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New Research Affects Traditional Organization of Female Lines
In the August 2002 edition of the journal Animal Genetics, Dr. Emmeline Hill and her colleagues at the Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, published "History and Integrity of Thoroughbred Dam Lines Revealed in Equine mtDNA Variation," a ground-breaking study that changes much of what we thought we knew about the early history of the thoroughbred, and that affects the pedigrees virtually every thoroughbred now living. The study examined pedigrees of horses associated with the English Foundation Mares, and does not address the other families, but it is highly likely further genetic research will have an impact on these families as well.
The original article and a discussion of how the analysis of mtDNA in thoroughbred horses has affected the traditional Lowe families are in the Genetics section. | |
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The "B" designation was applied by Captain Kazimierz Bobinski and Count Stefan Zamoyski, who published the Family Tables of Racehorses(1953), to half-bred familes. These families were largely descended from mares of native stock, and, although primarily thoroughbred, if they were not traceable to mares accepted in the General Stud Book they were ineligible for registration. This did not debar them from racing, however, and a number of lines were highly successful, both on the flat and, particularly, over obstacles. In 1914 F.M. Prior published the first volume of the H.B. Stud Book, which attempted to trace the history, pedigrees, and racing performances of the best known half-bred families, followed in 1922 by a second volume, which also included information on Colonial and American-bred mares at stud in England who were then ineligible for the GSB. Ultimately, there were eight volumes of the H-B Stud Book.
The policies of inclusion, exclusion, and expungement of various families in the General Stud Book have shifted a number of times since the publication by James Weatherby of Volume I in 1791, all devolving around the attempt to define the "thoroughbred." Some mares and stallions of unknown ancestry were included in early volumes of the GSB, and later were expunged, along with all their progeny, as policies were changed or redefined. Some familes were included, while their exported relatives and subsequent progeny were excluded, and, in the most prominent instance, a re-imported family branch was retained in the GSB, while the American branch of the family from which it came was debarred for thirty-six years.* Prior combed early volumes of the GSB to create a list of families who were primarily thoroughbred, and often had been included in the GSB, until some "flaw" had been discovered in the pedigree and the family disbarred. She also engaged in extensive correspondence to trace the pedigrees of many successful winners, to trace their ancestry.
Most of the identified half-bred families are known as jumping families, and from their ranks have sprung many winners of the Grand National Steeplechase (Aintree). However, there have also been some highly successful flat-racing families, the most famous (and controversial) being the family of the Perion Mare (B3). In 1969 Weatherby's announced that Lavant (b.f., 1955 by Le Lavandou)--eleven generations removed from the Perion Mare--and her progeny, were to be admitted to the GSB (Vol. 36, 1970). This admittance was based on a revision of GSB conditions, published in that same volume, which allowed for admission by proving eight consecutive thoroughbred crosses andshowing "such performances on the Turf in all sections of its pedigree as to warrant its assimilation with 'thoroughbreds." Lavant's admission followed intensive lobbying efforts; her daughter, Lucasland, had won the July Cup in 1966 and was one of the top sprinters of that year, and her son, So Blessed, was considered one of the fastest two year olds of 1967 and a leading sprinter in 1968 when he won the July Cup. Beyond that, she herself had been a winner, as had her dam, Firle (br.f., 1938 by Noble Star), and grand-dam Versicle (b.f. 1930 by Sickle). Her great-grand-dam, Verdict (b.f. 1920 by Shogun) (for whom the family is named in Prior's H.B. Stud Book) was unbeaten at two, and won a total of eight races, including the Cambridgshire Stakes and the Coronation Cup. In the stud Verdict produced, in addition to Versicle, Thankerton, runner-up in both the 2,000 Guineas and the Epsom Derby; Dictum (br.f. 1928 by Abbots Trace), who won the Ebor Handicap, and the great race mare, Quashed (br.f., 1832 by Obliterate), who won ten of her twenty races, including the Oaks, the Ascot Gold Cup, the Ormonde Stakes, and the Jocky Club Cub (twice). Verdict's own "pure" female lines were provable to her seventh dam, the Perion mare, however, her sire, Ascot Gold Vase winner Shogun (ch.c. 1910 by Santoi - Kendal Belle--Family B1), was another non-GSB admittee because his seventh dam was the untraceable mare by Roseden.
Not all half-bred horses of note identified and traced by the Priors were included in the Family Tables. The most notable exclusion is the famous Arab Maid family, which lacks a "B" designation or note in the Family Tables. This is the family of the great jumper Easter Hero, which has also produced two Irish Grand National winners. A number of early winners of the Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree are not compiled, principally because their dams were unknown, but even later winners out of half-bred mares were not included in Family Tables, including Lovely Cottage (1946), Sheila's Cottage (1948), Royal Tan (1954), Merryman II (1960), and Well-to-Do (1972); also Little Polveir (1989) and the 2004 winner Amberleigh House. Many more winners of the Irish Grand National likewise have no "B" designation in the Family Tables, nor do many of the great French jumpers registered in France as AQPS (Other than Pure Thoroughbred) or Selle Francais. A page has been included here for the Arab Maid Family.
*Americus (Rey del Carreras), a great-grandson of Lexington was imported into Great Britain in 1908; grandsire of Lady Josephine (1912, Sundridge - Americus Girl), and through her great-grandsire of Lady Juror and Mumtaz Mahal. With the Jockey Club rule of 1913, "the Jersey Act," no horse could be eligible for admission to the General Stud Book unless the pedigrees of both parents could be "traced without flaw" to horses already accepted into earlier volumes. However, horses admitted into the GSB prior to 1913 were allowed to remain. Thus Americus Girl and her female line were enrolled in the GSB, while all horses not from this line descending from Lexington (whose dam-line was considered unproven), and all their progeny--a great many in the U.S.--were considered half-bred, and debarred from the GSB (though not, of course, from the American Stud Book). This was rectified in 1948 (and published in Vol. 31), after two "half-breds," My Babu and Black Tarquin, won the 2,000 Guineas and the St. Leger, and other horses that had raced successfully in France had called into question the value of a stud book that did not record the pedigrees of horses winning at the highest level of racing. In Volume 31 of the GSB, published in 1949, the new, amended rule for admission into the stud book returned to its pre-Jersey Act admission requirement: "Any animal claiming adission from now onwards must be able to prove satisfactorily some eight or nine crosses of pure blood, to trace back for at least a century, and to show such performances of its immediate family on the Turf as to warrant the believe in the purity of its blood."
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