Graustark’s Hard Edge
by Roger Lyons
A rough measure of an ancestor’s relevance in the contemporary broodmare population can be taken from how well proven stallions, as a group, are doing with mares that descend from that ancestor. I mentioned this approach a couple of posts back in regard to the influence of Dixieland Band, and I’m driven back to it by the intriguing case of Warrior’s Reward (Medaglia D’Oro-For All You Do, by Seeking the Gold), winner of the 2010 Carter H. (G1) and now standing at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky for $15,000, first foals eagerly anticipated in 2012.
Note that Warrior’s Reward’s third dam is by Graustark (1963 Ribot-Flower Bowl, by Alibhai), an ancestor whose influence was quite extreme a decade ago. We know this because back then an unusually large proportion of the stallion population had serious trouble with mares in some descent of Graustark. Since then, his effects have been tempered by generational distance. That’s evident in that only around 18% have serious problems now, as against the 16% whose records actually benefit from his influence.
He’s already gravitating toward the vanishing point that awaits him at the margin of effective pedigree space. Nevertheless, Graustark still has profound effects in many cases, and Warrior’s Reward is probably one of them. His dam is one of five with a superior runner by Medaglia D’oro from the 25 that produced a foal by him and had Graustark in their ancestries. Graustark is hard to process, but Medaglia D’Oro has the knack.
What’s interesting is that, although about 30% of Medaglia D’Oro’s SWs win stakes at two, three of the five whose dams have Graustark in their ancestries, including Warrior’s Reward, didn’t win a stakes until age four. That could have something to do with the size and bone mass associated with Graustark.
Despite the stallion population’s problem with processing Graustark, his full brother, His Majesty (1968), continues to enjoy the approval of about 30% of the stallion population, one of the highest among major ancestors, with only about 14% disapproval. That’s the reverse of where Graustark was a decade ago, and in that time His Majesty’s effect has shown no sign of abating, maybe because His Majesty’s stud career started six years after that of Graustark.
Wee Stark, a GSW son of Graustark, is in a healthy retirement in Geneseo NY, after foxhunting and eventing post retirement from the track. Richie Migliore rode him and remembers him to this day!
February 10th, 2011 at 6:53 pmStarky was a tough, sound warrior.
February 10th, 2011 at 6:54 pmLiz, that must be Wee Stark by Super Stark, a son of Graustark. Interesting. According to American Produce Records, Wee Stark raced 114 times and had 12 wins, 17 seconds, and 18 thirds. That sounds like Graustark influence. Eight of his wins were in dirt sprints. Maybe that’s because 1) Super Stark was inbred to Hyperion, his dam by Olympia, by Heliopolis, by Hyperion, and 2) Wee Stark’s dam was inbred to Heliopolis. That’s Graustark crossed with some serious speed influence. He won nearly $260,000.
February 10th, 2011 at 8:31 pm[…] Graustark’s hard edge by Roger Lyons […]
February 11th, 2011 at 9:26 amThis is a most interesting inquiry into Graustark, Roger, in part because it addresses the “Graustark problem” from another angle than I’m used to considering.
In terms of his biomechanical influence, Graustark was decidedly difficult. He fell far outside the norms of the breed for phenotype, and that was his great difficulty in matching well with mares.
Then, their offspring had the double difficulty of showing sufficient ability to find a place at stud and then finding suitable mates who could help them phenotypically without diminishing them mechanically. It usually didn’t work.
February 11th, 2011 at 10:12 amThanks, Frank. I’m glad to hear it from you that what the numbers say actually has an “objective correlative” in biomechanics. When Graustark does find a place, as in the ancestry of Kingmambo, as the broodmare sire of deceased French stallion Hero’s Honor, as the broodmare sire of dominant Japanese sire, Brian’s Time–it doesn’t happen very often–it can be very special.
February 11th, 2011 at 3:07 pmBut what a race horse from maybe the best crop of 2 year olds ever
February 11th, 2011 at 6:25 pmAnd what a pedigree
John, seems like the concensus is that he was just too special.
February 11th, 2011 at 9:05 pmHow different biomechanically was he from His Majesty?
February 11th, 2011 at 10:12 pmGreg, the numbers seem to say His Majesty had to be a lot closer to the mainstream than Graustark, don’t they. But that’s just an inference.
February 12th, 2011 at 7:36 amSure, you’d have to assume that.
Mizzen Mast is an interesting case regarding Graustark (and with Cozzene on top!). One would think he’d be difficult to match, but he’s finding some good success.
February 12th, 2011 at 7:59 amYes, Greg, and Mizzen Mast is probably the best stallion out of a Graustark mare ever to stand in North America.
February 12th, 2011 at 10:59 amHis Majesty, for one thing, was quite a bit smaller than Graustark, who was big and massively built (and as John noted, massively talented).
Whereas His Majesty was reasonably similar to Ribot in size and type (not so different, either, from Ribot’s good son Tom Rolfe), Graustark was more like an inflated Hyperion: speed, presence, almost certainly the ability to stay 10 and 12 furlongs, etc.
I say “almost certainly” about Graustark’s stamina because he never had the chance to prove it. From his pedigree and his stud career, there is no doubt at all.
Frank
February 21st, 2011 at 12:19 pmThanks for this, Frank.
February 22nd, 2011 at 10:17 amRazeen, an all-time Champion Classic sire in India who died recently, was a son of Northern Dancer out of the Graustark mare Secret Asset. Physically, Razeen was more Graustark than Northern Dancer.
In one of the comments above, Hero’s Honor has been mentioned. Hero’s Honor and Razeen are both by Northern Dancer out of Graustark mares tracing to La Troienne.
Sometime back, I had studied the pedigrees of all stakes winners by Danehill (having His Majesty in his pedigree) in Europe. A noticeably large percentage of them had Graustark in the bottom of their pedigrees.
February 23rd, 2011 at 8:18 amThank you, Major, for pointing out that Razeen was out of a Graustark mare, which I had overlooked, frankly, until reading your last post at Sid Fernando’s blog; and, by the way, I like your use of the expression “successive damsires.” I’d been looking for a way of indicating the sires of dams in the female line. As to Danehill, by my count he had 49 Northern Hemisphere mares with Graustark in their ancestries, and nine of them produced superior runners. He worked well with Graustark, but he and Forestry (5/58) are about the only major sires (with His Majesty in their ancestries) that have done that very well. Again, many thanks.
February 23rd, 2011 at 8:36 am