By Elaine Belval
The thoroughbred breeding industry, throughout history, has had breeding sheds full of stallions that were brothers to successful stallions. But, for every high-quality set of sire brothers like His Majesty and Graustark or Sadler’s Wells and Fairy King, there were other unequal sets, such as Mr. Prospector and his mediocre brothers and Northern Dancer and his poor brothers.
And, successful brothers or not, breeders are tempted to inbreed through the full siblings, hoping to hit the genetic jackpot. There have been approximately 10 SWs inbred to Mr. Prospector and one of his full brothers (the best probably is G1 winner Country Star, a daughter of Empire Maker whose second dam is by Red Ryder). And despite Northern Dancer having several own brothers, only a handful of SWs are inbred to Northern Dancer and his brother Northern Native.
The inbreeding results are much better when both brothers were successful sires in their own right. There are dozens of SWs inbred to His Majesty and Graustark, including multiple G1 winners. And the newer combinations of Sadler’s Wells and his brothers have already resulted in several SWs, including Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Red Rocks (by Galileo whose second dam is by Fairy King).
One of the most successful racemares in recent years (begging the pardon of Zenyatta and Goldikova) was the great French champion Miesque. A multiple classic winner and champion, Miesque might have outdone herself in the breeding shed, producing several SWs, including the great sire Kingmambo (also a champion racehorse) and champion daughter and multiple stakes producer East of the Moon.
Her son Miesque’s Son, a brother to Kingmambo, was not as good a racehorse nor as good a sire as Kingmambo, but he was still good enough to sire G1 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Miesque’s Approval and G1 Prix Morny winner Whipper. He currently stands in France.
Whipper had his first crop of 3-year-olds racing in 2010. Recently  he had a banner week in France as the sire of Courchevel, winner of the Prix Ceres, and the 2-year-old filly Whip and Win, winner of the Prix Isonomy. With two crops of racing age, Whipper has six SWs.
What makes Whip and Win particularly special for owner/breeder Mme Christian Wingtans & SC Famille Vidal and notable in a general sense is that she is the first SW inbred to the full brothers Miesque’s Approval Son and Kingmambo. She is by Whipper and out of a daughter of Kingsalsa (a son of Kingmambo).
As a stakes winning 2-year-old with this pedigree, Whip and Win is a future broodmare treasure.
It was just announced that Whipper is moving to France, standing at Haras de Mezeray for €7,500.
(Elaine Belval is senior pedigree analyst at WTC.)
Whip and Win is inbred to Miesque’s Son and Kingmambo, not Miesque’s Approval.