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A Tip of the Hat to “Indy”
Their winning sons pick up a Northern Dancer cross (Storm Bird and Far North respectively) but neither picks up Mr. Prospector or other Raise a Native lines. Might be worth thinking about the next time you are tempted to inbreed to this unsound blood. That’s not all, however. Arguably the toughest of the three-year-old fillies, In The Gold, who picked up a $60,000 check for running fifth against her elders in the Distaff is by yet another A. P. Indy son, Golden Missile, who is devoid of Mr. Prospector and Northern Dancer. In The Gold does have a Northern Dancer cross via Norcliffe in her dam’s pedigree, but no Mr. Prospector. These three horses are trying to tell breeders something. Let’s hope they are listening! Photos: Top - Old Trieste; Bottom Left - Golden Missile; Bottom Right - Stephen Got Even
Author’s Note: When we first wrote this story (Pedlines #97, April 2004), we called Friends Lake "somebody different". That still fits, but he is also now the fourth major winning/siring son of A. P. Indy who is devoid of Northern Dancer and Raise a Native/Mr. Prospector blood. That makes him part of a set and could well mean success for him as it has for Stephen Got Even, Old Trieste, and Golden Missile. ---Ellen Parker
Way back in April of 1996, we wrote a lengthy article about the fine filly Antespend, detailing her intricate inbreeding, the majority of which did not show on the surface. In total, she showed nine Rock Sand lines, five Tourbillon lines and four each of Plucky Liege and Lady Juror. She was, in fact, intensely inbred when her four cross pedigree showed her to be a just the opposite - a complete outcross. When she retired, we read of who she would be bred to with much disappointment - her first two mates were Storm Cat and Deputy Minister, neither of which fit her. Finally, on the third try A. P. Indy was used, and we knew this was an excellent match. On March 13, 2004, the rest of the racing world know it, too, as Friends Lake won the G1 Florida Derby over highly-regarded Read The Footnotes, The Cliff’s Edge and Tapit among others. A knee injury ended his career after just seven starts, which was most unfortunate. Sad as the brevity of his career was, we were certainly pleased to see that the best of both his sire and dam appear to have shown up in his few races. In short: Friends Lake has five crosses of *La Troienne (Baby League x2/Businesslike x2/Bimelech) plus a cross of her three-quarter sister Adargatis. Frizette is also linebred to via Jet Pilot, Myrtlewood, Tourbillon, and Cardanil (who carries three lines). It’s the perfect use of Seattle Slew’s two best crosses and something he really enjoys having returned. It also sets him up perfectly for those sons of Mr. Prospector with *La Troienne and Adargatis lines like Woodman. Of course, it’s all right with us if he isn’t asked to hold up the world like his sire and other horses who show no crosses of these soft lines. The less Native Dancer blood we use, the sounder the future foals will be. Photo: Friends Lake by Michael J. Marten, Horsephotos.com |
Two sons of A. P. Indy sired Breeders’ Cup winners, Stephen Got Even (Stevie
Wonderboy) and the late Old Trieste (Silver Train). There is something very
important about these two stallions: Neither of them carries either Mr.
Prospector or Northern Dancer!
