Last is First for Redoute's Favoured Choice
Arrowfield’s Pedigree Analyst Peter Jenkins considers the bloodlines that are working best with champion sire Redoute’s Choice.
With three Group winners last Saturday Redoute’s Choice has once again leapt to the top of the Australian General Sires’ List.
If you were thinking of breeding to him this year and wanted to maximise your chances of breeding a stakeswinner what bloodlines would be best to match with him? Top of your list should be Last Tycoon, incidentally the damsire of last Saturday’s ATC Theo Marks S. G2 winner Master of Design – Redoute’s Choice’s 77th stakeswinner.
(Pictured; photo by Bronwen Healy).
Last Tycoon retired to stud in 1987 and two years later began shuttling to Australia winning the Australian General Sires’ title in 1993/94. Unusually for most shuttle stallions, he was equally successful in both hemispheres leaving 16 Group 1 winners in total.
So just how effective have Last Tycoon mares been when mated with Redoute’s Choice? I undertook a small study looking at the 18 different mare groups as ordered by sireline or sub-sireline, who have produced 20 or more named foals to Redoute’s Choice. Of these 18 different mare groups, the three most successful broodmare sirelines were:
Last Tycoon – 35 Named Foals; 25 Runners; 22 Winners; 7 SW; 20% SW/Named Foals; 10 Stakes horses
Sons of Nijinsky – 23 Named Foals; 16 Runners; 11 Winners; 3 SW; 13% SW/Named Foals; 5 Stakes horses
Snippets – 25 Named Foals; 18 Runners; 17 Winners; 3 SW; 12% SW/Named Foals; 5 Stakes horses
Queensland Derby G1 winner Dariana heads the group out of daughters of Last Tycoon, with the best progeny from mares by sons of Nijinsky being the Group 1-winning fillies Anamato (dam by Whiskey Road) and Cheeky Choice (dam by Caerleon). Arrowfield’s own successful sire and himself a Champion 3YO Sprinter – Snitzel – is the best-performed Redoute’s Choice from a Snippets mare. These three groups have all achieved a significantly higher SW/Named foals ratio than Redoute’s Choice’s outstanding overall figures.
Why does these crosses work so well ? Well, even a budding pedigree analyst will be able to spot the female line-breeding to Best In Show, the 4th dam of Redoute’s Choice and granddam of Last Tycoon’s sire – Dewhurst Stakes victor Try My Best – present in every product of the Redoute’s Choice/Last Tycoon nick. Duplications of important female ancestors, particularly those who occur on the damline of a sire, are often highly successful.
Interestingly, Best In Show’s own 3rd dam is Herd Girl, the three-quarter blood-sister to Summit, the 5th dam and therefore tail-female ancestress of Nijinsky whose sons have produced mares that have also matched beautifully with Redoute’s Choice, as shown above.
Once a sire has reached the approximate midway point in his career some patterns become obvious. In the case of a champion sire like Redoute’s Choice, breeders are able to improve the stakes output of selected mares by the use of important affinities like those described here.
