Keeping it In the Family: Sire Lines of March's World's Best Racehorse Rankings

While there is a long time until the final International Federation of Horseracing Authorities' (IFHA) Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings of the year, the first edition of 2017 was a win for the Mr. Prospector sire line with two racehorses sired by his grandson and great-grandson tied for the top spot.

Released on Thursday, it was no surprise to see Arrogate (Unbridled’s Song) and Winx (Street Cry) both earning ratings of 127, four points ahead of third placed Hartnell (Authorized). In all, six of the 28 ranked horses trace back to Mr. Prospector through their sires while seven of the ranked horses’ broodmare sires also come from that particular sire line. Hussonet (Mr. Prospector) proved to be the most popular close link through broodmare sires with two of the ranked racehorses out of Hussonet mares.

Winx (IFHA/©bradleyphotos.com.au)
Unbridled’s Song was the only Mr. Prospector descendant to both sire a ranked horse and the dam of another ranked horse with his daughter’s Sixties Song (Sixties Icon) tied for fifth on a 119 rating while his sire Unbridled was also the great-grandsire of another ranked horse in Midnight Storm, who is sired by Pioneerof the Nile (Empire Maker).

Mr. Prospector’s Forty Niner also earned the distinction of showing up both in the sire line and broodmare sire line of ranked horses with his grandson Trippi siring Trip to Heaven and son Distorted Humor siring Arrogate’s dam. Distorted Humor is also the grandsire of Hoppertunity (Any Given Saturday), giving that branch of the Mr. Prospector line three representatives in this month’s rankings.

Distorted Humor
Overall, ranked horses traced back to Mr. Prospector through eight different sons with Fappiano leading the way with three followed by Hussonet's two dams of ranked horses. Arrogate was the only ranked horse to trace back to Mr. Prospector through both his sire and broodmare sire.

Sixties Song is one of five ranked horses bred on the Northern Dancer/Mr. Prospector cross with those two sires mostly showing up in the fourth generations. Not surprisingly, Northern Dancer’s line is the most popular sire line in the rankings with 16 of the 28 ranked horses hailing from one of six of his sons.

By Galileo’s (Sadler’s Wells) son Sixties Icon, Sixties Song is one of three ranked horses by sons or grandsons of Sadler’s Wells (Northern Dancer). One other ranked horse is a grandson of Sadler’s Wells’ full brother Fairy King and another is a great grandson of Fairy King.

Northern Dancer also features prominently in the broodmare sire lines of ranked horses with 11 tracing back to him that way. While the Sadler’s Wells branch of that line accounts for two broodmare sires, it is through Danzig that it is strongest, with four horses produced by daughters of that line. Danzig is also responsible for eight of the horses by sires who trace back to Northern Dancer with Danzig’s influential son Danehill providing the link in five of the horses.

But Mr. Prospector and Northern Dancer can’t take credit for all the ranked horses. Hail to Reason has three ranked horses sired by great-grandsons in Hey Doc (Duporth), Makahiki (Deep Impact) and Neorealism (Neo Universe), with two coming from the Sunday Silence (Halo) branch of the line in Japan.

Sir Ivor is another one of those stallions who appears in the sire line of both a sire and a broodmare sire of ranked horses with his great-grandson siring Legal Eagle (Greys Inn) and another grandson siring the dam of Werther (Zabeel). Speak John (Prince John) doesn’t have any representation through the sires of ranked horses but two stallions from his line sired the dams of ranked horses, including Winx. In Reality also shares that distinction with great-grandson Bertrando (Sky Walker) siring the dam of Midnight Storm and grandson Cee’s Tizzy (Relaunch) siring the dam of Trip to Heaven.

Overall, the ranked horses come from 12 different sire lines through their sire or broodmare sire. Surprisingly, only six of the ranked horses trace back to the same sire line through both their sire and broodmare sire. Not surprisingly, most of those horses find Northern Dancer on both sides.

Interestingly with the lack of a large amount of diversity in the bloodlines, the ranked horses come from nine different countries. While you see a certain parts of a line showing up more in one region over another, it shows how specialized sire lines get when horses get to the upper echelons of the sport.

WORLD'S BEST RACEHORSE RANKINGS 

Ranked Horse (Sire)
Sire Line
Branch of Sireline (Son)
Arrogate (Unbridled’s Song)
Mr. Prospector
Fappiano (Unbridled)
Winx (Street Cry)
Mr. Prospector
Machiavellian
Hartnell (Authorized)
Northern Dancer
Sadler’s Wells (Montjeu)
Satono Crown (Marju)
Northern Dancer
Try My Best
Amazing Kids (Falkirk)
Northern Dancer
Storm Bird (Storm Cat)
Black Heart Bart (Blackfriars)
Northern Dancer
Danzig (Danehill)
Chautauqua (Encosta De Lago)
Northern Dancer
Fairy King
Ertijaal (Oasis Dream)
Northern Dancer
Danzig (Green Desert)
Helene Paragon (Polan)
Blushing Groom
Rainbow Quest
Legal Eagle (Greys Inn)
Sir Ivor
Sir Tristram
Le Romain (Hard Spun)
Northern Dancer
Danzig
Peniaphobia (Dandy Man)
Northern Dancer
Danzig (Danehill)
Sixties Song (Sixties Icon)
Northern Dancer
Sadler’s Wells (Galileo)
Trip To Heaven (Trippi)
Mr. Prospector
Forty Niner (End Sweep)
Werther (Tavistock)
Northern Dancer
Sadler’s Wells (Montjeu)
Whisky Baron(Manhattan Rain)
Northern Dancer
Fairy King
Blazing Speed (Dylan Thomas)
Northern Dancer
Danzig (Danehill)
Championship (Exceed and Excel)
Northern Dancer
Danzig (Danehill)
Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt)
Northern Dancer
Danzig (Danehill)
Hey Doc (Duporth)
Hail to Reason
Roberto
Hoppertunity (Any Given Saturday)
Mr. Prospector
Forty Niner (Distorted Humor)
Joyful Trinity (Zanzibari)
Mr. Prospector
Smart Strike
Lucky Bubbles (Sebring)
Hail to Reason
Halo (Southern Halo)
Makahiki (Deep Impact)
Hail to Reason
Halo (Sunday Silence)
Malaguerra (Magnus)
Northern Dancer
Danzig (Danehill)
Midnight Storm (Pioneerof the Nile)
Mr. Prospector
Fappiano (Unbridled)
Neorealism (Neo Universe)
Hail to Reason
Halo (Sunday Silence)
Terravista (Captain Rio)
Northern Dancer
Nureyev


 

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