The English-bred mare *Myrtle made a virtually inestimable contribution to the development of the American Thoroughbred. She was the fourth dam of Iroquois, who was the first American-bred winner of the Epsom Derby, and her female-line descendants produced 20th century American champions or classic winners Top Flight, Idun, Blue Peter, Venetian Way, Safely Kept, Bald Eagle, Warfare, and Crusader.

Fast Line, bay mare
Mr. Busher—Throttle Wide, by Flying Heels

• Foaled: *1958 at Waterford Farm, Midway, Kentucky
• Bred by: R. Smiser West
• Raced by: Elmendorf Farm
• Owned at stud: Elmendorf Farm; Newstead Farm
• Line imported: *Myrtle imported in 1836 by H. and J. Kirkman
• Family: Bruce Lowe family number 4-m, tracing to the Layton Barb Mare

*Myrtle is also the female-line ancestor of two previous Foundation Mares, Alablue (Thoroughbred Times, June 24, 2000) and Portage (June 27, 1998), both female-line ancestors of many other top-class runners.

*Myrtle was bred in England in 1834 by J. Theobald and imported as a two-year-old to Tennessee by H. and J. Kirkman. She produced only two recorded foals, the good colt Dr. John, by *Glencoe, and his full sister, Magnolia.

Magnolia, a foal of 1841, was presented as a token of admiration to Kentucky statesman Henry Clay by W. N. Mercer when Clay visited the Metairie racetrack in New Orleans in 1843.

oy the standard of her time, *Myrtle was a very well-bred mare. Her sire, Mameluke, won the 1827 Epsom Derby and was clearly the best horse of his generation. Her dam, Bobadilla, by Bobadil, was also a high-class runner, winning 10-of-21 starts from two through five, including the 1828 Ascot Gold Cup, a much more important race then than now.

The degree of inbreeding in the pedigree of *Myrtle is instructive. As shown in the six-cross pedigree on the opposite page, she had no less than nine crosses of Herod, true father of the Thoroughbred breed, within the first six generations, plus five more in the seventh. The cross with *Glencoe, from the Herod male line, added another nine crosses of Herod, for a total of 23 crosses of Herod in the first eight generations of Magnolia's pedigree.

According to geneticist David Foye, Herod contributed 17.9% of the genes of *Myrtle and 17.9% of the genes of Magnolia as well.

reveral modern studies have shown that Herod, a notorious bleeder, contributes almost 17% of the genes of the modern Thoroughbred. Thus, his percentage contribution to the heavily inbred *Myrtle and Magnolia is almost identical to his percentage contribution to the modern breed as a whole.

ùust to prove that Magnolia's 17.9% was not too much Herod, she produced one brilliant racehorse, once-beaten Kentucky, and quality runners Gilroy and Daniel Boone—to the cover of Lexington, a sixth-generation representative of the Herod male line.

Miss Request

Magnolia's 1849 daughter by Lexington's sire Boston, Madeline, heads the line that leads to Iroquois, Alablue, and Portage, but the line that leads to Foundation Mare Fast Line arises from Magnolia's daughter Skedaddle, by *Yorkshire (an Eclipse-line horse with 15 crosses of Herod).

Squeez 'Em, Skedaddle's daughter by Lexington, produced 1878 Kentucky Derby winner Day Star, and the line produced several stakes winners over the next 75 years or so. None reached first rank, however, until the minor stakes winner Throttle Wide, by Flying Heels, produced champion Miss Request, by Requested, in 1945.

Miss Request, who won 12 races and $202,730, was voted 1948's champion three-year-old filly after winning the Delaware Oaks, defeating older females in the Ladies Handicap, and besting three-year-old males in the Empire City Handicap.

When Throttle Wide was offered for sale at the 1953 Keeneland November sale, R. Smiser West, a young Midway, Kentucky, dentist, wanted her so badly that he went to the sale and bought her for $4,000 even though his wife was in the hospital that day giving birth to their son Robert.

"When I went in to the hospital room afterward," West said, "I didn't ask first whether it was a boy or a girl. I told Catherine, 'Well, I got Throttle Wide.' "

West's marriage survived such obsession, but Throttle Wide failed to produce any notable racehorses for the Wests. However, she produced two important broodmares: Nimble Feet, by Spy Song, and Fast Line, by Mr. Busher. Nimble Feet is grandam of Grade 1 winner Miss Huntington (out of Rare Relish) and great-grandam of Kinghaven Farm's outstanding broodmare Primarily.

West's dental practice helped him to obtain a season to Mr. Busher, one of the best two-year-olds of 1948 and a moderately successful sire. "Mrs. (Elizabeth Arden) Graham (owner of Mr. Busher) was one of my patients, and I got to breed to him through her," he said.

A full brother to 1945 Horse of the Year Busher, by War Admiral out of Baby League, by Bubbling Over, Mr. Busher won 3-of-4 starts at two, including the Arlington Futurity, before breaking down. At Mrs. Graham's Maine Chance Farm, Mr. Busher sired 16 stakes winners from 294 foals (5%), none of them top class. His best included Beau Busher, Kisco Kid, and Pepper Patch, all of whom won the equivalents of modern graded races.

Aside from Fast Line, however, Mr. Busher's primary contribution to the breed was through Stolen Hour, a full sister to Beau Busher who is the Foundation Mare at the head of the family that includes El Gran Senor, Blush With Pride, and Spinning World.

Elmendorf buy

At the 1959 Keeneland July yearling sale, West sold the filly that resulted from Throttle Wide's 1957 mating to Mr. Busher for $12,500 to trainer Walter A. Kelley as agent for Elmendorf Farm.

Fast Line made her first start for Elmendorf and Kelley on June 13, 1960, at Belmont Park in a 51 2mfurlong maiden race. She showed promise, running second throughout under rider Hedley Woodhouse, finishing 2 1/2 lengths behind Miss Flybai.

That race earned her a start in the Polly Drummond Stakes at Delaware Park over the same distance 12 days later. Fast Line showed little, going extremely wide into the stretch and finishing 11th, eight lengths behind winner Glad. She almost certainly suffered an injury in that race because she did not run again for five months, and when she returned her efforts lacked the sparkle of her first outing.

Fast Line finished sixth, beaten six lengths, in an Aqueduct maiden race on November 18 and then moved south to run fourth in a Tropical Park maiden race a month later. She scored her first and only victory in her final start as a two-year-old, laying se§ond for the first half-mile before drawing out to a five-length victory over some very moderate maidens in a six-furlong maiden race at Tropical Park on December 30.

If that race fostered hope that she might turn out to be a good filly after all, those hopes were soon dashed. Fast Line was beaten 15 lengths in a Hialeah Park allowance race on January 17, 1961, and by a similar margin for a claiming price of $10,000 on February 7. Given one more chance on March 6 in a six-furlong allowance at Gulfstream Park, Fast Line disappointed once again, finishing ten lengths behind Vivandiere, a filly she had beaten easily in her first start.

Fun by the fairway

If Fast Line was a disappointment as a racemare, she excelled immediately in the breeding shed. Covered by Elmendorf's Prince John shortly after being sent home from the racetrack as a three-year-old, she produced a dark bay filly in 1962. Elmendorf sold that filly for only $2,400 to Lexington businessman William F. Floyd at the 1963 Keeneland September yearling sale.

Floyd named the filly Fairway Fun after hi