"Austin", as he is bound to become known, is not only by America’s great ex-patriot Sunday Silence, whose own pedigree is a study in linebreeding to Quiver and La Flambee, but he descends from the Reine-de-Course family of Lindos Ojos.   His dam, the Seattle Slew mare Eishin Austin, is a half sister to Devil’s Bag and Saint Ballado, both successful sires; and this is also the family of yet another top sire, Rahy.

Thus, his female line alone gives us any number of choices for inbreeding:  Mehmet; Singspiel (when his daughters are old enough);  top grass mares Soaring Softly and Plenty of Grace; daughters of Parade Ground when they are old enough;  the marvelous mare Magical Maiden; daughters of Kalanisi when they are old enough and, of course, mares carrying the above-named lines of Devil’s Bag, Saint Ballado and Rahy.

Rahy will be particularly intriguing, as he is a son of Blushing Groom.   Austinpower carries two lines of Blushing Groom’s great Our Lassie famly via a double of *Khaled.   Parade Leader is also, of course, by a son of Mr. Prospector (Kingmambo) and this effects the Seattle Slew/Mr. Prospector cross which gives us a double of Myrtlewood plus her half sister Black Curl and a cross of half siblings Case Ace and Warrior Lass.

Sunday Silence himself has done enormously well with Northern Dancer mares, which offer him two things - an obvious double of Almahmoud (Cosmah/Natalma) and another line of *Mahmoud, which Halo loves.   Thus Almahmoud descendents Northern Dancer, Arctic Tern, Cannonade and Danehill (x2 Almahmoud) are all possibilities.

Austinpower’s second dam, Ballade, is by *Herbager who is inbred to Pharos and his three-quarter sister Pladda.   Thus horses with lines of Fairway and other Scapa Flow kin (Lord At War or Island Whirl mares for instance) will be suitable to breed into this cross.

We cannot, of course, ignore Pretty Jo, the tail-female line of Sunday Silence’s broodmare sire Understanding.   She was the featured Reine-de-Course in Pedlines #71 (February 2002), and from her we can use daughters of Dayjur, The Prime Minister, Sky Beauty and Gold Legend (which would effect a sex-balanced cross of Seattle Slew) among others descending from this line.

Perhaps the most obvious thing about Austinpower is that he fits almost all Mr. Prospector/Northern Dancer crosses, and of course there are dozens of them out there.   This fellow is therefore setup to be bred to mares whose pedigrees are among the most commercial and who are from the best families.

Finally, one cannot ignore how many lines of Mumtaz Mahal this fellow carries - eight in all (*Royal Charger x2/*Nasrullah x2/*Mahmoud x3/*Mirza II), so a horse with a different Mumtaz Mahal line - say Badruddin (think Cutlass‘s *My Babu double) should be welcome and his dam’s x3 *La Troienne blood should also do well with horses carrying more of that line, since over time we seem to discover more and more that one simply cannot have too much *La Troienne.

Naturally, no one can know for sure until the foals run how Austinpower will do.   But we believed in his sire and broodmare sire when no one else did and it has become crystal clear that his female line produces good sires.   Because he did not win a major race, he is going to be inexpensive in the beginning -- but don’t count on his staying that way forever.