Keeping it in the family - can a horse's family traits be used to a trainer's advantage?

By Frances J Karon
First Published: 05 March 2010 - Issue Number: 29

It’s the same story at every dinner party, writes Frances J. Karon. A stranger will invariably ask, “What do you do?”, as if the response will somehow explain the very essence of one’s being. Similarly, the first question we have for the owner or trainer who tells us he has a nice yearling on the farm is, “What’s it by?”

THIS question is multifunctional. First, it enables us to gauge how seriously we can take this person. We will immediately discount the proud owner’s opinion if the horse is by a bad stallion. Second, we make a generalisation based on the reply. If, for instance, the yearling’s sire is Theatrical, we tell ourselves that it will obviously be a slow-maturing turf horse who will want a route of ground.
Of course, this generalisation is far too simple, and to take it as an exact science stands to limit, and not enhance, a horse’s potential. There are some pedigree rules that are absolute: Danzig, Sadler’s Wells and Seattle Slew never sired a chestnut between them, just as every Linamix is gray; but beyond such genetic certainties, rules are meant to be vague guidelines. It’s true that Theatrical has produced only 8% two-year-old winners and 1% two-year-old stakes winners to foals, but among them are champion juvenile filly Hishi Amazon in Japan and Marchand de Sable, winner of the Group 1 Criterium de Saint Cloud in France.
Trainer Mark Johnston says, “I am often fascinated by the consistency of pedigree, and particularly some lines, when you consider the number of potential gene combinations.” Indeed, a seasoned eye can identify traits passed down from sire lines and families, but the trick lies less in recognising these characteristics than in understanding how to interpret them. Sometimes it’s as simple as knowing that a normally negative attribute is acceptable or even desirable, such as bad hocks on a descendant of Sunday Silence.
Johnston trained the Duke of Roxburghe’s dual 1,000 Guineas winner Attraction, who came by her famously offset knees honestly, from her sire, Efisio. Johnston fearlessly guided the career of the filly of whom a vet once sai...

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