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SIRES AN ° DAMS By CHALLENGER Doubling Up Blood of Good Mares Practice Successful in England Seldom Tried in This Country Success Abroad Worthy of Study HOLLYWOOD Calif June 26 26Although Although Hollywood Park had a fine card on Thursday we were riding early on our way to an apartment with Doc Strub at Santa Anita then up to the mountain studio of the thoroughbred painter Bob Jones and then to luncheon where Louis B Mayers imported stallion Beau Pere the greatest proven stallion to arrive in this country since Teddy was the main subject of discussion Out here in California there is just as much speculation regarding the success of this Australian sire as there was shortly after Blenheim II arrived in Kentucky Like Blenheim II Beau Pere was a success from the time he was sent to stud in England in 1932 and after two seasons was shipped to New Zealand Beau Pere is a brown horse by SonInLaw Cinna by Polymelus but the most interesting angle of his pedigree is that he has three crosses of Hampton a great sire who was responsible for three Derby winners Besides that the name of Quiver appears twice in the fourth generation and it could be that the double dose of the dam of La Fleche and Maid Marian had much to do with the success of Beau Pere in Australia Mated with Cyllene Maid Marian produced the successful stallion Polymelus while La Fleche when mated with Ladas produced Baroness La Fleche From the union of both Polymelus and Baroness La Fleche resulted Cinna the dam of Beau Pere Doubling up great producers in a pedigree is common practice in England but seldom heard of in this country One case that does come to mind however was that of Walter Jeffords who had the mare Esquina and doubled up the blood of Fairy Gold by breeding her to Man o War From such unions he begot two stake winners one being Bateau one of the best race mares of her era and the other the stallion Jean Bart Fairy Gold was probably the greatest producer ever brought to this country As the dam of Fair Play she earned a place among equine immortals But even today her blood is rich in the predigrees of class performers and besides Bateau and Jean Bart other double Fairy Golds include Eight Thirty Fairy Hill Level Best Great Union and Ocean Blue A generation ago one of the most profound breeding students in this country was Maj Foxhall Daingerfield father of the late Algernon Daingerfield and for years manager of the famous Castleton Stud When the Castleton Stud was dispersed in 1913 the catalogue flyleaf contained the statement The Castleton theory of seeking out the best bred mare of the most valuable bloodlines to be found in the world and mating with the powerful and strong American horses has been indisputably proven by the enormous number of great race animals produced producedWhether Whether some decry picks or go so far as to hold thoroughbred breeding is pure luck the success of the Foxhall Daingerfield statement is something to ponder There was no more avid student of blood lines in this country and just one example of the type of mares he sought was Hampton Belle foaled in 1888 and by Hampton Silver Bell by Bread Alabane He imported Hampton Belle for Castleton Stud and a reading of her pedigree would have revealed she had three crosses of Pocahontas and three crosses of Queen Mary two of the greatest producers of all time Hampton Belle became the dam of Court Dress by Disguise and Court Dress in turn was the dam of two fillies and a colt which made racing history If Foxhall Daingerfield was one of our most learned breeders so must every one admit that the Earl of Derby is one of the most advanced and successful breeders of the modernday group until war torn England turfled his mind to other matters When Lord Derby bought the brood mare Gondolette his idea was to double up the Pilgrimage blood and he has bred along these lines such as Selene Heliopolis and Sierra Nevada the latter two now in this country Selene is one of truly great producers of recent years as the following paragraph will show Bred in 1919 Selene was by Chaucer Serenissima by Minoru out of Gon ¬ dolette Selene is a double Pilgrimage and was the best threeyearold filly of her year Retired to stud she produced Sickle Pharamond II Hyperion and Hunters Moon IV Sickle has twice been premier sire in this country and Pharamond II has always been well up on the list Hunters Moon IV is now in this country with his future as a sire in California in the lap of the gods Hyperion lived up to the highest hopes of Lord Derby until var sent his energies in other directions Hyperion won the Derby and St Leger of 1933 arid after climbing to fame on the stallion ladder only the biggest war in the annals of civilization stopped him We have the double dose of Pilgrimage in this country through Hunters Moon TV and Heliopolis But we must stress that regardless of pedigree every horse is a problem unto himself regardless of crosses and double crosses To this writer there is nothing more fascinating in all thoroughbred activities and of that study considerable food for thought in the doubling up process where the blood of a great mare is used to concentrate her good qualities in a later generation In our opinion the double up of the blood of a great mare has proved its value in England We can go over to Ireland and in Barcaldine often said to have been her greatest sire find two crosses of Darlings dam Close Up Barcaldine was not only a great race horse but a proven sire in the land of Erin A recent example in our own country is Jhat of El Chico a double Pink Rose the name of that matron appearing in the upper and lower halves of the pedigree Although doubling up is not used to any great extent in this country there is no getting away from the fact it has been used with great success in lands where the breeding of the thoroughbred antedates the same profession in this country
