William Micklem's blog: On TB blood, breeding and eventing safety

[JER]

William Micklem's latest blog post (http://www.barnmice.com/profiles/blogs/even-mark-todd-can-be-led-4) -- part 5 in an excellent series titled "Even Mark Todd can be led astray": -- is a great read and very informative. Among other things, he writes about the three Olympic event horses he discovered -- Giltedge, Custom Made and Biko -- and what he saw in them.

Highly recommended. :)

[Auburn]

Cool. Thanks for sharing. :)

[subk]

What a great series! Well worth the read for anybody interested in sport horse breeding. I do wonder though that some of his notable ancestors are very commonly found. Just how unique is it to find the particular ancestors he picked in any TB--not necessarily a successful sport horse?

[vineyridge]

I say it's the Wild Risk in large part. Both Custom Made and Biko are sireline Wild Risk, and Miner's Frolic is Wild Risk top and bottom. Wild Risk is not as common as the others, and he is from the same sire son of St. Simon (Rabelais) as Ribot. Ribot has always been known over here for good event horses.

I've just found a gorgeous KWPN International jumper stallion named Cavalier who is sireline Wild Risk. I am IN LOVE! He should be an excellent event horse sire when crossed with a proper TB mare.

[Fred]

I think it's an excellent series, well-written, and very interesting.
Not surprisingly, I am very pleased to see Mr Micklem highlighting the importance of Thoroughbreds, and Thoroughbred blood, both as sport horses and in sport horse breeding.

Thanks to Vineyridge for alerting me to the series!

[Gry2Yng]

Wow! Thanks for this article. I just bought a young prospect. Did not know his breeding until the papers arrived. He has Cottage Son, Rantzau and Furious in the first 5. I bought him because I thought he would be successful in any of the three disciplines and I like to play in all three. Nice to know that should be true based on his pedigree.

FWIW, cause I know there are a few like me who find the breeding aspect fascinating. The horse is a registered Canadian Warmblood, sire and dam sire are registered Hannovarian. I saw the horse and thought he was an Irish TB or TB/WB x. Rode him and was sure there was a boat load of TB in his breeding. Sensitive, ENORMOUS stride, great work ethic, huge desire to please.

[MargaretW]

Micklem's August 21 post. This is the second to last in the series. Enjoy!

http://www.barnmice.com/profiles/blogs/even-mark-todd-can-be-led-5

[subk]

Loved this:

"Then one looks at my five [TB] Gods of the warm blood world and their rather insignificant racing careers, and it is obvious to see that the next generation of thoroughbred stallion Gods in the sport horse world would NOT have to be top racehorses...but almost certainly they will have relations who have performed at a high level, at distances beyond sprinting, and a solid sprinkling of the genes mentioned in these articles. They will almost certainly also have a great temperament, great paces and great athletism..."

So don't be put off when looking at an OTTB pedigree if the TB racing royalty in his pedigree is a couple generations back, but look for individual physical qualities and trainability! I can't read this series without constantly going back to my own TB's breeding. I already liked it--but more so now.

Funny, he mentions Vineyridge in this blog as if she belongs to that website, when all of us here know that she is really OURS!

[Fred]

I was also very honoured to have my homebred A Fine Romance included in Mr Micklem's list of important Thoroughbred sires for eventing (Part 3).

[JER]

Reviving this to link to a fascinating Irish Horse Board newsletter (http://www.irishsporthorse.com/_fileupload/publications/newsletter.pdf) from 1999.

It starts a little slow with congratulatory stuff but gets exciting on page 7, where you'll see a photo of McKinlaigh as the 4 year-old reserve champion at the young event horse final.

After that, you'll see listings of top horses, some of them very famous. Many are by TB sires -- the showjumpers as well as the eventers.

Enjoy.

[vineyridge]

Thanks for that, JER.

Lots of TBs to correlate from the newsletter. What fun it will be for me!

[JER]

Thanks for that, JER.


I was thinking of you when I posted that...:)

[MargaretW]

The final article in this series went up today. It talks about Hyperion, suitable horses, and pulls everything together.
http://www.barnmice.com/profiles/blogs/even-mark-todd-can-be-led-6

[vineyridge]

Alas, he made a major mistake in his last blog entry. Michael Jung's horse Sam is NOT by Able Albert; he is by Stan The Man. I've rechecked in three different databases. But Stan The Man did get sent to Germany where he produced a number of good eventing horses there as well as in his first home, Ireland.

[JDufort]

but... he highlighted Swaps! A personal favorite of mine, since our (retired) Advanced horse Northlight (JC Diamondham by Vanlandingham out of Mulberry Moon) brings crosses of Swaps from both sire and dam side.

[vineyridge]

but... he highlighted Swaps! A personal favorite of mine, since our (retired) Advanced horse Northlight (JC Diamondham by Vanlandingham out of Mulberry Moon) brings crosses of Swaps from both sire and dam side.

Marcy, a mare that I got from Twistoffate, has the full brother and sister Chateaugay and Primonetta by Swaps and Banquet Bell. One is in the sire's dam line and one is tail female. Plus she has another cross to Banquet Bell through Luiana by My Babu.

[Fred]

I was also very surprised to see myself quoted in this last segment.

It has been an interesting and well-written series, I'm sorry to see it end.

[Romany]

Alas, he made a major mistake in his last blog entry. Michael Jung's horse Sam is NOT by Able Albert; he is by Stan The Man. I've rechecked in three different databases. But Stan The Man did get sent to Germany where he produced a number of good eventing horses there as well as in his first home, Ireland.

He'd probably appreciate if you posted this on his blog.

[JDufort]

Marcy, a mare that I got from Twistoffate, has the full brother and sister Chateaugay and Primonetta by Swaps and Banquet Bell. One is in the sire's dam line and one is tail female. Plus she has another cross to Banquet Bell through Luiana by My Babu.

so tell me who you've chosen to cross her with?

[vineyridge]

She's also Roberto top and bottom, and it's a sex balanced double. She has Rough Shod doubled as well, once through Special and the other through Lt. Stevens. But because she has a line to Sea-Bird and is rather small, I'm seriously considering Roanoke. She's tough as nails--had 58 starts and came out sound with just a bit of ankle jewelry. And she is genuinely sweet. Roanoke would double the Sea Bird and bring it closer and since he is about 17h, the foal might get some size. And since he HAS sired advanced eventers and chasers, he's definitely got a jump gene. Sea Bird is Mark Todd's Mayhill's grandsire on top, and he has been an excellent event horse sire--Primmore's Pride is a Mayhill.

Here is the full pedigree:
http://www.pedigreequery.com/marcys+hope

Another possibility would be to double the Hoist The Flag and My Babu with Salute The Truth.



I just have to get this in train for next year, and hope that Roanoke makes it another year as a breeding stallion.

[subk]

Since he ends the series with praise for Hyperion, for giggles and grins, here's the pedigree of my first horse: http://www.pedigreequery.com/leslies+man

He was an OTTB with bad feet and crooked legs, but the biggest heart and kindest mind you could imagine. Not much of an athlete, but he certainly exhibited Micklem's statement in spades: "What I am most interested in is the individual character and spirit of each horse and I believe that the mental qualities handed down through the Hyperion line must be exceptional." They were.

[Drvmb1ggl3]

The old three-races-at-random treatment..... here goes.

Del Mar, wed- 1st race on the card, 7 runners (4 US bred, a Chilean bred, a NZ bred and a GB bred).
Canterbury, today, 5th race, 11 runners.
Monmouth, Wed, 4th race, 8 runners.

Everyone of those horses is descended from Hyperion, all but one of them multiple times, on average 6-7 lines to him, some over 10. There was one horse out of a random sampling of 26 that had just one line to him.

[subk]

The old three-races-at-random treatment..... here goes.

Del Mar, wed- 1st race on the card, 7 runners (4 US bred, a Chilean bred, a NZ bred and a GB bred).
Canterbury, today, 5th race, 11 runners.
Monmouth, Wed, 4th race, 8 runners.

Everyone of those horses is descended from Hyperion, all but one of them multiple times, on average 6-7 lines to him, some over 10. There was one horse out of a random sampling of 26 that had just one line to him.
Yes, this is something I have been wondering about the whole series. Elsewhere he talks about "a good sprinkling" of certain key horses, but never discusses how much that is and how it relates to the average TB. Unless we can spot how top sport horses are different or unique from average we can't know what makes them special.

[twistoffate]

Viney-Give Marcy a hug for me! I miss her! I LOVE my filly out of her by my guy, Triple Twist... I was so excited to see Swaps in her pedigree also! He was one of my favorites. My old mare, Mescha, also had Swaps in her pedigree...Loved that mare! :)