Pedigree Pointers with Gareth Downey – Prospecting For Affinities

There were two Group 1 races held in Australia last weekend, and both winners demonstrated the well proven affinity between Fastnet Rock and Mr. Prospector.  When Comin’ Through won the Gr.1 Doomben Cup, and Santa Ana Lane won the Gr.1 Goodwood, this brought the total number of Group 1 races won to 28, for horses carrying Fastnet Rock and Mr Prospector on opposite sides of their pedigree.  These 28 Group 1 races have been won by 22 individual Gr.1 winners and, impressively, this has been achieved at the rate of a Group 1 winner for every 67 runners.

The Group 1 winners carrying this pattern have so far been Mosheen, Shoals, Santa Ana Lane, Super Cool, Age Of Fire, Unforgotten, Intricately, Rivet, Catchy, Leicester, Comin’ Through, Volpe Veloce, Qualify, Zhukova, Magicool, Awesome Rock, Amicus, Atlante, Albany Reunion, Your Song, Planet Rock and Lone Rock.

The theoretical pedigree appeal supporting the success of this pattern is probably driven primarily by the following two key factors:

• Fastnet Rock carries 3 strains of Native Dancer’s famous daughter Natalma, whereas Mr. Prospector himself is from the Native Dancer sireline
• Fastnet Rock carries a proliferation of Lady Josephine throughout his pedigree; primarily through 4 strains of Fair Trial and 5 of Mahmoud.  In the case of Mr. Prospector, he is out of a Nasrullah-line mare – and Nasrullah is a ¾ brother to Mahmoud

Irrespective of the possible reasoning for it, the pattern is certainly well enough tested now that the results speak for themselves.  If you want to tap into this pattern in planning your matings for the upcoming breeding season, and you have a mare carrying Mr. Prospector, then sending her to either Tivaci (out of a Fastnet Rock mare) or Rock N Pop (by Fastnet Rock) would achieve this.

If you would like to discuss planning your matings, and your pursuit of successful pedigree patterns, please get in touch via either gareth@waikatostud.co.nz or 021 433 073