Fragrant scent of Myrtle; Fast Line is the third Foundation Mare descending from a mare imported in 1836

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 his Fairway Farm, located adjacent to the Lexington Country Club on Paris Pike in Lexington and just down the road from Elmendorf. Fairway Fun provided plenty of enjoyment for Floyd, winning 11-of-42 starts, including the Alcibiades Stakes at two.

Fairway Fun was an even better broodmare, producing four stakes winners for Floyd, topped by 1974 Diana Handicap (G2) winner Fairway Flyer, by Nashua, and 1974 Paumonok Handicap (G3) winner Torsion, by Never Bend. Fairway Flyer's daughter, Par Three, by Alleged, produced four stakes winners.

Torsion, a stocky, powerful bulldog of a horse, became an intermittently successful sire at Spendthrift Farm, siring 23 stakes winners from 583 foals (4%), topped by Grade 1 winner Miss Huntington, who carries crosses of Throttle Wide in her third and fourth generations.

Torsion's stakes-winning full sister Fun Forever produced graded stakes winner Devil's Cup, by Devil's Bag. Fairway Fun's best producing daughter, though, was another full sister to Torsion, Fairway Fable, winner of a Pocahontas Stakes division in 1973 and second in the Alcibiades Stakes (G3).

Fairway Fable produced graded winner Northern Fable, by Northern Dancer, who is grandam of Grade 1 winner Cara Rafaela, by Quiet American. Another daughter of Fairway Fable, Affirmative Fable, by Affirmed, is grandam of Muhtathir (GB), by Elmaamul, the 2000 Prix du Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard Jacques le Marois (Fr-G1) winner.

Elmendorf retained Fast Line's second foal, Day Line, by 1959 Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap winner *Day Court, but she made only a single unplaced start. Day Line's fourth foal, a rather lean Prince John filly named Magazine, possessed two common characteristics of the Prince Johns: upright pasterns and outstanding ability. Magazine won the Coaching Club American Oaks in 1973 and was purchased by Walter Haefner for his Moyglare Stud broodmare band.

Magazine's only stakes winner was the sprinter Martha Stevens, by Super Concorde, but Magazine's division of the family includes eight stakes winners, headed by Australian Group 1 winner Intergaze, by Integra.

Day Line's stakes-placed Secretariat filly Esdiev produced two stakes winners, and her daughter by Speak John, Story Line, is grandam of the very fast filly Lazer Show, by Apalachee.

Fast Line's second mating to *Day Court resulted in the 1964 filly Pass the Time, who was a bit more successful on the track than her sister, winning once in nine starts at two. Pass the Time died at age seven before making any impact in the breeding shed.

Fast Line's fourth foal, Bulletin, a colt by Dotted Swiss, was a modest but sound runner, winning 9-of-66 starts over a four-year career and earning $30,203.

Trick Chick

Taylor Hardin, owner of Newstead Farm in Virginia, acquired Fast Line privately in 1965 for $40,000 in foal to Prince John. Newstead sold that Prince John filly at the 1967 Saratoga yearling sale for $42,500 to Louisa d'A. Carpenter. The filly, Trick Chick, never made it to the starting gate, but she proved an outstanding broodmare.

Her third foal, On the Sly, by *Roi Dagobert, was far and away that sire's best offspring, winning the 1977 Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1). From scant opportunities, On the Sly was a very useful stallion with 13 stakes winners (8%) from only 158 foals in seven crops, headed by Play Fellow, winner of the 1983 Travers Stakes (G1), Blue Grass Stakes (G1), Arlington Classic (G1), and American Derby (G1). Play Fellow also has proved to be an underused sire.

Trick Chick's 1981 daughter by Northern Dancer, Northern Trick, was purchased for $530,000 by British Bloodstock Agency (England) for Stavros Niarchos at the 1982 Keeneland July sale. Even better than On the Sly, Northern Trick won the 1984 Prix de Dianeo(French Oaks) (Fr-G1) and Prix Vermeille (Fr-G1) and ran second to the brilliant Sagace (Fr) in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Fr-G1). Tall, narrow, and sparely made, Northern Trick was much more typical of her broodmare sire Prince John's get than of her sire's offspring.

Horse of the Year and champion three-year-old filly in France in 1984, Northern Trick failed to produce a stakes winner, but her daughter by Shirley Heights, Lingerie (GB), is dam of two high-class runners by Hector Protector: Group 1 winner Shiva and Group 2 victor Limnos.

Trick Chick produced two lesser stakes winners, and three other daughters are ancestors of stakes winners.

Fast Line's second Newstead-bred foal, the 1967 Sir Gaylord filly Not to Worry, was sold for $60,000 to Woody Stephens, agent, at Saratoga in 1968. She was unplaced in her only start and made no impression in the breeding shed.

Class Outing, Fast Line's 1968 filly by Outing Class, brought an $18,500 bid from Flag Is Up Farms at Saratoga in 1969, but she was unraced and did not produce a foal.

Martin J. Wygod purchased Fast Line's 1969 Nearctic filly Near Lyn, for $25,000 at Saratoga in 1970, but she too never raced. Near Lyn was much more valuable as a broodmare, however, producing two stakes winners. Near Lyn's branch of the family includes 13 stakes winners, but none of them is top class.

Fast, fractious Filiberto

Filiberto, Fast Line's 1970 colt by *Ribot, may have been her best. Purchased for $65,000 by Countess Margit Bathyany at the 1971 Saratoga sale, Filiberto broke down irretrievably after winning the Prix Morny (Fr-G1) brilliantly at two.

"Angel Penna told me that Filiberto was tons the best horse that he ever put a saddle on," said Marvin Little Jr., former manager of Newstead Farm. "He was a rogue, though. When he was a yearling, he was the meanest, nastiest thing you ever saw. He ended up at Gallagher's Stud in New York."

Like several stallions in Fast Line's family, Filiberto was not accorded an outstanding opportunity by breeders but still managed to sire 14 stakes winners (4%) from 376 foals. Best of these were Grease (Ire), champion two-year-old in Italy in 1981, and Maria Waleska (Ire), Italy's Horse of the Year in 1979.

Fast Line's 1971 filly by Sir Gaylord, Fast and Gay, was purchased for $35,000 by H. E. "Tex" Sutton, agent, at Saratoga in 1972 but failed to place in two starts at three and died at four.

Saratoga Trunk, her 1972 filly by Raise a Native, was sold for $205,000, fourth-highest price for a yearling filly that year, at the 1973 Saratoga sale. Sold to Bertram Firestone's Chance Hill Farm, Saratoga Trunk won 2-of-9 starts at two and three, earning $9,145, and was not a success as a broodmare.

The French agency Godolphin Darley (not to be confused with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum's operations, which use both those names separately) paid $70,000 for Speedy Idiot, Fast Line's 1973 colt by Tom Fool, at the 1974 Saratoga sale. Trained in France, Speedy Idiot won 4-of-57 starts and ran third in the Prix de Saint-Firmin as a two-year-old.

Fast Line's 1974 filly by Tom Rolfe, Mlle. Vitesse, was unraced after being purchased for $100,000 by Mollie Wilmot at Saratoga in 1975. Mlle. Vitesse's daughter Mirea, by The Minstrel, heads a promising branch of the family in France that includes 2000 Inglewood Handicap (G3) winner Montemiro (Fr), by Kris.

Star filly

Fast Line's 1975 filly by Northern Dancer, White Star Line, was her 14th consecutive foal since she began her breeding career as a three-year-old in 1961. Retained by Newstead and trained by Woody Stephens, White Star Line was unraced as a two-year-old because of back soreness, but she won her first six starts at three. Winner of the 1978 Alabama Stakes (G1), Kentucky Oaks (G1), and Delaware Oaks (G1), White Star Line just lost out to the ill-fated Tempest Queen in voting for champion three-year-old filly.

"White Star Line didn't look much like Northern Dancer or Fast Line either," Marvin Little said. "She had that big, monstrous rear end like the Northern Dancers, though, and she was a little bit back in her knees like her mama. She was 15.1 or 15.2 (hands tall)."

Purchased for $3-million by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum at the Newstead Farm dispersal in 1985, White Star Line produced the high-class staying filly Whitehaven, by Top Ville, winner of the 1990 Prix de Pomone (Fr-G2). White Star Line's stakes-placed daughter Lustre, by Halo, is dam of 1995 Oaks d'Italia (Ity-G1) winner Valley of Gold, by Shirley Heights, while her daughter Hill of Snow, by Reference Point, produced 1998 champion Irish juvenile filly Preseli (Ire), by Caerleon.

Fast Line finally missed a year in 1976, barren for the first time. She resumed her regular schedule in 1977, producing Nissr, a Nijinsky II colt who was sold for $335,000 to Mahmoud Foustok at Saratoga but never raced.

D. Day, her 1978 Hoist the Flag colt, also was unraced after being purchased for $615,000, second-highest price of the sale, by BBA (Ireland) at Saratoga in 1979. Barren again in 1979, she produced another Nijinsky II colt in 1980. Purchased for $400,000 by Dolly Green at the 1981 Saratoga sale, the colt, named Speedy Nijinsky, also never raced.

Fast Line's 18th and final foal was Eucrates, a 1981 Cyane colt who was purchased by agent James Delahooke for $185,000 at Saratoga in 1982. In a long and varied career in England and Sweden, Eucrates won 3-of-45 starts and earned $9,040.

Newstead's profit

Fast Line slipped in 1982 and was barren in 1983 before dying later that year at age 25, full of years and honors. After her purchase by Newstead, she produced 14 foals. Newstead sold 13 of them for a total of $2,156,000 and kept the most successful racehorse from her, White Star Line, who earned a further $256,780. White Star Line took the Hardin family's profit on Fast Line above $5-million when she sold for $3-million at the Newstead dispersal in November 1985.

"Fast Line was the kind that never got fat," Little said, "like a woman that could eat anything she wanted to and keep her figure. She was kind of a loner temperamentally.

"She was back in her knees herself and so were a lot of the family, but they ran through it. Otherwise, she was real correct. All those Newstead mares were little mares. She was 15.1 or 15.2."

Although Fast Line's ability as a racehorse is impossible to gauge accurately, her quality as a broodmare is evident for all to see. From 18 foals produced over two decades, Fast Line bred 11 winners, two first-class runners, and a third stakes winner of graded-stakes quality.

That alone would make her worthy of a place in Thoroughbred history books, but the achievements of her daughters at stud raised the family to an even higher level. The Fast Line family—including White Star Line, Northern Trick, On the Sly, Filiberto, Magazine, Valley of Gold, Preseli, Cara Rafaela, Intergaze, Shiva, and Muhtathir—reads well against that of almost any other contemporary family.

Fast Line has what formerly was called a rather "rough" pedigree.
Although her dam was a stakes winner and half sister to two stakes winners, her sire, broodmare sire, and sire of her second dam were all far from fashionable. Fast Line was basically an outcross of two mildly inbred parents; the closest inbreeding in her pedigree is three crosses of Domino in the sixth generation, two of them through Ultimus, sire of the dam of Flying Heels.

The great family descending from *Myrtle and her daughter Magnolia, however, has seldom needed fashion to assist it in producing top-class racehorses. All that is required is the right stallion. *Myrtle and her brood will do the rest.