Reader Q&A: Inbreeding to Alydar
Written by admin | Mar 31, 2008 |
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Jeri from New York asked: I'm pleased to see Empire Stud signed up! Could you ask Alan Porter if there is any value to tying to inbreed to Alydar. I do not see his name come up in pedigrees anymore and I have mare by Western Expression whose bottom has Alydar mate of third dam. I may be going back to far, but I could not help but think of the great horse himself.I met Mr. Porter at McMahon's a few years ago with my young children in tow. We bred our first race horse on his say. He is yet to win but just turned 3 and the trainer and owner had him in 52000 open races at 2. I wish they stuck with the lower New York races!
Alan responds: Thank you very much for the question. I would not see any downside in inbreeding to Alydar. I have seen one stakes winner with this pattern.The reason that we don't see a lot of Alydar inbreeding, and a relatively small presence of Alydar in pedigrees overall, is that although was an outstanding sire, he turned out to be a disappointing sire of sires, with horses like Easy Goer (who died relatively young), Alysheba, Criminal Type, Turkoman, Saratoga Six, and Strike the Gold failing to come up to expectations. Relative to opportunity, his best stallion son has probably been California's Benchmark, who is sire of grade I winners Brother Derek, Idiot Proof, and Silent Sighs.Alydar was also a very good broodmare sire, but unfortunately - unlike some stallions who follow the "disappointing sire of sires, good broodmare sire of sires" pattern, such as Buckpasser and Secretariat - Alydar hasn't been an outstanding broodmare sire of sires, his best known studs in this role probably being California's General Meeting; Lure, who had fertility issues; Maryland's Lion Hearted and his brother, Easing Along, who made a good start in South America and now shuttles to Claiborne; Peintre Celebre, who has stood in Europe, South America, Australia, and Japan; Cat Thief; and Anees and Strolling Along (two more who died young).
The above horses apart, probably the most successful two stallions at stud in the U.S. with Alydar in their pedigree would be Arch (second dam by Alydar) and Point Given (TrueNicks, SRO) (dam by Turkoman).
So, as a result of the above, we see a lot less of Alydar in pedigrees than other comprable sires from the era, and what we do see is often through less high-quality sources. Both of these trends militate against his appearance as a target for inbreeding.
That said, there is no reason to avoid inbreeding to him, if the mating is otherwise a good one.
Good luck with your N.Y.-bred 3-year-old. Let's hope the owners place him where he has a better opportunity this year.
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