Key to affinities within certain female lines can often be found by analysing the best performers in the family.

In the case of Tamburlaine the spotlight falls on his third dam Country House, a mare whose grandsire Brantome and grandam Coventry Belle are close genetic relatives, making her inbred 2x2. Coventry Belle is the dam of top racehorse and sire Reform (Timeform 132) and his full sister Knighton House (TFR 113, and grandam of Tamburlaine). A half sister to the pair, Queen’s Castle, bred French Gr3 winner Edinburgh (TFR 117 at 2). Edinburgh, in turn, is ancestress of 2004 Epsom Derby winner North Light, of last year’s King George winner Golan (TFR 129), and of a pair of English Gr2 winners, Gambut (TFR 121) and Multicoloured (TFR 111).

Interestingly, Golan and Gamut are sons of Spectrum, while Multicoloured and the dam of North Light are by Spectrum’s sire Rainbow Quest. More interesting, still, is that Spectrum’s third dam Sunny Valley is a genetic sibling of the mare Edinburgh, the common ancestress of the highclass runners.

Given the omni-presence of Rainbow Quest, either as sire or through his son Spectrum, a reasonable assumption might be that whatever made the pedigree of Spectrum, also made the pedigrees of Golan, North Light, et al. Edinburgh, in other words, re-inforced Spectrum’s pedigree - or vice-versa.

A further point of interest is that sire Reform’s best offspring Roi Lear (winner of the French Derby) strongly resembles Spectrum’s third dam Sunny Valley as well - the pair are genetic siblings! Interestingly, French sire Val de Loir, who is a half brother to the dam of Roi Lear, is a genetic sibling of Reform, their relationship involving ancestors Carpet Slipper, Sansovino, Tetratema and Vieux Manoir.

Making things more intricate, Vieux Manoir is a grandson of Blandford, the genetic sibling of Carpet Slipper. Vieux Manoir’s damsire Finglas is by Bruleur out of a daughter of the mare Simone, the latter a full sister of Rabelais. All of Rabelais, Bruleur and Blandford can also be found close up in the pedigree of Wild Risk, damsire of Blushing Groom who is the sire of Rainbow Quest. And so everything falls into place.

The male half of Tamburlaine’s pedigree is his sire Royal Academy. At $3.5 million the highest priced yearling in the world of his year, Royal Academy justified the price tag by winning the Gr1 Breeder’s Cup Mile before retiring to stud as European Champion Miler. Sprinter/miler speed was his own forte, but he got big winners over a wide variety of distances, including a pair of classic winners, 1000 Guineas winner Sleepytime (TFR 121) and Irish St Leger winner Oscar Schindler(TFR 127).

Royal Academy is inbred 2x3 to genetic siblings Flaming Page (dam of Nijinsky) and First Rose (Royal Academy’s third dam). This is a notable genetic sibling group which also embraces Red God’s dam Spring Run (most often through Blushing Groom), Tom Fool (most often through Buckpasser), Little Hut (dam of Northfields, Habitat), Dinner Partner, Ack Ack, Tom Cat, and others.

Conventional wisdom has it that an inbred sire will respond to a duplication of elements from behind his own inbreeding, or from in-between his own inbreeding. In the case of Royal Acad emy the in-between inbreeding appears to be the key. This involves his damsire Crimson Satan, and in particular that one’s dam Papila, who is a genetic sibling of sire Honeyway. Amazingly, some 20% of Royal Academy’s stake winners have Honeyway.

Papila herself is a very inbred individual, and her background elements have much in common with those from Nearctic - and by definition with those of Nearctic genetic siblings. The latter category includes descendants of Sister Sarah, including Sybil’s Niece and Sister Sublime.

Royal Academy’s connection with Honeyway leads to Princequillo (Honeyway’s dam Honey Buzzard and Princequillo are genetic siblings), and
to Romanella (genetic sibling of Honeyway; she’s the dam of Ribot). This puts perspective on Royal Academy’s pair of Gr1 winning siblings, Sleepytime and Ali-Royal, who have Alleged as their second damsire. Alleged is from the Ribot male line and is inbred to Princequillo.

From Royal Academy’ side of Tamburlaine’s pedigree comes Papila, making the connection with Honeyway, which leads to Princequillo and Ribot. Honeyway has a full sister, Winning Ways, who is the grandam of Welsh Saint and third dam of Cipayo. Looking at Papila, she’s is not only in Royal Academy, but also in Storm Cat and Goldkeeper. Furthermore, Papila’s pedigree elements lead to Nearctic and genetic siblings, including Sister Sarah (Sybil’s Niece, Sister Sublime).

Not forgotten should be Royal Academy’s sire Nijinsky, with his clan of genetic siblings (Tom Fool, Spring Run, etc). Nijinsky him self is a genetic sibling of Storm Bird and The Minstrel, the former the sire of Storm Cat whose dam is a half sister to Royal Academy. Then there’s also the strong affinity between Nijinsky and Mr Prospector. All of which makes mares by Goldkeeper (who stands on the same farm as Tamburlaine) look like an interesting cross back to Royal Academy.

The female side of Tamburlaine’s pedigree leads to Rainbow Quest and his son Spectrum, who have done so well with this family. Wild Risk in Blushing Groom may have been the key horse in the relationship.

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