5/31/14 The One-Two Punch

Over the last few years, two stallions have been consistently at the top of the sire ratings.  Let’s look at their pedigrees to see how they stack up against each other.  While they may appear to be totally different at first glance, these two have some remarkable similarities.  Sir William Robert and Undulata’s Nutcracker have each sired 6 Champions as of 2014.  Those numbers are certain to grow for each sire.   They were each born a year away from the 2000 Y2K millennium, Sir William Robert the year before and Undulata’s Nutcracker the year after.  Both stallions have a large number of Hall of Fame Broodmares in their 5 generation pedigrees.Sir William Robert  holds a slight edge with 17 to 16 for Undulata’s Nutcracker .   Sir William Robert  had a show record, while Undulata’s Nutcracker does not, however, Undulata’s Nutcracker wins the title for most clever baby names.  Who knew there were so many ways to include Nut in a name?

Sir William Robert traces directly to Supreme Sultan on both his sire and dam’s sire lines, his sire through #1 ranked sire Sultan’s Santana and his dam through top ranked sire Champagne Fizz.  Undulata’s Nutcracker on the other hand, also traces to the same sire on both his sire & dam’s sire line, but instead of Supreme Sultan, he traces to Wing Commander.  His sire & grandsire were #1 ranked Caramac & WGC Will Shriver, and his dam traces to WGC Yorktown.  So their bloodlines have the same theme, but different players.  However, looking at similarities, both sire’s dams were by Vanity’s Sensation.  Caramac’s dam and Santana’s Charm’s dam were both by this former #1 ranked sire.  Looking at their dam’s pedigree, Oman’s Desdemona Denmark appears twice in Undulata’s Nutcracker’s pedigree, and once for Sir William Robert , but a generation closer for the same percentage of blood.

Although Undulata’s Nutcracker seems to favor the Wing Commander bloodlines, he does have two crosses to Supreme Sultan on his dam’s side.  And our Supreme Sultan-bred Sir William Robert ?  Of course, he has a shot of Wing Commander on his dam’s side.  Remember that in theory, a sire & dam each provide 50% of genetics and bloodlines for any offspring, the next generation grandparents each provide 25%, great-grandparents 12.5% and so on down the list getting more dilute the further back we go.  Utilizing statistics from one of my favorite websites, allbreedpedigree.com,  the horses appearing more than once in Sir William Robert ’s pedigree with the highest percentage of bloodlines are Supreme Sultan 18.75%, King’s Genius, Rex Peavine, Anacacho Denmark, Bourbon King, Edna May’s King and Reveries Desdemona in order from 1^st through 7^th.  The same seven appear in Undulata's Nutcracker’s list, in somewhat different order.  Undulata’s Nutcracker’s top ranked horse is Rex Peavine, who appears 40 times in 9 generations for a whopping 19.92%.  Second is Anacacho Denmark, Bourbon King is third, Reverie’s Desdemona fourth, Edna May’s King is sixth, King’s Genius seventh and Supreme Sultan is 12^th.  This is calculating the percentage of bloodlines based on nine generations of their pedigrees.    Much further down the list, Stonewall King appears for both stallions.  Undulata’s Nutcracker has two crosses and Sir William Robert  has three crosses, all through his Missouri bred BHF great grandmother, Hillcrest Enjoli. And of those top seven horses appearing multiple times in both Undulata’s Nutcracker & Sir William Robert’s pedigrees?  The only mare in the group was Reverie’s Desdemona.  She was the dam of Oman’s Desdemona Denmark who appears in both pedigrees, as well as full sister Kate Shriver from Undulata’s Nutcracker’s pedigree and full brother Golden Thunderbolt from Sir William Robert ’s pedigree.   Have I hit you with enough statistics for one day?  Fun stuff!  Both stand at Willowbank Farm in Simpsonville, KY.  Do you think they are best buddies, or rivals for the top spot?  One last comparison:  Both stallions had grandsires that were World's Grand Champions.  Sultan's Santana was a WGC Fine Harness horse,  CH Will Shriver was a WGC five-gaited horse.  As of 2013, Undulata's Nutcracker has sired 51 World's Champions, however, Sir William Robert is the only one of the two that has sired a World's Grand Champion, Sir Silver Knight, the 2013 WGC three-Gaited horse.
*note: Stallion ads in the 2014 Journal of the American Saddlebred states that Undulata's Nutcracker is the sire of 65 World's Champions and WC Sir William Robert is the sire of 29 World's Champions.*

As to which is the best?  Who wins the One-Two Punch?  They are both brilliant sires, with trainable, athletic, beautiful babies.  They will both dominate the sire ratings for years to come, much as their respective great-great grand sires, Wing Commander & Supreme Sultan did in their day.  In the name of diversity, there are many other great stallions that are available out there, but no one can take away from the success of these two sires.

UNDULATA'S NUTCRACKER        Stallion   3/31/2001     

[PHOTO]

U	CH Caramac 4/8/1978		CH Will Shriver	Callaway’s Johnny Gillen	CH Wing Commander
					Fourth Estate BHF
				CH Kate Shriver BHF	Anacacho Denmark
					Reverie’s Desdemona BHF
			Stonehedge Vanity	Vanity’s Sensation of Crebilly	Sensation Rex
					CH Meadow Vanity
				Lofty Elaine	Yekcohs
					Ruth Elaine
	Christmas in New York ERB 6/11/1991		The New York Times	New Yorker	CH Yorktown
					Sandalwood Stonewall
				Canterbury Lane	Oman’s Desdemona Denmark
					Croft’s Star
			Nativity	Native Promise	Oman’s Desdemona Denmark
					Starla
				Nancy O’Lee	Supreme Sultan
					Molly O’Lee

SIR WILLIAM ROBERT   Stallion   5/4/1999   

[PHOTO]

Sir William Robert	Santana’s Charm 4/26/1981	Sultan’s Santana	Supreme Sultan	CH Valley View Supreme
				Melody O’Lee BHF
			Grand View’s Majorette BHF	Golden Thunderbolt
				CH America Beautiful BHF
		Vanity’s Belle	Vanity’s Sensation of Crebilly	Sensation Rex
				CH Meadow Vanity BHF
			KY. Cardinal Belle BHF	CH King’s Genius
				Beverly Belle
	Rebel Empress 6/6/1991	CH Heir to Champagne	Champagne Fizz	Supreme Sultan
				Commander’s Elegance
			Hillcrest Enjoli BHF	Hillcrest Bourbon Stonewall
				Hillcrest Secret Heiress
		CH Cherry Rebel	Oman’s Desdemona Denmark	Anacacho Denmark
				Reverie’s Desdemona BHF
			CH Golden Cherry	Shoreacres Anacacho Genius
				Black Cherry BHF

Now for some pictures.

Sir William Robert

Sir William Robert

Undulata's Nutcracker

Undulata's Nutcracker

Undulata's Nutcracker

Undulata's Nutcracker

We can also ask some of their babies if they'll tell us which sire is best.   Nuttin' Doin' said one. Nut a Chance said another.   You only gave Sircumstantial Evidence.  What do you think of your sire? He's Jamaican Me Crazy came the reply.  And yet another stated that he was Extremely Fortunut.  I guess it's all a matter of opinion.

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Next week it is back to the past, June of 1954.

5/24/14 A trio of South African stallions

Last week came a request for pictures of a trio of South African stallions, Dorian Wild Temper, Dorian Warriors Song and War Image.  I remembered seeing one of them while on the All American Cup summer stallion tour, so out came the photo albums.  Sure enough, I found a few photos of Dorian Wild Temper.  He was 17 & 18 years old when I saw him in 2008 and 2009, but still an imposing stallion.  He had a beautiful neck with very expressive head and ears.





Dorian Wild Temper in 2008 and 2009 at the All American Cup Stallion Tour at Copper Coin Farm.

Dorian Wild Temper was bred in South Africa and imported here in 2002 by Fox Grape Farms.  He traced back to CH Young America on both his sire's & dam's sire lines.  CH Young America won the Five-Gaited stallion stake at the 1968 Kentucky State Fair and was exported to South Africa.  He was sired by Mr. America by Genius Bourbon King. Mr. America had  himself been a RWC in the 1956 KSF Five Gaited stallion stake shown by Tom Moore.  Dorian Wild Temper had been the South African Five Gaited Grand Champion in 2001 and 2002, and was Reserve World's Champion Five Gaited Stallion at the 2003 Kentucky State Fair.

Mr. America with Tom Moore
Genius Bourbon King X Briney Breezes (BHF) by Kalarama Rex




More pictures of Dorian Wild Temper

(SA) Oranjevlet Trojan by Whipalong Joe Again  by CH Young America
X (SA) Freemane Feeling Free by (SA) Krismar Young Africa by CH Young America

Although now deceased, Dorian Wild Temper sired CH Fox Grape's Dauntless, who was out of CH Garland's Dream (BHF) and CH Fox Grape's Forever Yours, whose 2nd dam was CH Garland's Dream (BHF).  He also sired Chosholosa, a flashy bay colt that won at halter as both a weanling and yearling at the Kentucky State Fair.

CH Fox Grape's Dauntless
(SA) Dorian Wild Temper X CH Garland's Dream (BHF) by Harlem Globetrotter

CH Fox Grape's Forever Yours
(SA) Dorian Wild Temper X Forever Garland by Callaway's Blue Norther


Chosholosa
(SA) Dorian Wild Temper X Dark Eyed Dancer by Periaptor

While still in South Africa, Dorian Wild Temper sired Dorian Warriors Song.  Dorian Warriors Song was also imported from South Africa in 2002 and owned by Singing Hills Stable.  Shown in Fine Harness, Dorian Warriors Song was the Amateur FH Champion at Lexington in 2006.  On his dam's side, he traced to Stonewall Starfire, the son of Stonewall Supreme.  Stonewall Starfire's son (SA) Mr U.S.A. stood in to South Africa.  Also deceased, Dorian Warriors Song sired his last colt in 2010.

Dorian Warriors Song
(SA) Dorian Wild Temper X (SA) Vidas Undine's Universe by (SA) Mr U.S.A.


Stonewall Starfire
Stonewall Supreme X Fairy Darling by CH Anacacho Shamrock

The last of the trio was War Image.  His grandsire was (SA) Oranjevlet Trojan, the sire of Dorian Wild Temper, so War Image also traced to CH Young America on his sire line.  His dam was a granddaughter of Supreme Spirit, so again we have a double shot of Genius Bourbon King.  Foaled in 1985, he was imported to the US in 1997 and then exported back to South Africa in 2006, but he did sire some colts during his time in the US.  Also while in the US, he was Reserve World's Five Gaited Grand Champion  in 2000.

War Image

(SA) Y-Not Warlord X (SA) Westfront Perfect Image by Grape Tree's Supreme Image


(SA) Y-Not Warlord
(SA) Oranjevlet Trojan X (SA) Prosecutor Cameo's Lady Jane by Cameo's Farewell


Van Cleef and Arpels
(SA) War Image X Belize by CH Buck Rogers


Supreme Spirit
CH Valley View Supreme X CH Dream Waltz (BHF) by CH Anacacho Shamrock

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5/17/14 Going down memory lane again

This week is definitely a trip down memory lane.  I've mentioned that my journey with saddlebreds began over 40 years ago when my girlfriend and I answered an ad in the Toledo Blade to lease a horse for the summer.  We really didn't care what kind of horses they were, but they turned out to be saddlebreds.  Maybe not the best, but not without merit.  Every so often when I post, my girlfriend mentions that she recognizes a name.  This week will feature lots of names we both recognize from the past.

Starheart Secret & Comet's Golden Dream

I leased Secret for 2 years and my girlfriend leased Dream Girl

until she went off to Ohio State.  You can definitely see why

Mrs. Robson put Secret thru Tattersall's.  The ears were not good,but she was sweet.

Here is a pictorial pedigree for Comet's Golden Dream

Sire:  Comet's Prince

Belvedere's Golden Comet X Jan's Genius by The Genius

The Genius

King's Genius X Kate Haines BHF

King's Genius

Bourbon King X Princess Eugenia BHF

Kate Haines BHF

Sun Flower X Kathryn Haines BHF

Dam:  Jennings Laura Bell

Craig's Choice by Hallmark Peavine out of a granddaughter of 

Stonewall's Golden Dream

Hallmark Peavine

Moreland Peavine out of Blanchita BHF

Moreland Peavine

Rex Peavine X daughter of Highland Denmark

Blanchita BHF

Bourbon King X daughter of Highland Denmark

Stonewall's Golden Dream

Stonewall King X Silver Moon BHF 

Dream Girl and one of her colts

After my friend's graduation from Ohio State came Ensign's King.

Here is his pictorial pedigree.

Ensign's King

Anderson Aire X Ensign's Joy by Ensign Kirby

Anderson Aire 

Anderson Rex X Clear Creek Lady by American Born

Anderson Rex 

King Barrymore X Peavine's Pearl BHF by Rex Peavine

King Barrymore

Bourbon King X Kate Barrymore BHF by McDonald Chief

Bourbon King

Rex Peavine

grandsire of Anderson Rex

American Born

Guided by Love X Lena Jemison BHF

Guided by Love

King Lee Rose out of Maud Cullen

Ensign Kirby

Cameo Kirby X Girl of my Dreams by Rex Chief A

Cameo Kirby

Edna May's King x Jane Black BHF

Edna May's King

Bourbon King X Edna May BHF by Rex Peavine

Jane Black BHF

Rex Chief A

McDonald Chief out of Bourbon Chief daughter

King's Genius

in his last photograph before he died

Bourbon King X Princess Eugenia BHF

Princess Eugenia

sired by Chester Peavine

Last came a gelding named Ridgefield's Rare Secret

Sire:  Ridgefield's Rather Rare

Ridgefields Denmark X More Delightful

Ridgefields Denmark

Anacacho Denmark X Reverie's Desdemona

Anacacho Denmark

Edna May's King X Jane Black BHF

Edna May's King

A rare old snapshot

Reverie's Desdemona BHF

King's Genius X Spirit of Kentucky

Spirit of Kentucky

is on the left

Rex Peavine X Edith Gatley BHF

CH Duchess DeLovely

Ridgefield's Rather Rare's dam was More Delightful

She also produced CH Duchess DeLovely

Society Rex

grandsire of More Delightful

Ridgefield's Rare Secret was out of none other than Starheart Secret,

my old mare.  

Starheaert Secret

Prince Starheart out of Secret Sea by Lucky Kalarama

Prince Starheart

Starheart Stonewall out of Chocolate Parfait BHF by Anacacho Shamrock

Starheart Stonewall

Stonewall King X Queen Anne of Windsor

 

Stonewall King

CH Anacacho Shamrock

Kalarama Rex

sire of Lucky Kalarama

 

I don't have a picture of Ridgefield's Rare Secret, but this is 

one of Starheart Secret's other colts, Starheart's Merry Maid.

For more about Starheart Secret, read

http://theamericansaddlebred.blogspot.com/2013/03/32313-this-week-im-going-to-post-about.html

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 Sue, I hope you enjoy this.  Good luck in Minnesota.