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It's no secret that Seattle Slew and Mr. Prospector have been combining well in pedigrees for a considerable amount of time (and probably no coincidence that both go tail-female to the Myrtlewood branch of the family of the great tap-root mare Frizette, who is incidentally doubled in Seattle Slew's granddam).

One of the most successful versions of the combination has been Seattle Slew-line stallions crossed over Seeking the Gold and vice versa. This has the added virtue of linebreeding to another great mare, La Troienne, as Seeking the Gold's dam is by Buckpasser (out of Busanda, who is by War Admiral out of a daughter of La Troienne) and Seattle Slew's dam is inbred to La Troienne through the sisters Busher and Striking, who are also three-parts-sister to Busanda.

The poster child for the Seattle Slew/Seeking the Gold cross has been the outstanding mare Surfside, although the cross did come up with another very good distaffer in Lu Ravi. Seeking the Gold himself has sired six stakes winners out of Seattle Slew mares, including grade I winners Cape Town and Seeking the Pearl. Seeking the Gold' son Petionville has also struck up a particularly beneficial affinity for Seattle Slew-line mares, and has no less than eight stakes winners on the cross, the most recent of which is the Affirmed Handicap (gr. III) winner Two Step Salsa. Commercial factors initially dictated that Petionville was generally covering mares by sons of Seattle Slew, rather than daughters of the stallion himself. That cross came up with five stakes winners including graded scorers True Passion, Voodoo, and Runway Model.

Two Step Salsa, who is rated A++ by TrueNicks, is one of three stakes winners by Seattle Slew himself. The winner of four of his five starts, he is particularly strong in the La Troienne strain, as he has three crosses of Buckpasser; two more La Troienne strains via Seattle Slew; and another two via the dam of Petionville.

Filed under: Sire Lines, Recent Winners