(Me parece importante este articulo pues el articulista piensa que Holy Bull y su línea paterna podría ser el próximo en crear una dinastía. Su hijo Thunder Blitz está en Colombia.)

SIRE LINE MYTHOLOGY
by Floyd Oliver
One of the most common misconceptions circulating amongst horse breeders is the concept of the "Sire of Sires". What makes this phrase hazardous is that although it contains a strong element of truth, that element tends to mislead. In the 1970s who would have believed that by 1994, the sire line of eight times leading sire Bold Ruler would have contracted down to one viable branch, that of his great grandson Seattle Slew. The truth is, this contraction of the Bold Ruler line was as inevitable as it was natural. There are certain natural phenomenon taking place within the Thoroughbred breed that make it almost impossible for any sire line to maintain dominance for more than three generations.
The dominant sires in England during the 1860s were Stockwell and Newminster. They led the list of leading sires nine times between 1859-1870. What sires were to become the principal beneficiaries of the high quality strains of Stockwell and Newminster? The answer is two individuals: Galopin and his son St. Simon. Galopin was a horse of great class and did not have one drop of their blood. Galopin was destined to produce the most extraordinary breeding animal in the history of the entire stud book, St. Simon.
St. Simon in his turn was free of the blood of Stockwell and Newminster through his dam. These two stallions, father and son, were offered marvelous opportunities at stud because they were perfect crosses to the mares carrying the blood of the dominant sires of the generation preceding them. They were immediately successful and quality traced to them without interruption. Many of the sons of St. Simon were good sires; even some which were only moderate on the racecourse were excellent at stud. Many believed that this line would have no end. In fact, its exhaustion seemed difficult. St. Simon had been leading sire nine times.
Then suddenly came the decline. The grandsons began to look doubtful, but for someone who knew the history of the turf, this was bound to come. The great St. Simon line, like that of Stockwell and Newminster and other great stallions, was bound to decline. This eclipse is easy to understand if one will only reason a little. In addition to their success as sires of runners, Galopin and St. Simon were leading broodmare sires eight times and were second five times. What formidable support for other sire lines.
If the sons of St. Simon had a sufficient choice of good broodmares, the grandsons had a very limited choice, most of the best broodmares being by daughters of Galopin or St. Simon. Since the best stallions are bred to the best mares, most of the best mares not related to Galopin had been bred to his line. In effect the Stockwell and Newminster mares made the fortune of the Galopin-St. Simon line as in its turn the Galopin-St. Simon line would make the fortune of the Bend Or's and the Hampton's.
Cyllene and his son Polymelus had not one drop of Galopin and consequently none of St. Simon. All of the best mares suited them and improved their dosage. A strong prejudice usually accompanies the newly emerging sire line as was present when Cyllene began to show promise. In fact he was sold to Argentina before his true ability was realized. Fortunately his son Polymelus remained in England to become leading sire on five occasions.
Put into proper perspective the decline of the Bold Ruler line is not unusual and could in fact have been anticipated. The fact is, all sire lines are destined to quickly contract into one, two or possibly three viable lines. We can already see signs of contraction in the preeminent Northern Dancer line. Some of Northern Dancer's most successful sons such as Nijinsky II, Lyphard and Vice Regent have seen major contraction in their lines.
Knowing sire lines are going to contract is very helpful, but what might be even more helpful would be some insight into which sons of leading sires are most likely to carry on the male line. The one difference found in the sons of leading sires is that they almost all have different dams. It is logical to assume that the sons most likely to succeed are those out of the best bred mares. Of course this calls for a judgement on the part of breeders as to which mares are most likely to produce sons capable of carrying on their sire's line.
Broodmare sires play an important role in determining if a stallion will be able to extend his sire's male line. Discovery was a moderately successful sire of runners, but a broodmare sire whose daughters were the dams of such major stallions as Bold Ruler, Native Dancer, Intentionally, and Hasty Road. Nashua's daughters are responsible for Mr. Prospector and Roberto, while Buckpasser is the broodmare sire of Private Account, Woodman, Miswaki, Slew o' Gold, Seeking the Gold, and Easy Goer. Secretariat is the sire of the dam of superstar Storm Cat, in addition to A.P. Indy, Summer Storm and Dehere.
Another indicator of possible sire line continuity is inbreeding in the dam. Galopin, Phalaris, Hyperion, Pharamond II, Alydar, and Seattle Slew are all the produce of inbred mares. Often these dams are inbred to very important matriarchs. Hyperion and Pharamond II are out of Selene who is inbred to the great taproot mare Pilgrimage. Seattle Slew's dam is inbred to the full sisters Busher and Striking, granddaughters of the immortal La Troienne. Flying Duchess, the dam of Galopin, was the result of breeding Flying Dutchman to Merope. Both of these horses trace to the same mare.
Having a sire and a dam tracing to the same matriarch can be a powerful catalyst for breeding success. The dams of Private Account and Woodman are bred on these lines as is the dam of Easy Goer. Easy Goer is going to be an interesting test to see if his inbred dam can help save the Alydar sire line. As good a sire as Alydar was, none of his sons has yet shown the ability to carry on the line. One would think that Alydar is trying to follow in the footprints of the previous great Calumet stallion, Bull Lea, who saw all of his sons fail at stud. Perhaps Easy Goer, with a dam bred just like those of Woodman and Private Account will save Alydar's line [Editor's note: this article was written in 1994.]
Two other horses to watch to see the effect of inbred mares on the breeding capabilities of their sons are A.P. Indy and his half brother Summer Storm. Their dam, Weekend Surprise is inbred 3x4 to matriarch Somethingroyal.
Eventually a new sire line will emerge that is free of the blood of todays dominant sires represented by Nearco's grandsons Bold Ruler and Northern Dancer, along with Raise a Native. The newly emerging line will appear to be obscure and there will be a strong prejudice against it. The late Bull Hancock believed that a prospective stallion would be an above average two-year-old, demonstrate ability to stay the American classic distance of 1 1/4 miles, and be sound and masculine in appearance. He would also have the right kind of pedigree. Hancock used the Family Tables of Racehorses by Kazimierz Bobinski to determine if the stallion came from a family that had a history of producing other top stallions.
Holy Bull, currently rated at the top of the three-year-old crop, may be such a horse. He was undefeated at two. He is sound. He is masculine in appearance. He just demonstrated his ability to carry his speed when winning the 1 1/4 mile Travers Stakes. And he is from the family that has produced Bull Dog, Sir Gallahad III, Ormonde, Martagon, Buchan, and St. Germans.
Holy Bull's sire Great Above is closely related to one of the fastest horses of recent times, Dr. Fager. Great Above has proven his ability to inject speed into pedigrees as is shown by his appearance, close up, in the pedigrees of two of the fastest horses of the last five years. Housebuster was produced by a daughter of Great Above, while Holy Bull is his son. More significant is the fact that Holy Bull has not one drop of Nearco blood in his pedigree. All mares heavily dosed with Nearco will improve his "dosage". In the numbers game of breeding, the numbers heavily favor Holy Bull. §