TheThe Key to ‘The Kingdom’

 

 

In the 1920’s, one of the main topics of conversation in North American racing circles was the need for outcross stallions to breed from sire lines other than Domino, Black Toney, Ben Brush and Fair Play. Arthur Hancock, founder of the great thoroughbred nursery, Claiborne Farm, responded with the importation of European racehorses, Sir Gallahad, Blenheim and Nasrullah and forever changed the face of American breeding and racing.

 

Nearly 100 years later, that same topic of conversation has dominated Australian racing conversation, and in an echo from the past, John Messara’s, Arrowfield Stud, has imported Animal Kingdom (Leroidesanimaux ex Dalicia by Acatenanago), an extraordinary representative of the Nasrullah sire line as an outcross pedigree for Australian breeders.

 

Animal Kingdom was an elite racehorse with a devastating turn of foot. In a career punctuated by serious injury and just 11 lifetime starts, Animal Kingdom won two of the world's best Group 1 races, the Kentucky Derby and the Dubai World Cup.

 

He is by Leroidesanimaux, a son of Candy Stripes, grandson of Blushing Groom and great grandson of legendary sire, Nasrullah.

 

Leroisdesanimaux was a sensation in the United States where he won eight consecutive races including Grade 1 wins in the Citation, the Frank Kilroe Mile and the Atto Mile. His dam is the Ahoonoora mare, Dissemble, a half-sister to the legendary mare Hasili, dam of champion sire Dansili

and his four Group 1 winning siblings, Intercontinental, Banks Hill, Cacique and Champs Elysee.

 

Animal Kingdom is out of the German Group winner, Dalicia, by champion racehorse and sire, Acatenanago, and is from one of Germany’s finest female families. She descends from the Hungarian import, Didergo whose daughter Diu won the German Oaks and is 5th dam of Animal Kingdom.

 

Animal Kingdom’s pedigree is an unfamiliar mix of British, Irish, American, French, German and South American blood, but one that offers a clear direction on what mares will suit him in the breeding shed.

 

So what is the key to ‘The Kingdom’?

 

Animal Kingdom’s sire line gives the direction. He is a great grandson of Blushing Groom who has a prolific, and long lasting, affinity with Nijinsky. Examples of elite racehorses bred on this cross, and its reverse, include Eclipse Champion and World Champion racehorse, Fantastic Light; English Champion, Lammtarra; Canadian Horse of the Year, Peaks and Valleys; English Derby winner, Quest For Fame; English Champion, Kahyasi; European Champion, Pursuit Of Love and US Hall Of Fame inductee, Sky Beauty.

 

The cross of Blushing Groom and Nijinsky combines two separate sets of close genetic relatives, namely Owen Tudor/Nearctic and Spring Run/Flaming Page with combinations of Menow, Bull Dog and Sir Gallahad.

 

Owen Tudor won a war-time English Derby and took the Ascot Gold Cup as a four year old. His presence in Blushing Groom's pedigree comes via his son Tudor Minstrel, whose daughter Aimee is the granddam of Blushing Groom.

 

Nearctic did his racing in Canada, where he won 21 of his 42 starts. He retired to stud in 1960 and on the 28th June that year, covered the newly retired race mare, Natalma. The result of that union was Northern Dancer, a stallion that changed the thoroughbred breeding industry forever. It is through Northern Dancer that Nearctic is found in Nijinsky's pedigree.

 

Owen Tudor is by Hyperion out of Mary Tudor by Pharos out of Anna Bolena; a background which bears a striking similarity to that of Nearctic, who is by Nearco by Pharos ex Nogara, out of Lady Angela by Hyperion.

 

Owen Tudor's granddam, the French 1000 Guineas winner Anna Bolena, is a granddaughter of Ajax, and her dam Queen Elizabeth is a three quarter sister to Spearmint, by Wargrave by Carbine ex Warble, out of New Guinea by Minting. Spearmint is by Carbine out of Maid of The Mint by Minting out of Warble.

 

This closely matches the pedigree of Nogara, who is by Havresac, maternal grandsire Ajax and out of a mare by Spearmint. This effectively made Owen Tudor and Nearctic three-quarter genetic relatives thanks to the combination of Hyperion, Pharos with either Anna Bolena or Nogara.

 

The second pair of close genetic relatives behind the Blushing Groom/Nijinsky cross is Spring Run and Flaming Page.

 

Spring Run enters Blushing Groom's pedigree as the dam of Blushing Groom's sire Red God.

She is by Menow out of a mare by Bull Dog, making her a three quarter genetic relative to Flaming Page, who is 3x5 to the full brothers Bull Dog and Sir Gallahad, and is also out of a mare by Menow.

 

The potency of the Blushing Groom/Nijinsky cross carries forward into modern pedigrees through the genetic relatives described above. These lines combine prominently in the pedigrees of unbeaten Australian race mare, Black Caviar, and international campaigner, the ill-fated, Red Cadeaux, and provide a compelling direction for how Animal Kingdom can produce his best at stud.