BLOODLINES by hs Watnik > Texas Red (2012) A big galoot if ever there was one is Texas Red a leading candidate for our champion male 2yo circa 2014- His victory at the Breeders Cup was very impressive and to my half an eye he seems like the best 17 hands runner I’ve seen (or one of the best) since the days of yacht like Point Given and Rock hard Ten were steam rolling their opponents into flat bread- I’ll admit I gave Texas Red hardly any consideration before throwing my hard earned $$ on whomever it was in the Juvenile- good things had been circulating about Texas Red all season but they passed me by like Julia Roberts at the Oscars- but you live and learn, although I have to state that I don’t believe a “runner” sporting the bottom line (female accoutrements) of Texas Red has even the faintest hope of translating his stellar 2yo form into a blanket of Roses- but just to be sure this pronouncement is not made too lightly a good look at some of the ancestry of Texas Red should be of benefit for race fans and pedigree students alike- The first thing about Texas Red is that he is sired by a stallion quite capable of throwing a “classic” horse within our midst’s- Afleet Alex a dual classic winner and unlucky not to have run the entire classic table back in 2005- his recovery from being knocked sideways and yonder by a NY state bred in the Preakness remains one of the best examples of the courage and athleticism coded into the genetics of our race track heroes and heroines- It should be noted that Afleet Alex and his full brother Unforgettable Max were early foals of dam Maggy Hawk circa 2000 & 2002 and thereafter Maggy Hawk had anything that could fly further than a Thanksgiving turkey- but Afleet Alex is a known commodity while the female strip of Texas Red is a horse of a different color- so to speak- as his family female was cultivated for the last 125 years in South America! Often times a pedigree with such flavorings has vaulted to the top of the racing world- Cougar II was a bred in South America and perhaps Bayakoa and Peasena (?) as well- what is of merit is that easily accessible information concerning broodmares of any stripe is often difficult to obtain so a look at the sires which covered any section of the tail-female picture is a useful way to get a stronger idea about the “soundness” of the family one is about to invest in- be it obtaining a broodmare or racing prospect from said group- in the case of Texas Red the grouping is the seldom encountered branch of 3-B harking back to Hurricane ((GB) a daughter of highly important Wild Dayrell (1852)- Wild Dayrell was out of the outstanding mare Ellen Middleton who had been obtained by farmer Popham of Littlecote on the advice of his stud groom for 50 pounds from Lord Zeitland!! Farmer Popham then bred Ellen Middleton to Ion who had placed in the “Darby” during its racing career- the resultant foal was named Wild Dayrell since a pair of strange birds had taken up residence in the beams in the barn where Wild Dayrell was foaled! In due course Popham sold him for 100 guineas to Lord Lennox- in the care of Lord Lennox et al- Wild Dayrell advanced at a glacier pace therefore a disgruntled Lord Lennox demanded his “money back”! To which farmer Popham along with a partner (Lord Craven) paid Lord Lennox twice the amount he had paid for Wild Dayrell in the original transaction! All parties now satisfied Wild Dayrell made great strides in his homecoming and soon was the toast of the racing world with a mighty victory in the English Derby!! Not before several attempts were made to “put” Wild Dayrell out of the race by sinister forces- plots involving the groom of Wild Dayrell, the farms foreman- gamblers, criminals were uncovered with rapidity- bribes were offered to Popham to keep his colt from entering the race and on the way to the Derby grounds an attempt was made and fought off to harm Wild Dayrell or worse- Investigations revealed that the entire enterprise to get Wild Dayrell out of the way had been hatched from the sinister mind of bookmaker and gangster Harry Hill- for he and associates had back strongly Kingstown to triumph in the 1855 “Darby” – Farmer Popham dismayed as anyone would have been under the circumstances vowed to never run another horse in the “Darby” (although his wagers on Wild Dayrell had yielded him a fortune! - as for Wild Dayrell he won the St. Leger Stakes and then broke down in the Doncaster Cup ending his life as a racer- he stood stud and his son Buccaneer, the latter a champion sire in England- Hurricane the 12th dam of Texas Red had many crosses to Selim in her paperwork and forwarded a string of producers leading to Seabiscuit’s good friend Kayak II as well as ancients Gladstone & Waldkatze- Hurricane herself was a classic winner of the 1000 guineas a and ran 3rd in edition of the Oaks Stakes, Britain’s greatest event for females- she was dam to Atlantic the latter of huge importance in the history of bloodlines as he sired Le Sancy the male line genesis (sort of) which linked to the fastest race horse who ever lived fabled The Tetrarch!- Atlantic whose half sister Whirlwind is the 11th dam of Texas Red, was also a classic winner of the 2000 guineas a and placed in the 1874 “Darby” Stakes- Texas Red will bring a WBH9GCF of “19” into the 3yo campaign his dosage index is quite decent 1:55 a keen indication that he will relish long trips- his dosage profile of 2-1-11-0-0 is modern looking- (California Chrome won the 2013 with a DP: of 7-5-10-0-0 while 2012 winner Orb displayed a DP: >11-12-15-0-1)- inbred 4x3 to outstanding Northern Dancer son Nureyev, Texas Red competes with a GSV (George Smith Value) of 53.44 a diminutive sampling- Orb wore the roses at GSV:67.85 but California Chrome weighed in at 59.01 GSV— Lastly in this petit review of Texas Red’s genetic underpinning is his broodmare sire array >Jeune Homme>Roy>Noble Quillo>Good Manners and the 5th dam Sixtina who sports a dosage profile all categories filled >10-2-8-2-8 was sired by Aristophanes a important name in the pedigree of mighty Forego the supreme weight carrier of the last 5 decades- and if I may. St. Leger Stakes champion Crow also is in with the 3-B family archives- and I believe Texas Red was the only member of the 3-B ff to have participated in the BC 2014 events – but the gentle reader might want to check that fact out for themselves!- h.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 18:15:36 +0000
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