Mor Spirit: Mor of the Same

Mor Spirit has put himself on the radar as a potential Kentucky Derby hopeful, winning the Gr. 1 Los Alomitos Futurity. We shall dig in to the pedigree of this rising star in a moment. Before we get too far along, please read this piece on Mor Spirit's sire, Eskendereya, written by my pedigree mentor, Les Brinsfield.

One of my pedigree mentor Les Brinsfield's strongest statements that he ever put in his writing (paraphrasing from a post on the Pedigree Post, a site that has since been taken down, sadly) is the fact that crossing and re-crossing the same set of ancestors either produces good horses or it does not. When a cross as successful as the Domino / La Troienne cross is found and keeps producing good horses, it is not likely to suddenly stop producing these good horses any time in the near future.

This holds true with the pedigree of Gr. 1 Los Alamitos Futurity winner Mor Spirit. This pedigree features two genetically equivalent parents, with a dam inbred to a superior female family, that of Maggie B B (family 4-m), through the doubled Change Water. Maggie B B is a sire-source mare the likes of which are only rivaled by La Troienne herself. Whisk Broom is also from this family. Dixieland Band's 2nd dam is linebred to Maggie B B, and gets support from Dixie Union, who is also tail-female to Maggie B B. Unbridled's Song is also from this family, and Holy Bull is a result of build-ups of Maggie B B. The 2nd damsire Allens Prospect is from this same line, adding yet another line. The list of influential sires from family 4-m reads like a who's-who and I will either a) save it for another day or b) let you do some homework.

Sire Eskendereya and dam Im A Dixie Girl are both a result of a double of Northern Dancer combined with Seattle Slew and Raise A Native. Northern Dancer has Discovery (who has more of Domino's family than Domino himself) and various members of Family 16 (Agnes), all of whom I tout frequently, but, out to 9 generations, has Ormonde, his close kin Martagon (usually found in Blenheim II), plus Muncaster, Desmond, Sardanapale, Broomstick, and St Gatien. Family 16 representative Herbager is also present in Im A Dixie Girl.

Native Dancer and Raise A Native are laden with Domino. Seattle Slew brings La Troienne (inbred to full siblings Ormonde and Ornament, both of family 16) twice, and her granddaughters Striking and Busher present in Seattle Slew are each quadrupled to Domino from Bubbling Over and War Admiral. La Troienne was never bred to a sire free of Domino and the results speak for themselves. 3rd damsire Northern Fashion adds another two lines of La Troienne. Add another round of Ormonde and Ornament for Roman in Giants Causeway.

Potent influence Hail To Reason is present no less than four times and adds Plucky Liege twice for each line of Hail To Reason. Plucky Liege adds both variety and quantity to the family 16 carnage. Mr. Prospector in Im A Dixie Girl adds all the perks of Raise A Native and Native Dancer, plus he adds Lady Reel, stakes winning sister of Domino, plus a plethora of family 16.

Seems like I've heard this song before...

Should this wonderfully bred horse make it to the breeding shed - I have no reason to believe that he won't eventually breed on - I would like to see him get mares loaded with Djeddah and Johns Joy, Spend A Buck, and Friends Lake, who are all heavily loaded with Vandal blood that is critical for linebreeding to Domino. The latter two are also loaded with La Troienne. I would also like to see him get mares with Olympia and Prince John, both of whom also click really well with La Troienne.

Maggie B B was born in 1867 and Agnes was born in 1844. To those who say that nothing beyond the 3rd generation matters, I tell you to look closer, deeper, into the generations past and see how families are built, sustained, and revitalized - when necessary - through effective linebreeding. 

http://www.pedigreequery.com/mor+spirit

 

When You Find Gold, Keep Digging.

Not every pedigree is by intentional design, but is sometimes simply a repeat of previous success (successful crosses are not likely to suddenly stop producing good horses, after all). Such is the case with Tepin, younger full sister to multiple graded stakes-placed Prime Cut, by Bernstein, and half sister to multiple Grade 2 winner, Vyjack. I recently spoke with Vyjack and Tepin's breeder, Carrie Brogden of Machmer Hall Farm, about the selection of Bernstein, and she stated that she had no real pedigree designs in mind when she bred 1st dam Life Happened back to Bernstein - she simply wanted to reproduce the same mating that produced Prime Cut. In between Prime Cut and Tepin, Brogden was not able to get in to Bernstien's book for breeding, so she "called an audible" as she put it, and booked Life Happened to a sire who had yet to truly spread his wings at the time, Into Mischief. The rest of the story is that Into Mischief became wildly successful, including the foal out of Life Happened, Vyjack. The following year, Brogden was able to get Life Happened into Bernstein's book of mares and was handsomely rewarded with Gr. 1 winner Tepin. Mrs. Brogden admitted she was not a "pedigree" person, but the pedigree of Tepin and, by extension, her full brother Prime Cut, as well as Vyjack, will be covered.

Tepin and Prime Cut are by Bernstein, out of Life Happened, by Stravinsky, out of Round It Off. There is a 4 x 4 cross of Northern Dancer and Round Table present in both parents. This is never a bad thing and the affinity the two horses have for each other is undeniable as both parents have been successful runners and producers on their own. This brings a build-up of St. Simon and his full sister Angelica, as well as a plethora of family 16 (descendants of Agnes), which I have discussed at length in some of my other posts.

It is no mystery that highly inbred mares tend to make very successful dams and even better 2nd dams, especially when inbred to superior female lines (aka Rasmussen Factor). 2nd dam Round It Off is no exception to this principle.  Her inbreeding to blue hen Rough Shod, especially with opposite-sex, full siblings Moccasin and Ridan, gets the party started.

First dam Life Happened adds to the carnage of Rough Shod as she adds another full sister in Thong. A mare that has high concentrations of known classic-producing female lines is now pre-potent and selectively filtered enough to produce nothing but superior offspring. When bred to Bernstein, another blue hen, Boola Brook is now duplicated, creating a new Rasmussen Factor scenario.

To top it off, our best friend La Troienne is present through Bernstien via Busanda, dam of champion Buckpasser. La Troienne's best friend Domino and his accomplices Tourbillon and Discovery are also present.

Vyjack is a slightly different story. At five generations, he appears to be a total outcross. A further comparison of Bernstein and Into Mischief reveals that they are similarly bred, both with Storm Cat and Triple Crown winner Affirmed close up in the sire.  Bernstein is tail-female to La Troienne, but Into Mischief is tail-female to Cornish Prince, whose 4th dam Adargatis is three-quarter sister to La Troienne. Bernstein and Into Mischief can be considered genetic equivalents at this point. Into Mischief also has Djeddah, a necessity when linebreeding for Domino. Refer to my previous article on Lucy N Ethel to find out why this is important.

What is the result of crossing Storm Cat on Affirmed? Family 16 all over the place, plus close genetic relatives Mahmoud and Nasrullah lashed up nicely with their best friend, Princequillo, all of whom add more of family 16 through Martagon and Papyrus. 

Same band, different song...

http://www.pedigreequery.com/tepin

I will post segments of my interview with Carrie Brogden in a later post. Many thanks to Carrie and Machmer Hall Farm for her time on the phone with me! I learned a lot about the commercial sales side of the business that I will cover in more detail later.