Pedigree Pointers: Cassie Tully on where the majority of champion race horses actually come from

Many place quite a lot of importance on a mare’s racing performance when purchasing them as a broodmare, and this was emphasised in the recent instalment of the popular ‘The Art of the Mating’ series when looking at a mare for commercial breeding.

The reality is that the majority of top racehorses do not come from the top racemares, not even half.

As shown in the previous instalment last week, from 70 Classic-winning mares over 20 years, they produced only 13 Group 1 winners. Bearing in mind that there are roughly 85 different Group 1 races run in Europe every year and the fact that those mares get the best opportunity being sent to the best stallions due to their achievements and their subsequent progeny were housed at the best training yards across the continent.

So where do the top racehorses come from? Is the mare’s performance all that critical and have any champions come from unraced, unplaced mares or those who never managed to perform at stakes level?

The answer is yes to the latter and a couple of high-profile examples from an almost endless list include Littleprincessemma - who did not manage to place in a race and went on to breed the first American Triple Crown winner in 37 years, American Pharoah.

Others include Trevise - winner of a maiden and unplaced thereafter, who is the dam of dual-Arc, six-time Group 1 winning champion Treve; Lagrion never won a race and bred three champions in Dylan Thomas, Queen’s Logic and Homecoming Queen; Born Gold, dam of the 14-time Group 1 winning champion Goldikova, won one race but did not perform in any graded race; Life Happened, unraced and dam of six-time Group-1 winner Tepin; and finally, Zarkasha, unraced and the dam of five-time Group 1 winning arc heroine Zarkava.

For some statistics and more recent examples, here are some present-day sample groups.

They are the 65 individual Group 1 winners of 2019, the 65 individual Group 1 winners from 2018 and also the 48 best stallions in Europe standing at €20,000 and above.

The figures and percentages speak for themselves.

In 2019, only three of the 65 Group 1 winners emerged from dams that were Group 1 winners themselves. They were Magical, Too Darn Hot and Ghaiyyath.

In 2018, eight of the 65 had Group 1 winning dams. And as expected (but still very low), the top stallions in Europe had a higher percentage.

Ten of the 48 best stallions in Europe had Group 1-winning dams. That is 22%, still leaving a large percentage for the rest. Of course a large percentage of each Group are accounted for by Group 2, Group 3, and Listed performing dams.

However, what we are here to focus on is the substantial percentage of Group 1-producing mares that were never black-type performers (never placed in a Group or Listed event).

A whopping 52% and 58% of the 2019 and 2018 Group 1 winners respectively came from mares who were either unraced, unplaced or maiden/handicap winners.

The stars include the likes of Blue Point. The dual Royal Ascot hero is out of the Royal Applause mare Scarlett Rose, who did not manage to win a race and who is also out of a mare who did not win a race.

Next is Iridessa, the four-time Group 1-winning Breeders’ Cup heroine’s dam is unraced. Her second dam was also a multiple Group 1 winner, but these are the only two black-type winners within five generations of that family.

European champion filly Star Catcher, Moyglare Stakes winner Love, champion sprinter Battaash, dual Group 1 winner Fairyland, Royal Ascot hero Without Parole, Epsom Oaks winner Forever Together, French Group 1 winner Pretty Pollyanna and four-time Group 1 winner Alpha Centauri, are all, along with 21 others from the past two years, out of unraced or non-winning mares.

Similarly, six-time Group 1 winner Laurens, triple-Group 1 winner Advertise, Ger Lyons’ unbeaten star Siskin, Irish Guineas hero Romanised, Irish St Leger winner Search For A Song (who is also a sister to champions Free Eagle, Custom Cut and Sapphire), champion two-year-old Skitter Scatter, as well as 36 others from the past 2 years, are all from mares who won a maiden or handicap but did not perform in a stakes race.

Onto the stallions.

Nearly one third of the best stallions in Europe are out of mares that were either unraced, unplaced or maiden/handicap winners.

The two most expensive sires in Europe are both out of Group 1-winning dams and they don’t need any introduction. The most recent addition to the upper echelons of this list however, does not come from a blue ribbon dam. No Nay Never’s dam Cat’s Eye Witness, did win a race but did not perform at Stakes level.

Another is Oasis Dream. Hope ran only once and did not place, but did produce multiple Group 1 winner and top-level producer Oasis Dream as well as Group 1 winner Zenda, who in turn gave life to another leading sire, Kingman.

Dark Angel, Exceed And Excel, Le Havre, Almanzor, Iffraaj, Cracksman, Night Of Thunder, Mastercraftsman, Harry Angel and Ribchester also join this list as produce of unraced and non-stakes-performing dams. And no, they do not all have significant pedigrees to make up for their dam’s lack of performance.

Two thirds of the stallions do come from black-type performing mares, but not Group 1 or 2 level. The most notable being Kind. The dam of Frankel won two Listed races and did not perform at the top level despite producing the unbeaten superstar, and his brother Noble Mission.

Pivotal, broodmare sire extraordinaire, comes from a dam who was Group 3-placed and did not perform at anything higher. Shamardal, who sadly just left us, is from a Listed-placed dam and Siyouni’s dam who was a Listed winner produced him and his champion sister Siyouma.

There are no definite patterns or laws in breeding or pedigrees.

What we can say for definite, however, is that in the past two years, unraced or unplaced dams have produced more Group 1 winners than actual Group 1-winning mares. The same can be said for one third of Europe’s top stallions.

Nobody breeds a mare with the dream of winning a class 5 handicap; the dream is to breed a champion and to own the mare that has bred a champion. That is what will provide the real commercial returns.

The majority of us do not have enormous purses to buy top performing mares, but the good news is that champions come from any level of racemare. Anywhere. All of the time.

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