“The detractors of inbreeding now have yet another brilliant success to explain away”. So began the essay of 3yo French Champion Herbager in Timeform’s Racehorses of 1959. “Herbager’s dam”, it continued, “is the product of a breeding system which at times aroused violent antagonsm, part of which no doubt stems from the social taboos and religious prohibitions that have been erected around it in the human field. It is difficult to see why in a supposedly enlightened age close inbreeding should be contemplated with revulsion.
Even the Old Testament writers turned a blind eye to violations of the taboo, when desperate remedies are expedient, and but for the timely initiative of Lot’s daughters there would have been no Moabites or Ammonites. The Ptolemies and Cleopatras of the ancient Egyptian dynasties, and the descendants of the Bounty mutineers provide other examples that conflict with theories of the dangers of inbreeding.”

Examples of successful inbreeding abound in the history of the racehorse. Take French Champion filly Coronation, who was not only incestuously bred herself (her sire and dam both by Tourbillon), but so was Tourbillon’s sire Ksar (3x2 Omnium). Ksar was outstanding both as a racehorse and a sire. The Ascot Gold Cup winner The Emperor, whose sire and grandam were half brother and sister, was progenitor of a powerful sireline flourishing in France. Perhaps the best example is that of very successful American stallion High Time, whose sire Ultimus was by a son of Domino out of a daughter of Domino, while his dam was by Domino out of another daughter of Domino.”

In this arena the mare Avenue, fourth dam of Eyeofthetiger, holds her own - but in a special way. She carries, close-up, pedigree elements which are found in big horses, also closeup. Avenue really set some balls rolling. Avenue is a daughter of Fairway, her dam Annabel by Blandford out of Arabella, the latter a grandaughter of the famous mare Pretty Polly.

Avenue was mated to Hyperion to produce Hyperbole, a successful sire, inbred 2x3 to genetic siblings Selene (dam of Hyperion) and Arabella (grandam of Avenue). Hyperbole’s pedigree elements make him a close genetic relative of Nearctic, who is also from the Pretty Polly female line. At stud Hyperbole had a son, Sindon, whose dam was by Donatello. Avenue’s dam Annabel and Donatello have a very similar pedigree make-up, the pair combining 3x2 in Sindon who won the Irish Derby and runner-up in the Irish Guineas and St Leger.

To recap, we have Arabella as genetic equivalent to Selene, dam of Hyperion. We have her daughter Annabel as the genetic equivalent of Donatello. We have Annabel’s daughter Avenue as the conduit for a Nearctic genetic sibling. In fact Avenue is a Nearctic genetic sibling herself.

To get Eyeofthetiger’s third dam Marajo, Avenue was explosively mated to The Cobbler, a highclass racehorse (TFR 130), unbeaten at 2 and runner-up in the 2000 Guineas. The mating gave a 1x1 genetic equivalent cross in the resulting progeny Marajo. This is mainly because The Cobbler’s third dam Arabella also is Avenue’s grandam, and he’s from the Blandford male line (Arabella’s daughter Annabel was by Blandford). For future reference we note that The Cobbler’s sire Windsor Slipper is the genetic equivalent of Blenheim and Dalmary.

Marajo became the dam of a champion colt in Brazil named Nicho, a son of Brazilian sir Prosper. The latter’s sire and grandam were both by a son of The Tetrarch out of the mare Malva. The latter mare is best known as the dam of Blenheim, by Blandford. It comes as no surprise then to find that Prosper’s sire and grandam are genetic equivalents of Windsor Slipper. In this context Blenheim’s elements are the common link, but in the pedigree build-up so far he’s still a missing link.

It was three years after foaling Nicho that Marajo visited French Gr1 winning stayer Waldmeister. The result of the liaison was Ocasiao, grandam of Eyeofthetiger. Waldmeister is interesting. His sire Wild Risk is out of a mare by Blandford, his dam out of a mare by Tehran, who is dynamite for the female line. Tehran is the equivalent of The Cobbler’s damsire Dastur, and because of the elements used to get from Dastur to The Cobbler, Tehran also is the equivalent of The Cobbler. Remember that The Cobbler was 1x1 with Avenue in Marajo - as it turns out, Tehran equals Avenue as well. We note that Tehran’s third dam is a full sister to Pretty Polly.

The talented Ocasiao not only bred Indian Chris, dam of Eyeofthetiger, but also three other Graded stakes winners, Aniuak and full sisters Cisplatine and Deep Blue. Interesting to see how they are bred. Aniuak is by St Chad, who is the genetic equivalent of Waldmeister’s grandam Shamsheeri (the daughter of Tehran, highlighted earlier). They key horse in the cross appears to be St Paddy, the sire of St Chad. St Paddy is by Aureole, who is Hyperion x Donatello - true grist on the mill of the bottom female line, as we’ve noted above. In addition, St Chad’s dam is by Abernant, a son of Owen Tudor - genetic sibling of Avenue in the bottom female line. Avenue is certainly looks like a cure-all, in the way she surrounds herself with genetic relatives.

Fitting the bill, the full sisters Cisplatine and Deep Blue are by Argentinian-bred sire Janus, whose third dam Tanagra is yet another Avenue genetic sibling. As a curious aside, the damsire of Janus is Cardanil, inbred 2x3 to Tourbillon, 3x3x4 to Tourbillon’s sire Ksar, and 3x4x3 to Tourbillon’s dam and her full sister. The real Hill-Billy stuff.

Indian Chris, dam of Eyeofthetiger, won the Brazilian Fillies Triple Crown. She is a daughter of Lyphard stallion Ghadeer, an Italian Gr3 winner who has been ten times champion sire in Brazil. Ghadeer had several black type horses from half sisters to Indian Chris, and seemed to suit the female line. Ghadeer’s dam Swanilda is by Habitat out of Sweet And Lovely. Habitat is by Sir Gaylord, whose sire Turn To is a genetic sibling of Avenue (Turn To’s dam Source Sucree is even closer). Sweet And Lovely’s sire Tanerko has as his dam the mare La Divine, yet another Avenue genetic sibling. We also note that Sweet And Lovely’s grandam La Fougeuse and Source Sucree are genetic siblings (4x3) in Ghadeer’s dam Swanilda.

Add it all up and Avenue has strong links to The Cobbler, to Tehran, to Nearctic, to Turn To, and to Tanerko’s dam La Divine.

No prizes for guessing that Eyeofthetiger’s sire Royal Academy added to this bounty. Royal Academy is inbred 3x3 to genetic siblings Flaring Top and First Rose, a famous pair who have affinities with several other big names, and are generally known as the Tom Fool affinity group. Its members include Tom Fool and son Buckpasser, Blushing Groom, Nijinsky, Dinner Partner, Hail to Reason (there are others - Royal Academy is from the same female line as Storm Cat, the latter’s sire Storm Bird and Nijinsky are genetic relatives). Royal Academy’s pair of Flaring Top and First Rose are both daughters of Menow, whose sire Pharamond is a half brother to Hyperion and qualifies as yet another close Avenue genetic relative.

All Avenues lead to Rome. There should be little hesitation in following the genetic power of the mare Avenue as a guiding light.

Through Nearctic, widely available as the sire of Northern Dancer.

Through Turn To, sire of Hail to Reason.

Through Tanerko, sire of Relko (remember Royal Prerogative, whose grandam is a noted Nearctic genetic sibling).

Through the Tom Fool clan, of which Blushing Groom stands out like a beacon - his dam is by Wild Risk, she is inbred to Blandford, and carries Hyperion - all of which makes Blushing Groom a genetic sibling to Ocasiao, grandam of Eyeofthetiger. Blushing Groom’s son Jallad has a half sister to The Cobbler in his dam.

Remember Pharamond, sire of Menow. For example: Pharamond and full brother Sickle appear 4x3 in Damascus. Remember also Blenheim, tagged earlier in this evaluation as a ‘missing link’. He’s the sire of Mahmoud, for one. All of Mahmoud (3x), Damascus and Hail to Reason (2x) can be found in Jet Master, for instance.

And finally Admiration, the mare who started it all. Her most famous daughter Pretty Polly, and full sister Miranda are well represented in the South African broodmare band. One to note may be Preamble, who is a half brother to The Cobbler. There are many more.

MATING SUGGESTIONS