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Northern Dancer uber alles: Inevitably, the Northern Dancer male line dominates Royal Ascot

Posted: Monday, June 20, 2011 8:27 PM

by John P. Sparkman

The American racing calendar really has nothing comparable to Royal Ascot.
 
During a five-day period in the middle of June, there are 30 races, of which 22 carry black type, and 18 are group races, including seven Group 1s.

The purses are high, fields are generally large, and the competition is international. This year, there were challengers from the U.S., Japan, and Australia, as well as the usual contingents from Ireland and France.

Royal Ascot, therefore, provides a unique glimpse of the state of play not just of European bloodstock, but the world's. The results are, understandably, biased in favor of the Europeans, but it is pretty clear that the best racehorses in the world, on average, currently reside in Great Britain and Ireland, so it is probable that whatever their bloodstock looks like eventually will have an effect on American pedigrees, and certainly on the American bloodstock market.

As the accompanying boxes show, the results of the 30 races, 22 stakes races, and 18 group races at Royal Ascot illustrate just how dominant the male line descending from Northern Dancer is in Europe.

Male-line descendants of the little giant of Windfields Farm won 21 of the 30 races at Royal Ascot, 17 of the 22 stakes races, and 14 of the 18 group races. Mr. Prospector, who almost is equal to Northern Dancer in male-line representatives in America, is a distant second with three winners, including two group winners.

This distribution of winners at the most prestigious race meeting in Europe reflects pretty accurately the distribution of stallions currently at stud in England, Ireland, and France. It is Northern Dancer everywhere you look.

It should be no surprise that the hot “nick” in Europe right now is dual leading English sire Galileo (Ire) on Danehill mares because Galileo is at least the equal of any sire in Europe, and there are hundreds of Danehill mares around who had plenty of racing ability.
 
That cross has produced three Guineas winners this year—Frankel, Roderic O'Connor, and Golden Lilac—and produced another promising two-year-old at Royal Ascot, when the Coolmore partnership's Maybe, by Galileo out of Sumora (Ire), by Danehill, won the Chesham Stakes. Frankel also continued his unbeaten career on opening day in the St. James's Palace Stakes (Eng-G1), albeit much less impressively than anticipated.

In all the ballyhoo over the Galileo-Danehill cross, it should not be overlooked that Sumora was a juvenile listed winner in England and is a three-quarter sister to 2011 Investec Epsom Oaks (Eng-G1) winner Dancing Rain, by Danehill Dancer, from the immediate family of Ever Ready Epsom Derby (Eng-G1) winner Dr Devious (Ire), by Ahonoora.
 
Indeed, all three of the Danehill mares who produced Galileo's 2011 Guineas winners were also good stakes winners. Breed a great stallion to a high-class mare and you drastically increase your chances of breeding a good horse.

Royal Ascot brought both good news and bad news for American racing. The American invasion of Ascot by trainers Wesley Ward and Todd Pletcher failed to hit the board, largely because of rain after the first day of the meeting that turned the track soggy.
 
Ward withdrew his horses after the first two days, and Pletcher's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G2) winner More Than Real finished 11th of 12 in the Coronation Stakes (Eng-G1), well behind Together (Ire), the filly she beat on firmer ground at the Breeders' Cup.

American-breds won four races, however, all at group level. Those four victories included wins by Await the Dawn, by Giant's Causeway, in the Hardwicke Stakes (Eng-G2) and Pisco Sour, by Lemon Drop Kid, in the Tercentenary Stakes (Eng-G3). Strong Suit, by Rahy, also returned to form to win the Jersey Stakes (Eng-G3), and the promising two-year-old Bapak Chinta, by Speightstown, captured the Norfolk Stakes (Eng-G2).

In fact, American-breds provided three of the four group winners not from the Northern Dancer male line (two from Mr. Prospector and one from Blushing Groom [Fr]). That greater diversity of pedigree might eventually provide a reason for European buyers to show greater interest in American horses.