BREEDING FORUM

Posted: **Wed Dec 13, 2023 13:31 pm**

In one book the author spends half a page insisting Maternal Grandsire is the correct description. More commonly used is damsire, or broodmare sire. ............................. There was an interesting article in The Blood-Horse magazine on 19th February 2000 titled Broodmares Sires: How Good? by David Schmitz. The article listed the 75 leading USA Broodmare Sires year by year from 1924 to 1999 (1927 no info). I might look for GB & IRE lists but you might find the USA leading broodmare sires interesting. I decided to put them into 12 groups as many of the sires are related. Most are sons or grandsons of the other but in a couple of cases they are the broodmare sire. ...................... Group 1 [21 years of the 75 years]: Sir Gallahad (12 years), his full sibling Bull Dog (3 years), Bull Lea (4), Crafty Admiral (1); Roman (1). ............ Group 2 [14 years]: Princequillo (eight); Prince John (4); Speak John (1); Secretariat (1). ............ Group 3 [5 years]: Fair Play (3); War Admiral (2). ............ Group 4 [5 years]: Star Shoot (5). ............ Group 5 [4 years]: Broomstick (2); Sweep (2). ............ Group 6 [4 years]: Buckpasser (4). ............ Group 7 [4 years]: Double Jay (4). ............ Group 8 [3 years]: Mr Prospector (3). ............ Group 9 [3 years] Nijinsky (2); Northern Dancer (1). ............ Group 10 [3 years]: High Time (2); Celt (1). ............ Group 11 [years 2]: Grey Dawn (1); Mahmoud (1). ............ Group 12 [7 years]: this all the others: Seattle Slew (2); Chicle; Count Fleet; Hoist The Flag; Olympia; Wrack (all 1 each). ........................ I often thought Maternal Grandsires as middle distance sorts, but in the above list Sir Gallahad and his brother Bull Dog were 6f/8f horses, and Mr Prospector was similar. ............ This comment in the article further emphasises the dominance of a small number of sires in the Broodmare Sires lists "Man O' War's sire, Fair Play, led the broodmare list three times, and Man O' War himself finished second nine consecutive years, starting in 1942." ........................ The Sires of 1999 book by The Blood-Horse has many interesting sire lists. I note Danzig (1977) is second in lifetime earnings (for sires with runners in 1999) and has an AEI of 4.96, but he is in 24th place in the Cumulative Broodmare Sires list (list based on AEI of daughters, and must have one daughter running in 1999). ........................ The next question is why were those the best broodmare sires, dominating year after year. Sir Gallahad was number 1 in 1939; 1943; 1944; 1945; 1946; 1947; 1948; 1949; 1950; 1951; 1952; 1955 and his full brother Bull Dog in 1953; 1954; 1956 and then Bull Lea in 1958; 1959; 1960; 1961. ........................ The final bit of trivia in that 1999 book is the Leading Sires in Eng/IRE has 1st Sadler's Wells; 2nd Fairy King full sibling brothers.