There has been some talk on social media about broodmare sires, so I started thinking. The only horse I personally ever thought of as a truly great broodmare sire was Tar Heel. Invariably, every stallion with access to a Tar Heel mare back then, sooner or later, had his best performer from one of them. I always paid attention to "nicks", ala Albatross-Bret Hanover, No Nukes-Albatross, Abercrombie-Albatross, although the latter was short-lived after Artsplace and Life Sign. Of course, in these cases, Bret Hanover and Albatross had access to the best broodmares in captivity, thus the "nick" was also the combination of the sire and the maternal family. In the case of Abercrombie, it was noticeable that he perked up once supplied with the Meadow Skipper line mares, Albatross in particular. I never really thought Meadow Skipper was a "great" broodmare sire, as probably the two best from his mares were Call For Rain and Matt's Scooter.  Both were the best of their respective sires, Storm Damage and Direct Scooter.      There were others like Seahawk Hanover, Eastern Skipper and Mr Sandman, though neither of them was nearly the best by their particular sires, Bret Hanover, Bye Bye Byrd and Overcall, respectively. For that matter, it's hard to think of a truly great horse from a Most Happy Fella mare unless one wants to consider his all-time fastest, the likely juiced-up Primetime Bobcat, who took his record at age 9, as "great". For that matter, No Nukes was nowhere near the broodmare sire that he was a sire, and on his list, I see a few from my old Perretti Mares, Lady Hathaway and Silky Satin. Of late there’s Caviart Ally, from his daughter All American Cool, though Ally's sire Bettor's Delight may have something to do with her success. In my mind, the reason for this has to do with the reduction of percentage contribution from the sire’s side to the broodmare sire's side. The sire is theoretically 50% of the equation, though in the case of a truly dominant sire it could be more. As a broodmare sire, his contribution is reduced to 25%. Proportionately his effectiveness reduces as well, assuming how much we credit the actual broodmare sire in terms of the dam’s maternal family input. Therefore, Rocknroll Hanover, like the above named, is probably not as effective as strictly a broodmare sire, as he was a sire for those reasons expressed above. However, I'm noticing a far greater percentage of quality performers out of Rocknroll Hanover mares as his better-bred daughters come of age. It will be interesting to see just where Papi Rob Hanover, who according to Brett Pelling is very reminiscent of his grandsire Rocknroll Hanover, ultimately winds up on his sire Somebeachsomewhere's all-time best list. Still, I personally would place far more emphasis on the maternal family of any of ‘Rock’s’ fillies or mares than I would specifically him. Getting back to Tar Heel, the following names come to mind: Buckeye Bill (Buckeyes Champ); Miller's Scout (Tarport Effrat); In The Pocket (Direct Scooter); Anxious Robby (Happy Motoring); Le Baron Rouge (Columbia George); Silent Majority (Henry T Adios); Boyden Hanover (Best Of All); Forrest Skipper (Scarlet Skipper); Truluck Vicar Hanover (Torpid); Keystone Ore (Bye Bye Byrd); Peter Lobell (Adios Vic); Momentum (Fulla Napoleon); Armbro Omaha (Airliner). In addition, there are the obvious ones in Bret Hanover (Adios) and Romeo Hanover (Dancer Hanover).  What did they have in common?  Each was either the first- or second-best horse by their respective sire, and from a Tar Heel Mare. Adios only got to see Tar Heel mares at the end of his career, but what occurred was instantaneously legendary, with Bret Hanover, Bonjour Hanover, Baron Hanover and Gee Lee Hanover, respectively. Generally speaking, a major turning point of any stallion’s career is when his daughters come of age to cross with the new breed of up-and-coming stallions. Again, that is usually because those leading stallions will attract far more quality broodmares than the marginal stallions. Thus, it will be interesting to see how this affects Muscle Hill, as his daughters are coming of age and are eligible to cross with young stallion warriors like Father Patrick, Walner, Chapter Seven, and Greenshoe.  Of those, Father Patrick has made a noticeable debut, as has Chapter Seven, though neither has seen enough Muscle Hill mares in order to formulate a conclusion. As it is, Muscle Hill has several sons in stud, including Trixton, Bar Hopping, What The Hill and Tactical Landing, but thus far Trixton has yet to eclipse him. As for the others, that remains to be seen. Still his daughters will have increasing probabilities as more come of age. There too, I would expect that those from superior maternal families will outshine those from lesser families, as Muscle Hill’s 25% contribution as the broodmare sire will likely be less effective than his 50% (or more) contribution as the sire. It should be noted that Super Bowl perked up upon attaining access to Speedy Crown mares, as did other stallions. But then again, by that time, Speedy Crown was servicing the cream of the existing broodmare crop. Conversely, two of Castleton’s "better" mares, Reflection, dam of Striking Image and Mirror Image, and Seascape, dam of Shadow Star and Real Hilarious, were by a marginal Tar Heel son named Painter that no one ever accused of as being a top broodmare sire.  However, both were daughters of the great Way Wave, she a well-bred daughter of Fullsway and half-sister to one of Bret Hanover’s early stars Hilarious Way, and therein comes that maternal family.  Reflection became the dam of Mirror Image (True Duane) and Striking Image (Strike Out), while Seascape produced Shadow Star and Real Hilarious. The latter’s daughter, Makin Smiles, is the dam of Die Laughing, amongst others.   Stay tuned!