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— t NEIL S. MCCARTHY— First buyer of Tudor Minstrel, and who owns an interest in the English stallion. Tudor Minstrel is the sire of the Derby winner, Tomy Lee, and of Ole Fols, whom McCarthy owns. 4 . _ Bloodlines Tomy Lee and Ole Fols Provide Good Stamina Index Contrast By LEON RASMUSSEN Which has the greater influence on the offspring, the sire or the dam? This is an argument which has been waged merrily among breeders for centuries. In this country the late Col. E. R. Bradley was convinced the mare yielded at least 75 per cent of the influence, whereas epigrammatic John E. Madden was just as convinced that the sire exerted the greater influence. With all due respect to Madden, the majority of successful breeders have operated on the premise that the success of any stud depends upon the quality of its broodmare band. The victory of Tomy Lee in the Kentucky Derby and the triumph of Ole Fols last Satur day in the Debonair Stakes at Hollywood Park provide an ideal illustration on the subject as both are by the same sire, Tudor ] Minstrel. By an extensive investigation of ] their respective dams, then, we may find the answer as to why Tomy Lee can travel -10 furlongs in the best company and why J Ole Fols will probably never go beyond 7 or : 8 furlongs in the best company. They make • an ideal comparison as both are truly first 1 quality colts, Tomy Lee at the top of his ; generation and Ole Fols, in this corners opinion, the fastest sprinting three=-year- ; old in the country. Little Stamina on Dams Side First let us consider Ole Fols distaff family. His dam, Game of Chance, by Big Game, a Two Thousand Guineas winner, never won beyond 5 furlongs. At stud, she has produced three winners. One of them, Five Aces, by the Two Thousand Guineas winner, Court Martial, won two races at 5 furlongs and one race at 7 furlongs. Her daughter, Gaming Act, by Supreme Court, winner of the King George VI. and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at 12 furlongs, has won three races in this country, one at 5M furlongs, one at 6 furlongs and one at 1 mile. McCarthy, owner of Ole Fols, also owns Gaming Act. Game of Chances other winner, of course, is Ole Fols, a winner at sprints and also at 1 mile and at a mile and 70 yards. However, these wins were at Tanforan and against less than the best. Another thing, a majority of. imports will run longer on our fast dirt tracks than they will over the English grass couises. Royarl Serenade -is a fairly typical example. A pure sprinter in England, the son of Royal Charger won the 10-furlong Hollywood Gold Cup. Game of Chances dam, Marita, by Das-tur, winner of the Irish Derby and the Coronation Cup, both at 12 furlongs, was essentially a sprinter. She won four races, three at 5 furlongs and one at a mile. As a matron, she has bred essentially speed. In addition to Game of Chance, a 5-furlong winner, she has produced Miss Olympia, Game of Chances full sister, who never won beyond 5 furlongs. To the cover of Precipitation, winner of the 2V2 miles Ascot Gold Cup and a stamina influence as a sire, she foaled Cascade, a 5-furlong winner. Maritas other winner was Luvaduck, by the 12-furlong Coronation Cup winner, - Amour Drake. Luvaduck won at 1 mile. Dam From Pretty Polly Family Maritas dam was the non-winning Caer-lissa of the Pretty Polly family, by Caerleon, a winner of the 10-furlong Eclipse Stakes. Besides Marita she produced six other winners. One of these was Tremando, by Trim-don, a double winner of the 2 y2 miles Ascot Gold Cup. Tremando won one race at 8 furlongs and one at 10. To the cover of the speed sire, Panorama, Caerlissa bred The Web, a winner of two races at 5 furlongs and two races at 6. To the cover of Dastur she bred Ballochmyle, a winner of two races at 5 furlongs. Returned to Panorama, she foaled Wallaces Tower, winner of nine races at 5 furlongs, one at 6 and one at 7. To Bois Roussel, winner of the 12-furlong Epsom Derby, Marita bred Edie Kelly, winner of a race at 5 furlongs. Finally, to Stardust, winner of the 5-furlong National Produce Stakes, she produced Who You, winner of two races at 6 furlongs. In checking back over Ole Fols first three dams, it is evident that speed is the hallmark of this tail-female line despite numerous instances of the mares being mated to sires of demonstrated stamina both on the race track and in the stud. Turning to Tomy Lees distaff family, the contrast quickly manifests itself. Tomy Lees dam, Auld Alliance, by Brantome, winner of numerous French stakes, including the Arc de Triomphe at 12 furlongs, won one race at 11 furlongs. Her only other Continued on Page Thirty-Nine BLOODLINES ~] By LEON RASMUSSEN Continued from Page Seven foal to race did not place. Auld Alliance was out of Iona, by Hyperion, winner of the 12-furlong Derby and the St. Le£er at nearly 15 furlongs. Iona won one race at 8 furlongs and one race at 12 furlongs. She also placed in the Oaks at 12 furlongs. As a matron she has also produced Skye, by Blue Peter, winner of two races at 12 furlongs and considered the best staying filly in England in her three-year-old year. Iona [has also produced Colonsay, a winner at 2 last year. The next dam, Jiffy, by Hurry On, winner of a St. Leger, placed at a mile and beyond, but never won. In addition to Iona, she bred Seasick to the cover of Fairway, winner" of the Eclipse and the St. Leger. Seasick won two races at 10 furlongs and one at 14. Jiffy then bred Ocean Swell, by Blue Peter. The latter won the mile Two Thousand Guineas, the 10-furlong Eclipse and the 12-furlong Derby. Ocean Swell proved a superior race horse, winning one race at 6 furlongs, 1 to 10, two at 12, one at 18 and one at 20 — the Ascot Gold Cup at 2V2 miles. Jiffy also bred Parhelion, by Mid-day Sun, a Derby winner. Parhelion won two races at 8 furlongs, three at 12, 1 at 13 and one at 16. Jiffy bred five other winners, all but one of whom won at one mile or more. Stamina Prevails Thus, in checking through Tomy Lees distaff family, one finds classic stamina in many instances, with only one speed horse being in evidence among all the foals of his first three dams. With such evidence it is merely logical to expect Tomy Lee to travel at least 10 furlongs while expecting Ole Fols to get 7 or 8 at the tops. Sir Francis Galton authored a theory of ancestral contribution which suggested that on the average both parents between them contribute one-half to the offsprings makeup, the four grandparents a quarter among them, the great grandparents one-eighth, the great - great grandparents one-sixteenth, ad" infinitum. Thus, each parent, "on the average," — this is not a hard and fast rule — contributes one-quarter, each grandparent a sixteenth, etc. This law is used considerably in England to endeavor to determine the potential staying ability of .the foal who will result from a specific mating. The result is known as the horses stamina index, and while it is certainly not infallible, it provides a pretty good estimate of a horses ability to stay or not to stay. These indices can be very valuable in deciding when to nominate and when not to nominate. How Index Is Obtained The method for arriving at this index is simple. You take the longest winning distance in furlongs of each parent, add them together and divide by two. This gives you the average distance of the first generation. You do the same with the four grandparents and divide by four to get the average distance of the second generation. Ditto with the eight great grandparents and the 16 great, great grandparents. With this information at hand, you take one-half of the average distance in furlongs of the first generation, one-fourth of the second generation, one-eighth of the third and one-sixteenth of the fourth. Add these four together and add one-sixteenth of that total to take care of the more remote ancestors and you have the horses stamina index. Now, lets see how this method works with Tomy Lee and Ole Fols. Ole Fols sire, Tudor Minstrel, won up to 8 furlongs and his dam, Game of Chance, up to 5. Their total furlongs is 13 which, divided by two is 6.50 furlongs. The average winning distance of Ole Fols four grandparents is 10.75, of his great grandparents 12.00 furlongs and his great, great grandparents 11.50 furlongs. V2 of 6.50 furlongs is 3.25 furlongs. y4 of 10.75 furlongs is 2.69 furlongs. ]/8 of 12.00 furlongs is 1.50 furlongs. 1-16 of 11.50 furlongs is .72 furlongs. Total 8.16 furlongs. 1-16 of 8.16 .51 furlongs. Ole Fols Stamina Inx 8.67 furlongs. Ole Fols, to date has won up to a mile and 70 yards, a distance very close to his stamina index. Tomy Lees first, second, third and fourth generation figures are as follows: 9.50 furlongs, 14.25, 12.00 and 12.70. Taking one-half of 9.50, one-quarter of 14.25, one-eighth of 12.00 and one-sixteenth of 12.70, we get 4.75, 3.56, 1.50 and .80 for a total of 10.61. One-sixteenth of 10.61 is .66 which, added to 10.61, gives Tomy Lee a stamina index of 11.27 furlongs, or over a furlong beyond the distance of the Kentucky Derby but short of the 12-furlong Belmont Stakes. Thus when Tomy Lee came on again in the Derby and won he was not doing anything his pedigree didnt entitle him to do. In fact, this colt probably has not yet reached the limit of his distance capacity.
