Knowing Your Bloodlines in Racing
Certain pedigrees or bloodlines have proven themselves to be successful in horse racing. The horses that they produce are more often winners than horses from unknown bloodlines. Of course, because these lines are successful there are more horses bred with them, which can create a number of issues.
Firstly there may be more than one horse from the successful bloodline in a race. Knowing which one to back may not be a simple as just looking at its sire.
The blood line which is introduced from the dam is as important as the sire, if not more so. When choosing which horse to back, have a look at least three horses back in the dam line to see if there are any recognisable mares or stallions.
Getting Familiar With Pedigrees
There are a large number of sites on the Internet which will show you not only a horse’s pedigree back to about ten places, but also their race results. Having a look at the well known, successful horses and who they are by is a good way to get to know some successful lines so that you can recognise them on site. This will help when placing a bet on the smaller races that involve unproven youngsters.
You will find that most of the well-known horses come from a certain number of lines. Some lines are known to produce racing mares, others stallions and some geldings. Geldings tend to run for longer as they cannot be used in breeding, so although they may be from great lines, the lineage ends with them. Stallions from good lines are often run for a short while in order to prove the individuals’ talent, and then retired to breed before something goes wrong on the track.
Danehill Line
One of the most prolific lines in Australian thoroughbreds, and thoroughbreds from all around the world is the Danehill line. Danehill was a stallion by Danzig, who was in turn by one of the most prolific stallions of all time Northern Dancer. Danehill had a good racing record, but it was as a sire that he really excelled. His sons have proven themselves as superb racehorses, with the likes of Fastnet Rock and Redoute’s Choice. Redoute’s Choice made over a million dollars in prize money, winning a number of group one races making it one of the best horse betting game in Australia
Danehill is best known for his sons who became superb stallions, however. Four of his sons made the top sires list in Australia in one year, and his blood runs in a number of champions including Takedown, Blackheart Bart and Delicacy. His line consistently produces winners from all three genders of racehorses, gelding’s mares and colts. Backing a Danehill bred horse is almost always a sure thing.
The downfall to his success however, is that there is so much Danehill blood in Australia, that breeders have to be very careful which horses get bred with which so as not to create inbreeding This could result in less Danehill blood in the future, which although will be a good thing for breeding may not be as good news for punters.