Although modern genetics wags an admonitory finger, we persist in thinking in terms of sire lines and their defining characteristics. We nod knowledgeably each time a small, muscular, compact horse emerges from the Northern Dancer line, even though descendants of that epochal stallion now come in every shape and size imaginable. Still it is impossible to look at the curve of Malibu Moon’s neck and not see his sire, A.P. Indy, or the slope of his hip and see his grandsire Seattle Slew. Though he is a heavier horse than A.P. Indy and tends to sire horses more in the Slew mold, Malibu Moon has reliably passed on many of the same characteristics as his sire, and he has another good one in last weekend’s Grade 2 Rebel Stakes winner Magnum Moon. Bred in Kentucky by Spendthrift Farm owner B. Wayne Hughes, Malibu Moon was far more precocious than the average A.P. Indy, running second in a 4 ½-furlong maiden at Hollywood Park on April 30, 1999, and winning over five furlongs at the same venue a month later in 57.41 for trainer Mel Stute. That was it for Malibu Moon as a racehorse, however, as he emerged from that win with a knee fracture. :: DRF BREEDING LIVE: Real-time coverage of breeding and sales Though his dam, Macoumba, by Mr. Prospector, was a Group 1-winning half-sister to four stakes winners, including Group 1 winner Septieme Ciel, by Seattle Slew, that was not a race record that would attract mares in Kentucky, so Malibu Moon began his stud career at the Pons family’s Country Life Farm in Maryland. His first two crops, led by 2004 champion 2-year-old male Declan’s Moon (out of Vee Vee Star, by Norquester) proved he was too good to stay in Maryland, and he has not missed a beat since his transfer to Spendthrift in 2005. Although he has not sired another Eclipse champion, Malibu Moon’s 119 stakes winners from 1,597 foals age 3 and up (7.5%) include 14 Grade 1 winners, among them 2013 Kentucky Derby winner Orb (Lady Liberty, by Unbridled), 2016 Acorn winner Carina Mia (Miss Simpatia, by Southern Halo), 2017 Santa Anita Derby winner Gormley (Race to Urga, by Bernstein), and CCA Oaks, Mother Goose, and Frizette winner Devil May Care (Kelli’s Ransom, by Red Ransom). :: Get breeding & sales news, Beyer info, and more delivered right to your email! Magnum Moon is a third-generation descendant of one of the best broodmares of the last 20 years, Sabine Stable’s Win Crafty Lady, by Crafty Prospector. Bred in Florida by James H. Iselin and Estelle Sands, Win Crafty Lady was purchased by agent Roger Bronzine for only $14,500 as a “short” yearling at the 1989 OBS winter mixed sale, but showed her class early by running second to future champion Meadow Star in her first start at 2. A tough, genuine, and classy sprinter, Win Crafty Lady won 8 of 25 starts over four seasons, including the 1993 Grade 3 Interborough Breeders’ Cup Handicap. Her second foal, Graeme Hall, by Dehere, won four graded stakes including the 2000 Grade 2 Arkansas Derby, and her third, Harmony Lodge, by Hennessy, won seven stakes, including the Grade 1 Ballerina in 2003. Harmony Lodge has since produced Grade 3 winner Stratford Hill, by A.P. Indy. Win Crafty Lady’s fourth foal Win’s Fair Lady, by Dehere, won two listed races and is dam of Grade 3 winner First Passage, by Giant’s Causeway, who is the dam, in turn, of stakes winner Berned, by Bernardini. Win Crafty Lady’s eighth foal, Win McCool, by Giant’s Causeway, showed brilliance on occasion, winning the Grade 3 Floral Park Handicap, but has produced only two minor winners from eight foals to date. Magnum Moon’s dam, Dazzling Song, by Unbridled’s Song, is not one of them, since she was unraced after selling for $825,000 to Seth Hancock, agent for Ramona Bass, at the 2009 Keeneland September yearling sale. Magnum Moon, who was purchased for $380,000 by Robert and Lawana Low at the 2016 Keeneland September sale, is Dazzling Song’s third foal, following winners Speigthful Song, by Speightstown, and Wake Island, by War Front. She has since produced a 2017 filly by Uncle Mo, but her 2018 foal by War Front died. Win Crafty Lady and her descendants are a vivid illustration of the great Italian breeder Federico Tesio’s wave theory of Thoroughbred breeding. The breeder of unbeaten Ribot and Nearco, Tesio believed that female lines tended to rise with waves of high-class horses for three or four generations before receding again toward the average for the breed. Magnum Moon’s emergence indicates that Win Crafty Lady’s family is still riding that wave.