Breed the Best to the Best

The New York Times had a great article on Sunday on the vagaries of horse breeding, in particular the plan of Jess Jackson to breed Curlin to Rachel Alexandra to create a "new breed of racehorse."

Frankly, anytime anyone talks about creating new breeds, I get a little wary--sounds too invasive to me. In this case the old adage seems to hold true, namely that if anyone actually knew how to do that, it would have already been done. History aside, the article talks about the degree of luck involved in pedigree matching and asks three breeding experts to give thier opinons of Jackson's matchmaking plans.

One of these experts is Headley Bell, bloodstock advisor to the Jacksons, who of course, suggested the pairing of La Ville Rouge and Dynaformer. We all know where that went and is continuing to go. I actually interviewed Headley some time ago about the degree of luck involved with that pairing and he was the first to admit, that there is a great deal of it in the breeding business.

You basically throw everything into a large pot and let it simmer, was his metaphor for his system. He does look for certain characteristics in both parents but most important to him is a stallion on the way up. In the case of La Ville Rouge, he was also looking for size since she is a small, compact mare. Judging by the impressive physiques of Barbaro and his brothers, that hunch paid off.

In the case of Rachel Alexandra, Bell chose Smart Strike, who happens to be Curlin's father. While it remains to be seen if Curlin will pass on his racing genes to his prodigy, his father's success is a little more definite. It sounds like a good match to me, but it also sounds like Jackson is pretty well set on breeding Rachel to Curlin.

The other interesting choice for Rachel came from Case Clay, president of Three Chimneys, who chose Dynaformer as Rachels number one mate. That also would be an interesting choice, but the size factor might be overwhelming. Rachel and Dynaformer are both big horses and they might produce a literal giant!

The bottom line is that horse breeding is just like the rest of the business--an expensive gamble!