By Ellen Parker

  A scary thing happened to me not long ago.  A client wrote to say she would like to add “something sound like Bold Ruler” to her mare’s pedigree.  Something sound like Bold Ruler? 

   Such comments put into rather scary focus how far we have fallen in soundness standards.  Granted, Bold Ruler’s 33 starts and his dam’s own ability to not only retire sound after 54 starts but to produce another horse, the steeplechaser Independence, who ran 46 times, suggest soundness.  And indeed by today’s standards, they look pretty tough.

   But the real truth is we recall all too well that Bold Ruler was best known for his brilliant and brittle two-year-olds, until Secretariat changed things.  However, Secretariat was very much a product of the tough broodmare sires in his pedigree, *Princequillo and Bold Ruler’s own broodmare sire, Discovery, as well as the sound bottom line of *Cinq a Sept.  Because he looked so much like those two horses and not so much like his good stallion getter sire, Secretariat did not do as well as his half brother Sir Gaylord, who looked more like his tail-male *Royal Charger/*Turn-to blood.  Today, sadly, Secretariat’s branch of the Bold Ruler line is pretty much gone.

   Instead, with the help of *Uvira II, A. P. Indy (via Bold Ruler’s son Boldnesian who ran five times) and the much sounder Raja Baba (41 starts) via Is It True pretty well hold up the Bold Ruler line.  Both trace to her, which we doubt is coincidence.  Bold Ruler needed a sire source mare beneath him and *Uvira II was one of the best.

   If we mention Bold Ruler’s line today, Reviewer gets even less mention than Secretariat – though they are opposites in that Secretariat was as good-boned as Reviewer was soft.  Mention his best offspring, Ruffian, however, and we all have not only good memories of her brilliance, but sad ones of her oh-so-public demise.

   Reviewer himself is the product of a tail-female line we wrote about in Pedlines #137.  As I wrote at the beginning of that story:

   “When I first began the Reine-de-Course series in November of 1991, I could hardly have imagined that a) I would still be doing it 16 ½ years later or that b) I would finally name a Reine for what I feel is a negative impact.  In other words, she is a dominant for unsoundness and sometimes just plain old-fashioned bad luck.”

   Speculating to a degree on the ‘why’ of *La Mome’s softness, we offered the following theory:

   “Because *La Mome’s dam was inbred x2 to Seclusion (dam of Hermit)  Bradley and/or Gentry may well have been thinking of reinforcing that line with Blue Larkspur, who was himself linebred to Hermit x3 via Cinderella, Suicide and Moorhen.  Given that this was done, it is well to reiterate here what we have written before about Hermit and that is that he may well have been the first major bleeder to win an Epsom Derby.

   His stud groom John Griffiths, was quoted by Joe Palmer in Sire Lines as describing him thusly:  “Hermit was a lovely horse, though he always gave me the impression that there was a little softness about him.  Hermit had the best of tempers; you could do anything with him.  His action was simply wonderful.  As a mover, Hermit would have taken a prize in any show ring.”

   If this description is true and the Seclusion linebreeding in *La Mome intensified the good points, it also intensified the “little softness”.  Given that fact and the toughness of American racing, this could be one factor in the problems of the Birdflower line that resulted in such tragedies as Ruffian.”

   Ron, while researching this piece, came upon the original quotes for the various breakdowns that Reviewer himself suffered during his 13-race career:

   From The Thoroughbred Record of 3/29/69:  “After the Hopeful, it was discovered, however, that Reviewer had a small crack in his hoof, which kept him idle until his successful return in the Swift.”

   From The Thoroughbred Record of 4/26/69:  “Ogden Phipps’ Reviewer, who finished third in the Wood Memorial here, suffered a hairline fracture of the left fore cannon bone in that race, according to a late report received as the magazine was going to press.”

   From The Thoroughbred Record  of 7/11/70:  “For the third time Ogden Phipps’ Reviewer has sustained a hairline fracture of his left fore cannon bone, trainer E. A. Neloy has announced at Aqueduct.  The full brother to the 1967 champion two-year-old filly Queen of the Stage suffered the latest injury in a June 29 workout in preparation for his engagement in the Suburban Handicap.”

   From The Thoroughbred Record if 6/29/77:  “On June 6, Reviewer fractured a hind leg when he kicked a wooden fence in his paddock.   Veterinary surgeons inserted a plate in the leg and Reviewer was suspended in a sling in order that the fracture might mend.  Three days before he was destroyed, however, he became restless in the sling, and as his restlessness increased it was decided to replace the cast on his leg.  An anesthetic was used during the procedure, and coming out from the anesthetic the horse became frantic.  At that point, when it was apparent that he would injure himself further, the decision was made to put him down.  It is a cruel irony that both Ruffian and Shenanigans also had to be put down as a result of damage they did to themselves while coming out from under anesthetic following surgery.”

   When all those incidents are chronicled in a row in this fashion, it really begs the question just why this horse ever went to stud in the first place.  But we all know the answer now; this was the beginning of breeding for sheer brilliance, with soundness as a secondary consideration.  Sad to say, we learned nothing at all from this painful object lesson.

 The Statistics

 Like any sire, Reviewer was a product of his mates as well as his own softness.  Two of his best, Revidere and Ruffian, ran only 11 times and they both shared Polynesian crosses.

 As we went through the list, we found two constants:  “Bradley blood” from the Phipps’ mares, often containing more Blue Larkspur blood, and the tougher the horse the more likely he or she was to be devoid of the additional unsoundness of Polynesian, e. g.:  Isopach (30 starts); Drama Critic (35 starts); Sans Critique (31 starts); Critical Miss (39 starts); Jefe Loco (57 starts); Imaflash (38 starts); Solarizer (59 starts); Scrutiny (66 starts); Knees (35 starts).

 Naturally, there were a few who did have Polynesian like Broadway Review (one cross), who ran 64 times.  But a) his line came via Nijinsky II, one of the soundest Northern Dancers and b) his record suggests that he was a hard-knocking claimer who likely didn’t run fast enough to hurt himself.

 To be entirely fair it is vital that the reader understands that this was a different time and a different mare population.  Reviewer was not the victim of a mare population with lots of Mr. Prospector doubles over Danzig over Northern Dancer multiples.  Instead, most of his get were inbred to things like Nearco or *Nasrullah or farther back to Teddy and *Blenheim II.

 Swaps played a more important part in his quality offspring than one might have thought.  The following stakes horses had Swaps prominent in their pedigrees:  Isopach (30 starts); Vite View (28 starts) and Resolver (25 starts).  In addition, Swaps’ sire, *Khaled appears in Critical Miss’s (39 starts) pedigree.  Thus it appears that the Hyperion male line via *Khaled might be one way of strengthening Reviewer’s softness a bit.

   Overall, from seven crops of racing age, containing just 182 foals, Reviewer got an amazing 81% starters (excellent), 63% winners (closer to ordinary); 10% stakes winners (very good) and 9% stakes placed (also very good).  Ah, but here’s the rub:  He actually moved his mares down from a superior 2.26 AEI to a surreal 3.36 comparable index.  Who gets mares with a CI like that?  Good grief! 

   So Reviewer got a lot of his 182 babies to the track; most of them just didn’t stay there very long and those that did were usually without any more unsound blood.   

 Daughters

   We have long maintained that any good broodmare sire is really the product of his mates.  With a 3.36 CI, Reviewer should have been one of the all-time great broodmare sires, especially since he was largely known as a “filly sire”.  But it really doesn’t play out that way. 

   To date, his daughters have produced 625 foals of racing age.  Their percentage of starters is still good at 78%, 60% winners and with 7% stakes winners and 6% stakes placed not too bad.  However, the AEI of his daughters is 1.77 vs. a 1.72 with other sires.  To our way of thinking, this should have been much, much higher.

   Families held for the most part.  Leading producer Resolver tails to Grey Flight; Long Legend to Alburn and Resume to Alablue, Reines-de-Course all.  Odd lady out was Brilliant Review, unraced and a tail to *Gilt Slipper (GB).

   Among the best offspring out of Reviewer mares:  G1 winner Dreamy Mimi by Naskra, 39 starts and a G1 winner of $585,637.  She possessed no Polynesian blood; 1990 champion turf mare Laugh And Be Merry by Erin’s Isle (IRE), 26 starts, no Polynesian blood but a 5 x 5 cross of half brothers Persian Gulf and Precipitation and a sex-balanced treble of Nearco; Lake Valley, stakes winner and multiple G1 placed by Mr. Prospector ran 24 times and obviously had a Polynesian cross but also had a double of *Nasrullah to his ¾ brother *Royal Charger and little else.

   Long Legend’s two best in our opinion were Talltalelady (again by Naskra, so x3 *Nasrullah absent other inbreeding) was G2 placed and made 35 starts,  while Mr. Greeley by Gone West was obviously Polynesian line and ran 16 times winning a G3 and placing in the 1995 Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1).  Mr. Greeley was x4 *Nasrullah, two of those crosses coming via Bold Ruler.

   Two of Resolver’s best were the fragile Time for a Change by Damascus (inbred to all three of Selene’s sons *Pharamond II/Sickle/Hyperion), linebred to Mumtaz Mahal via Badruddin, *Nasrullah and *Mahmoud and x2 Rosedrop.  He made just nine starts, but won the G1 Flamingo; he died young as well.  Just how tough Resolver’s dam, Lovely Morning (Swaps-Misty Morn by *Princequillo-Grey Flight) really was, is proven out in her two Danzig (three starts) get, Adjudicating (16 starts) and Dispute19 starts), both G1 winners.  Both use the Polynesian line here via Native Dancer to good advantage (Native Dancer tails to La Chica, as does Grey Flight, thus this pair have half sisters Miyako/Planetoid at 6 x 5).

   Finally, we come to the tough little Bio out of Reviewer’s daughter Resume.  By the Hoist the Flag sire Linkage, Bio ran 31 times and was a G2 winner, G1 placed.  He was inbred to *Royal Charger/*Nasrullah, to Roman 5 x 5 and to *Princequillo 6 x 3.  Linkage’s second dam, Rum Bottle Bay, got tough runners like Mo Bay (71 starts).

   We think the main lesson to be learned when using a Reviewer daughter is to use as much *Nasrullah inbreeding (not necessarily Bold Ruler inbreeding) to keep the speed alive without driving down the soundness.  Also, pay close attention to the overall soundness of the female family.  It’s really difficult to go wrong with something like Grey Flight.  And if even possible in this world today, avoid Polynesian when you can.

 Conclusions

   Reviewer blood is pretty much gone except via Mr. Greeley and some daughters as his male line is all but extinct.  He did a lot of damage in his brief time on this earth and Ruffian was just the unfortunate ‘star’ of the tragedy rather than the whole story.  Because he was bred to very good mares, many of which belonged to the Phipps family and because his half brother, Seeking the Gold, was well supported as well, his female family – our objections to which are listed in detail above – is still around and, unfortunately to our way of thinking, flourishing.

   Speed is absolutely necessary in the Thoroughbred horse.  Of this there is little doubt.  But speed alone with no thought of bottom or soundness or good bone can lead only one place.  Whatever quality the horse possesses is of little use if it ends in a Ruffian-like tragedy or a Time For A Change flash of brilliance.  If you don’t care about the horse, care about the rider and the future of the breed – do not inbreed to this line!

   We did not hate Reviewer; he sired some wonderful fillies and this was what he did best.  Yet his daughters have been, by the standards he set for himself as a sire of runners and by the standard of mares to which he was bred, rather disappointing.  That’s something to remember.

   Going back to the beginning of this article, we reference our Hermit inbreeding theory and recall that many of Reviewer’s mates had the same “Bradley blood” as La Mome:  Keep in mind that some of those mares were *La Troienne line matrons, or had *La Troienne in their pedigrees and several of her foals were by Blue Larkspur, all but the Bubbling Over siblings Baby League and Biologist, were by Peter Pan-line sires (that’s Peter Pan by Commando out of Cinderella by Hermit).

   Whether it was all that soft Hermit blood building up over the years that caused Reviewer’s best daughter to ‘fail’ under pressure is something we can never know for sure.  But what we can do is try to think through matings where this horse is present and bring nothing to that mating that will offer up more Ruffians in the future.

   Over and over again we tell people that horses are individuals and that nicks and super-nicks and Phalaris to non-Phalaris and x-factors and all the other stuff just isn’t enough.  One has to take a pedigree apart and ask himself why Reviewer could throw a semi-sound daughter like Revidere who could hold up well being bred to a three-start wonder like Danzig (see above).  Only in the ‘why’ of each match can we at least make an attempt to breed soundness in a world run amok with commercial appeal at the expense of toughness.

   Bold Ruler was important to the soundness equation only in that he was the beginning of a trend to go ahead and see if a horse who was basically unsound - held together with spit and safety pins as it were – could convey his brilliance when bred to quality female lines while being lucky enough to have daughters of *Princequillo and Round Table, both utter staples of soundness, in ample supply for breeding.  Thanks to the commercialization of the Thoroughbred horse, nothing like Round Table or *Princequillo remains today – or only tiny pieces of it.  When you think about Bold Ruler/Reviewer or any other branch of any other line you had best be thinking two generations ahead and what – if anything – will be left that you can use to support all that speed once you get to the next generation.  “Pay me now or pay me later” just doesn’t work – it’s kind of like the economy; houses of cards eventually fall.

Reprinted from Pedlines #155, March-April 2011