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Users of TrueNicks, and for that matter any pedigree program, will have already seen a number of examples where the quality of the immediate ancestors in a pedigree can have an impact on the genetic affinity, or lack thereof, that seems to be present. A good example of this is the royally-bred 2-year-old filly Merlene de Lago (AUS), who made a sparkling debut at Turffontein in South Africa on Saturday when she romped away to win the listed Ruffian Stakes by four lengths.

Merlene de Lago, an AUS$775,000 yearling purchase at the Magic Millions yearling sale, is a daughter of the leading Australian sire Encosta de Lago (AUS) out of the former crack racemare Merlene, a group I winning daughter of the great Danehill. As impressive as she was, Merlene de Lago is in fact the first stakes winner by Encosta de Lago out of a Danehill mare, which might come as a surprise to many and a relief to others with foals on the ground bred on that cross.

There are in fact some 30 foals of racing age by Encosta de Lago out of Danehill mares, with Merlene de Lago being the only stakes winner bred on the cross (Encosta de Lago does have a stakes winner out of a mare by Flying Spur (AUS), a son of Danehill) the cross is, at this stage, a distinct underperformer. Time may change this given the quality of Danehill mares that have visited Encosta de Lago in recent years but in light of the evidence to date we would suggest at this stage there seems to be better opportunities for Danehill mares than Encosta de Lago - like, say, leading New Zealand sire Zabeel (NZ) or shuttle stallion More Than Ready (TrueNicks, SRO), and Encosta de Lago could have more profitable results than seeing a plethora of Danehill mares.

Filed under: Sire Lines, Recent Winners