A bit of research on Thoroughbred sire-line descent becomes a trip down memory lane as I consult the 1982 Stallion Register....

Only six stallions have at least eight sons represented by hips at Keeneland's yearling sale later this month. We look at the sale's count by sire-of-sire as well as by larger sire lines....

Florida's Milwaukee Brew is making a name for himself -- way up north....

Once as a grandsire and once as a damsire, the In Reality son Relaunch was represented by impressive graded winners over the Independence Day weekend....

Rahy becomes a pensioner and with his retirement the Thoroughbred breeding industry loses one more source of diversity. (Plus a quick look at the Nasrullah sire line.)...

A seriously international sire line paired with an all-American female family gives us French classic winner Silver Frost. A lesson in French is included at no charge, and an Ivory Soap commercial falls into the mix somehow....

If a sire's in the lineage of a potential racehorse, does it really matter where on the five-cross pedigree he's located?...

A couple of days ago we looked at how much influence Bold Ruler has had on Thoroughbred racing's top synthetic sires. So the question now is: are his bloodlines less present in poorer-performing all-weather studs?...

It's no secret that progeny of Bold Ruler-line stallions have enjoyed success on synthetic racing surfaces. As all-weather tracks continue to flourish, let's take a look at some top synthetic sires to see how much influence they have from Bold Ruler and the larger Nasrullah line....

The Eclipse-line stallion Bend Or branched off with sons Ormonde and Bona Vista in the 1880's. While at one point multiple lines existed through the great Teddy, the line appears to be dwindling. The 2009 Stallion Register lists just seven Teddy-line studs, all through 1960's phenom Damascus....

If Thoroughbred pedigree evaluation had been taught in elementary school, the "three foundation sires" would be as well-known to every student as "I before E except after C" and George Washington's cherry tree episode. The Godolphin Barb, Byerley Turk, and Darley Arabian male lines still exist -- but the distribution isn't equitable. A quick review....

The German racehorse sire line of Monsun already has a foothold in Ireland. Would a Kamsin victory in the 2009 Breeders' Cup Classic be enough for American breeders to welcome him to a U.S. stud career?...

Hard Spun wins a few titles in the breeding shed. I also see some similarities between the son of Danzig and other Thoroughbred sires Point Given and ... Big Brown ???...

Broad Brush's male line influence -- and the whole Domino branch, for that matter -- is shaken up with the defection of Mongoose....

Word on the Street is that Darley has cornered the market on an emerging sire line....

Deutsches Derby (Ger-I) winner Kamsin represents soundness and stamina. Is that what American breeders really want?...

We've all heard of "hybrid vigor," so outcrossing seems like it would be a common Thoroughbred breeding scheme. But is outcrossing even possible in 2008?...

They're stallions who've underperformed and sent off to a foreign land... or are ferried away by high bidders abroad while they're still young. These exported Thoroughbred stallions are a big loss for American breeders....

Northern Dancer's two most important male-line scions bow out within 24 hours. What now?...

The powerful UAE Derby (UAE-II) win by Honour Devil (ARG) this weekend inspires some thoughts on the colt's breeding -- and whether a reverse bloodline cross could work well in the U.S....

The fact that Himyar has not one but two quality sire lines in America today is quite a feat. For the most part, the Eclipse tail-male bloodline split after his great-grandson Whalebone, and that stallion's son Sir Hercules is responsible for most of the sire lines today -- including Teddy and Swynford and all the Phalaris lines (Nasrullah, Bold Ruler, Northern Dancer, Raise a Native, Turn-to, and others). Himyar descended from another Whalebone son, Camel, who is distinguished by being the great-great grandson of Eclipse (1764) and the great grandsire of Eclipse (1855) -- just to throw some fun confusion into the mix. ...

Northern Dancer, Mr. Prospector, and a select few other sires have dominated American pedigrees to the point that other sire lines are in danger of being lost forever. The future of the Domino sire line sees hope in sons of Broad Brush; the author also looks at another, less-known Domino-line sire as a potential match for one of his mares....

Pulpit and his sons are well-represented at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's select sale of 2-year-olds in training next week. Some of their progeny's dams have interesting stories of their own....