Harness: Stallion lines now extending into new territory

An old wives tale that used to be bantered about is that great sire lines tended to last about three generations, but since the inception of Meadow Skipper (foaled in 1960) that has changed.

In the 60’s the great pacing sires were Adios, Tar Heel, Good Time, Knight Dream, Poplar Byrd and Gene Abbe. Of those only Adios is active today, via his fourth generation son Artsplace, he by Abercrombie, that one in turn by the marginally successful Silent Majority by the very marginally successful Henry T Adios. Artsplace proved a great sire with a successor son in Art Major though, it remains to be seen if that one’s primary sons Sportswriter and Art Official will follow suit.

Adios line exists in McArdle, he by Falcon Seelster, that one by the marginally successful Bret Hanover stallion Warm Breeze.

There are no extensions from Tar Heel, Good Time, Knight Dream, Poplar Byrd or Gene Abbe prominent today.

On the trotting side, Star’s Pride’s best siring son Super Bowl was not a sire of great sires, though he did have good ones like American Winner. Speedy Crown got Speedy Somolli who in turn skipped a generation via Baltic Speed to Valley Victory. The latter produced Muscles Yankee who in turn got Muscle Hill and now we’re waiting to see if Trixton or any other Muscle Hills currently standing like Southwind Frank or What The Hill prove line extenders.

Meadow Skipper obliterated that “wives tale” by siring Most Happy Fella who in turn got Cam Fella, the sire of Cam’s Card Shark, he responsible for current-day siring successes and full brothers Bettor’s Delight and Roll With Joe. Thus there’s an unbroken line of five generations of major stallion success emanating from Meadow Skipper.

Of the two Cam’s Card Sharks, Bettor’s Delight has two sons in stud currently, they being Betterthancheddar and Betting Line. Of those two, Betterthancheddar has some nice 3-year-olds while Betting Line’s first foals will hit the auction rings later this year. Whether either will prove to be the extender son remains to be seen.

Roll With Joe has one son at stud in Racing Hill, who is standing just his second season, so the jury is still out in his case.

The other great line from Most Happy Fella went through Oil Burner and his great son No Nukes. Oil Burner was not a successful sire but No Nukes has started his thus far unbroken sire line via his son Western Hanover and that one’s son Western Ideal, who sired Rocknroll Hanover and American Ideal.

Of the latter two, Rocknroll Hanover seems to be a sire of sires with sons Rock N Roll Heaven, Rockin Image, A Rocknroll Dance and Pet Rock, though whether any will prove the extender son remains to be seen.

American Ideal will get his chance via sons He’s Watching and Heston Blue Chip but it will be a while before we’ll know if either can extend the line.

According to the press clippings emanating from Down Under, it’s obvious they think Lazarus is not only the generational son of Bettor’s Delight, who has been a great sire over there, but perhaps the greatest pacing horse they’ve ever produced, and that includes Cardigan Bay!

In that Bettor’s Delight represents the fifth generational extension from Meadow Skipper, Lazarus could be poised to extend that great line to a sixth generation.

It should be noted that Australasian breeding is far different today than it was back in the days of Cardigan Bay, Caduceus, Apmat, False step and Good Chase. Back then, most Australasian pacers were primarily trotting sired either by U Scott, a son of Scotland, or Light Brigade, a son of Volomite. There was little if any Hal Dale or Billy Direct influence. The great Cardidgan Bay and Robin Dundee were both by Hal Tryax, a son of the Axworthy line stallion Tryax.

There are no major or even minor Axworthy pacing line stallions active today, though there may be a minor Axworthy line trotting stallion somewhere in Europe.

However, given the influence of first frozen semen and shuttle stallions, Australian and New Zealand breeders have access to the very best of North American bloodlines. Consequently, a good number of invading “Down Under breds” could literally have been bred and foaled here.

Lazarus in particular has but one Down Under name in his fifth generation in Great Evander, who is of North American stock, tracing on his male line to “Single G”, the famed horse that time forgot or so the legend went. That means that 61 of the 62 names on the five generation pedigree chart are of North American lineage regardless of where they may have been foaled.

Lazarus’ dam Bethany was by the standout New Zealand bred and foaled Christian Cullen, he a son of the exported In The Pocket (Direct Scooter-Black Jade), who used to follow Beach Towel around. Bethany’s dam Spirit Of Beth is by the Albatross stallion Soky’s Atom from Tabella Beth, she by the Bye Bye Byrd-Adioo Time son Able Bye Bye.

Thus Lazarus’ pedigree contains seven links to Meadow Skipper, which is comparable to contemporary

American foaled superstars like Sweet Lou or Foiled Again.

Christian Cullen actually stood in Pennsylvania during our 2009 breeding season, siring 31 foals the best of which is the still active – Good Day Mate from Stienams Place. It should be noted that Christian Cullen was 15 at the time and probably past his siring prime by then.

Lazarus however will be 6-years-old by our standards when he gets here, which puts him at the prime siring age effective for the 2019 breeding season. Thus he’s eligible to extend that unprecedented unbroken link from Meadow Skipper, assuming he proves to be Bettor’s Delight’s line extender son.

It’s a tall order, but perhaps we are looking at a very tall horse.