It has been 10 years since Peteski captured the Canadian Triple Crown
and 25 years since Affirmed won the American counterpart. Have these
prestigious prizes become unattainable goals?
Canada’s
Triple Crown has not been around as long as its American counterpart
but it has arguably had a much more colourful and unusual history
in the 44 years since its inception. The American Triple Crown (now
sponsored by VISA) was christened in 1930 by Daily Racing Form correspondent
Charlie Hutton while reporting about Gallant Fox’s victories
in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes.
Gallant Fox was actually the second horse to collect wins
in those three events, as Sir Barton accomplished the feat in 1919.
The Canadian Triple
Crown has only been officially known as such since 1959. Coincidentally,
that was the year that E.P. Taylor’s New Providence won the Queen’s
Plate (in front of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II), Prince of Wales
and Breeders’ Stakes, the three races that make up the Canadian
Crown. Two of the events are run at Woodbine and the middle leg is
contested at Fort Erie racetrack.
All three races
have gone through various distance and surface changes. At one point,
both the Prince of Wales and the Breeders’ were both run on the
turf but in 1988 the ‘Wales was switched to the main track and
shortened to 1-3/16 miles, the same distance as the Preakness.
“The Triple
Crown is designed to test not only speed and ability over both turf
and dirt courses at varied distances but also endurance,” wrote
Muriel Lennox in E.P. Taylor - A Horseman and His Horses. “The
three races take place during a four-month period, from June to October.
During this time the trainer must keep his charge fit and in top condition,
neither racing him too much or too little.”
Taylor’s
Canebora, his fourth Plate winner in five years, won the series in
1963 but it would be 26 years before the feat was accomplished again.
Breaking the
Bank
In an effort to boost the profile of the Canadian Triple Crown, the
Ontario Jockey Club introduced the Bank of Montreal as the series
sponsor in 1989 on a three-year deal. The Bank of Montreal put up
a $1 million bonus for a series sweep.
The series had
undergone some changes by this time, including the shortening of the
‘Wales and moving it back to the dirt. The races were also moved
closer together on the calendar with a span of late June or early
July (the Plate was held in July in the Bank of Montreal’s first
year) to late August.
In what has to
be considered a Canadian racing phenomenon, With Approval battled
his way through the Triple Crown winning the Plate by a nose, the
Prince of Wales by a neck before trouncing his turf foes in the Breeders’
under regular rider Don Seymour.
The Kinghaven
Farms homebred became just the third Canadian Triple Crown winner
and went on to become a Grade 1 turf performer in North America.
Incredibly, in
1990 Kinghaven Farms unleashed another grey whiz, Izvestia (a ‘cousin’
of With Approval), who ran one of the fastest Plates ever and won
by almost 13 lengths in a stakes record time.
Following a similar
romp in the Prince of Wales, “Izzy” sped to Triple Crown
glory in the Breeders’, again with Seymour in the saddle. It
was an unprecedented double for Kinghaven and its superior breeding
program.
The story got
even more bizarre when along came a lanky bay filly named Dance Smartly,
a product of Ernie Samuel’s Sam Son Farm’s impeccable breeding
program.
“Daisy”
rolled through wins in the Canadian Oaks over the girls and showed
no mercy on the boys with handy scores in the Triple Crown events.
The best was yet to come for the daughter of Danzig as she wrapped
up an undefeated campaign with a win in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff
at Churchill Downs.
So, three unusually
talented three-year-olds in consecutive years collected a $1 million
bonus – a coincidence? Perhaps, but in ‘93, two years after
the sponsorship and bonus were dropped, a robust chestnut colt owned
by Earle Mack came along. Under the care of trainer Roger Attfield,
Peteski made it look so easy as he galloped to lopsided wins in the
Plate and ‘Wales; in the Breeders’ despite his saddle slipping
up virtually to his neck, Peteski rolled to victory to become the
fourth Triple Crown winner in five years.
Near Misses
Five three-year-olds were denied the Triple Crown in the Breeders’
Stakes since 1959. Almoner finished second to the filly Mary of Scotland
in 1970, L’Enjoleur was third, also to a filly, Momigi, in ‘75,
Golden Choice lost out to Kinghaven’s filly Carotene and Sam-Son
Farm’s Scatter the Gold was injured when third to Eugene Melnyk’s
Lodge Hill in 2000.
Some, like Archers
Bay, won the first two legs of the Triple Crown but by-passed the
Breeders’ because of the turf.
Three Sides
to this Trophy Plus a Bonus
The Triple Crown trophy is a three-sided gold trophy. In 1999, the
Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society introduced a $500,000 bonus for
the owner of a three-year-old that could accomplish the sweep. That
bonus remains in existence for 2003.
Creating a
Classic Winner
There is a great deal of random chance involved when we cross tens
of thousands of genes between a sire and dam. But a closer look usually
shows some rhyme and reason operating there.
This year’s
Kentucky Derby is a case in point. The top finishers, Funny Cide,
Empire Maker, and Peace Rules, are all Mr. Prospector line colts,
and Funny Cide (by Distorted Humor) and Peace Rules (by Jules) are
both by sons of Forty Niner. Funny Cide and Empire Maker are both
out of granddaughters of Northern Dancer, reinforcing the golden cross
between Mr. Prospector and Northern Dancer.
Further back we
find the deep linebreeding patterns that so often mark the top racehorses.
Funny Cide shows linebreeding 5x6x6 to Native Dancer, while Empire
Maker shows linebreeding 7x7x7x7x6x7-Discovery. Peace Rules is 5x5x5-Native
Dancer and 6x6x5-Nasrullah, while the fourth-place finisher Atswhatimtalknbout
shows Bold Ruler-4x5x5, Nasrullah-5x6x6x6, and Princequillo-5x6x6.
Such “deep linebreeding” offers many of the advantages of
closer inbreeding, (concentrating the finest genes), with fewer of
the dangers associated with inbreeding. Linebreeding through multiple
strains of Nasrullah and Native Dancer is now particlarly effective,
and this group certainly reflects that.
Race favourite
Empire Maker is out of the outstanding broodmare Toussaud—herself
a multiple stakes winner. Remarkably, she has produced four Grade
One winners and a Grade Two winner from just her first six foals,
including Chester House and Honest Lady. Looking deeper into Toussaud’s
pedigree we find a very deep pattern of linebreeding to Discovery.
Discovery, in turn, was the broodmare-sire of Native Dancer, Bold
Ruler, Intentionally (sire of In Reality), and Hasty Road, and Toussaud’s
6x6x5x6 linebreeding to Discovery comes precisely through these four
sires, making a textbook case for the power of deep linebreeding in
a pedigree.
Getting back to the Mr. Prospector male line, it is worth noting the
cross with Tom Rolfe and his son, Hoist the Flag, that has produced
so many top winners. Forty Niner himself is out of a Tom Rolfe mare,
while the fine stallion Cryptoclearance is by a son of Mr. Prospector
out of a Hoist The Flag mare.
Last year’s
Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, Volponi, was not only by Cryptoclearance,
but featured 3x4 inbreeding to both Mr. Prospector and Hoist The Flag!
Last year’s million-dollar earners Street Cry (Machiavellian)
and War Emblem (Our Emblem) are both by sons of Mr. Prospector who
had second dams by Hoist the Flag. Tom Rolfe and son Hoist the Flag
are both Ribot line, and it may well be that this adds a measure of
stamina and endurance to the more brilliant Prospector blood.
Republished with permission from Canadian
Thoroughbred
Crowning
Jewels
