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.
Posted by Roger Lyons on Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 7:28 pm.