Sunday, June 18, 2017

6/18/17 Happy Father's Day.

Today is Father's Day, so why not look at some wonderful Saddlebred fathers.  There have been many influential sires over the years and one way of determining the "best" is by looking at the annual sire rating put out by Saddle & Bridle magazine.  Their sire rating began in 1932, and in the years before that, they used the Kentucky State Fair winners to determine the most successful stallions.  During the 1930's, in the infancy of the sire rating, they used the results of the Kentucky State Fair, but then began adding other shows.  The more winners, the higher the rating for the stallion.

It's interesting that many great breed builders never topped the sire rating, but over the course of time have been instrumental in breed development.  Others that topped the chart have faded from pedigrees, and certainly from the top line of today's stallions.  Being the successful sire of a show horse doesn't guarantee having a successful breeding son or daughter.

So here are the #1 ranked stallions starting with Bourbon King in 1924 and the current winner is Undulata's Nutcracker.  Among the missing are Rex Peavine, King's Genius, Bourbon Genius and Callaway's Blue Norther.  They definitely appeared on the list, just never topped it.

Bourbon King
1924 - 1928
King Barrymore
1929 - 1931 
American Born
1932 - 1936 
Edna May's King *
*he won in 1932 & 1933 using multiple shows, 
but American Born won those years based on Kentucky State Fair results. 
Peavine's Highland Chief
1937 
Kalarama Rex
1938 - 1944 
Stonewall King
1945 - 1947 
American Ace
1948 - 1949 
Noble Kalarama
1950 

Anacacho Denmark
1951 - 1952
Anacacho Shamrock
1953 - 1957 
King Coe
1958 - 1959 
Starheart Stonewall
1960 - 1962 
Wing Commander
1963 - 1968
Show horse, chart topper, breed builder.
This guy did it all. 
Stonewall Supreme
1969 
Vanity's Sensation of Crebilly
1970 
Stonewall Premier
1971 - 1973 
Oman's Desdemona Denmark
1974 - 1978 
Supreme Sultan
1977 - 1982 
Sultan's Santana
1983, 1987 - 1988 
Stonewall's Main Event
 1984 & 1986 
Will Shriver 
1985
Chubasco
1989 - 1997
He won more titles than any stallions 
(True in 2017 when this was written, but no longer
accurate as of 2021 when Undulata's Nutcracker won his 10th title)
Harlem Globetrotter
1998 
Champagne Fizz
1999 
Supreme Heir
2000 - 2003 
Caramac
2004, 2005, 2007 
Periaptor
2006 
CF First Night Out
2008 - 2010 
Sir William Robert
2011 
Undulata's Nutcracker
2012 - 2021

Who will succeed Nutcracker when his reign is finished?

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