who prevailed over Ballydoyle’s odds-on favourite Wembley last weekend. Mac Swiney is by New Approach out of a Teofilo mare meaning he is 2x3 to Galileo.

This is another particularly close mating which may have been inspired by the success of a certain Queen-bred on a similarly notable cross by Juddmonte; the now ultimate advertisement to try closer inbreeding, and favourite for Saturday’s King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes – Enable.

The dual Arc winner who has won 13 of her 16 starts including 10 Group Ones is of course the daughter of Nathaniel, who also won the King George in 2011 and was second by a nose on his second attempt to another super-mare Danedream.

Nathaniel is by Galileo and Enable’s Listed-winning dam Concentric is by Sadler’s Wells.

Thus, making Enable inbred to Sadler’s Wells (3x2) and causing much discussion about the potential closer inbreeding to a superior ancestor, particularly Sadler’s Wells or Galileo, can hold due to her subsequent brilliance.

Enable has two Group-placed siblings. Contribution by Champs Elysees who placed in the Group Two Prix de Pomone in France, and Entitle who is by the former’s full brother, Dansili, and placed in the Group Three Musidora Stakes at York.

She has just one other named sibling that is from a Sadler’s Wells line sire similar to hers – the three-year-old who won on her second start last week – Portrush (Frankel).

Concentric, Enable’s dam, is then a full sister to the French Group Two winner and French Oaks placed Dance Routine.

Dance Routine produced the five-time Group One winning Champion Flintshire, who has his first runners this year, as well as multiple Stakes winner Dance Moves and the dam of dual Group Two winners Projected and Headman.

Apsis, a three-part brother to Concentric and Dance Moves, by Barathea (Sadler’s Wells), won Group Three races in France and is a Group One producing sire.

Enable’s next dam Bourbon Girl placed in the Epsom, Irish and Yorkshire Oaks and is also the dam of Group Two scorer Daring Miss (Sadler’s Wells) and grandam of Group One Grand Prix De Saint-Cloud winner Spanish Moon and Ribblesdale Stakes winner Spanish Run, both of whom are by El Prado, another son of Sadler’s Wells.

There are no further Group One scorers in the next three generations, but a further Group Two winner by Barathea.

It is fair to say that Sadler’s Wells has transformed this family and the duplication of him in Enable’s mating has given rise to this superstar who will potentially become the first ever horse to win the King George three times this weekend, on her way to becoming the first ever to claim three Prix de l’Arc de Triomphes in October.