mare is the key- part I

(this is the first part of a series of articles dealing with pedigree, mitochondria, X-factor, Roman’s dosage and other aspects of a thoroughbred)

Fedrico Tesio said this- breeder of Nearco, who has changed the thoroughbred racing across the globe.

I also believe that mare is the key – but I’m not Fedrico Tesio and though race after race proves this dictum , most of the punters, overlook this point and most of the ‘experts’(if they are!) ignore it or keep this info under wrap .
Why?
In a male dominated environment the female ,usually, gets sidelined and has to prove her quality/equality/superiority again and again and therefore, I will use some past performances of Indian female runners as an example to prove the dictum – ‘mare is the key’.
In classic and prestigious races pedigree plays a deterministic role and must be studied carefully. Moreover, most of the Indian bred need a closer scrutiny of their breeding as well as the ‘current form’ to assess their winning probability.
Though pedigree is a good and honest pointer in a sprint even upto a mile ,in my opinion, it is a decider in Classics and route races and as usual I will emphasize on the female line as it is the true inheritor and transferor of the stamina in the thoroughbred lore , because a Razeen or a Placerville may sire a champion sprinter and a Derby winner through different mares in the same year but a mare is more faithful to her genetic profile .

I will use a combination of pedigree and performance scale to prove these remarks. Moreover , Dr. Roman’s dosage theory is also very useful in races of more than 2000m.

Bangalore St.Leger 2008 was touted as an extension of Indian St. Leger (won by Noble Prince) by all without considering all the variables- the most important being the pedigree pointers for a race more than 2000m. Pedigree helps a sprinter as well as a route runner and overlooking it extracts a heavy price – especially in a bad ‘going’. In India we are fond of using superlatives, like ‘impeccably bred’ without even understanding the meaning of those words, to please the powers that be, and confusing the innocent punters ,nay, the gamblers who know nothing of the nuances and follow blindly these ‘experts’.

I will use a combination of pedigree and performance scale to assess them – and though the result is known I’ll not allow it to affect my reasoning. Moreover, in this article (part I) I’ll place more emphasis on Dr. Roman’s dosage theory which is also very useful in races of more than 2000m.

Noble Prince(NP) (Placerville Amazing Princess) ( dosage:11-4-14-0-1) had the best ‘current form’ and beaten all the competitors in one or more races and ,therefore, was a natural choice for favoritism . Let us examine his profile a little more. Noble Prince – a dickey legged COLT is the 6th foal of her dam and has almost ‘similar’ dosage profile as Sweeping Success(12-5-12-0-1)- winning/losing races in Mumbai, reinforces the usefulness of the dosage theory .
Amazing Princess(AP) (Riyahi- Kirov Ballet) (7-3-16-2-0) dam of Noble Prince raced at Chennai ,owned by Dr. Ramaswamy and trained by late JH Foley. After winning South India Oaks JH Foley brought her to Mumbai to have a go at Indian Oaks but failing miserably in Indian Oaks she went back to her home . She won many races there and distinctly has stamina genes but her dam Kirov Ballet(10-7-33-0-0) had too much of brilliance and ‘turn of foot’ which she has transmitted to her grandson Noble Prince as theoretically ,sometimes , grandsire and grand dam contribute more than the parents …Pied Princess (13-15-16-2-2) granddam of Amazing Princess and Ravela(3-1-0-12-2) contribute the stamina genes to their descendents. With all these positives Noble Prince lost the race .
Why ? The answer lies in the pedigree profile of Arabian Knight!!

Arabian Knight (Brave Act- Arabian Rose) (dosage: 3-1-8-8-4) is the 2nd foal of his dam and is an outright stayer. He won the Stayers’Cup (3000m) at Hyderabad in March 2008 in record time(3m 10.6s) start to finish and except Star of Windsor who ran this race in 3m 7.4s at Chennai in 2005(very fast dusty, dry track on that day) his timings were fastest during last 40+ yrs for this distance allover Indian race tracks.
His sire Brave Act (5-3-10-6-4) son of Persian Bold(12-4-2-12-2) is a big stamina influence for his progenies and though his offspring may lack the turn of foot for a sprint they can outrun others in route races –longer the better . Brave Act had been mated earlier with mares who lack brilliance but have lot of stamina and route races being only 8 to 10 % of all the races run in India his progenies did not make any impact or impression .
Arabian Knight is termed a one paced runner and is a front runner as per his published race records . But he has an amazing pedigree profile and why he could not win more races baffles me .
His dam Arabian Rose (Razeen-Self Reliance) (dosage:5-1-11-12-5) could have run all day and would have won a race next day! She literally did that ! After winning Calcutta Derby on 5th Jan 97 and winning Calcutta Oaks on 11th Jan(within 6 days) she was sent to Mumbai to challenge Indictment( the eventual triple crown winner) for Indian Derby on 2nd Feb 97 .How did she fare ? she lost by a neck coming from 9th position at 400m . She ran 3 races of 2400m in 28 days winning two and losing Indian Derby by a neck to Indictment- a champion triple crown winner. No other filly except Amazing Bay and Littleover can equal or surpass her feat till date .
Self Reliance (Reliance-My Lovely Robe)- dam of Arabian Rose has a funny dosage profile (0-0-0-22-8) indicating surfeit of stamina and minimal brilliance resulting in her winning South Indian St. Leger and Oaks and placing in Indian oaks and Indian St. Leger during her classic age. Her progeny emulated her feat by winning oaks and winning and placing in various classics- Indian and regional .
Suffice it to say that the pedigree of female line and the male line of Arabian Knight was filled up excessively with stamina contributing ancestors and a bit of speed would have done wonders to the ‘line’

What does all this mean ?
In simple words, all the details, observations and the facts prove one cardinal point – that his pedigree will have its say only in a route( >2000m) race- longer the better…
How Arabian Knight could beat Noble Prince when the later beat him by more than 5 lengths in Indian St. Leger.

Because at Bangalore he ran his ‘appropriate’ distance in a heavy going – which was stamina sapping and having the best staying ability – much better than competitors won the race (2800m) by a distance in 3m 13.8s.

Of course he won a 3000m race in 3m 10.6 seconds – a 200m longer race in a shorter time !