When we set out to build our breeding programme on an outcross methodology, the first questions that spring to mind are: how can we fix the traits and qualities we want without resorting to inbreeding or linebreeding? Is genuine selective outcross breeding really possible, or is everything – or almost everything – left to chance, with fingers crossed that our matings and future generations turn out as we hope? Well, we have good news: not only is it possible, it can be more successful than relying on inbreeding.
The key is this: breed selectively on the basis of families rather than individuals. Although there is no fixed, defined pattern of inheritance, and genetics still leaves a great deal to chance, it is possible to establish more reliable, stable patterns of inheritance if we isolate them by family. For example, if we wanted to breed good muzzles, which sire would we turn to? To begin with, the question is wrongly framed. It should be: which family would we turn to? Isolating families can be very difficult in some species because of inbreeding, the common roots shared by many breeds and the intercrossing of lines, but if we are a little more pragmatic, open our eyes and minds a little wider and refuse to be swayed by old preconceptions, it can be much simpler. Let us look at horses from outcross lines with this type of muzzle. Let us see whether these muzzles are dominant and common among their siblings, offspring, nephews and nieces, parents, grandparents and so on. If that family, despite being outcrossed, has managed to fix muzzles of that kind, it is logical to expect it to bring that morphological trait to our breeding programme as well. Dr Steve Fisch, a specialist in the selective breeding of Thoroughbreds, puts it like this: “When you want to produce the complete package, start with a pedigree of fast horses, not just one generation that happens to have produced a superstar. What you need is a long line that has produced fast horses generation after generation. And if you are looking for soundness, you should look for great conformation, substance, strength, size… the complete phenotype that can produce not only speed, but a horse whose whole body is in harmony.”
How can we apply this principle to our example of selecting for good muzzles? Well, as well as choosing a family line in which good muzzles are dominant, as discussed above, we must make sure that the muzzle comes with a good skull: well proportioned, with eyes of the correct shape and colour, well set… in short, a good muzzle as part of a good head, within a family that passes on good muzzles and good heads. This reasoning may seem obvious, and to some extent it is, but it cannot be that obvious when, in many breeds, selection is usually made on the basis of individuals (and generally males) rather than families. At most, a few of us talk about lines, but in a way that is too subjective to give the term a coherent definition. There have already been many debates over what a “line” actually means, and in the end no clear conclusion is reached that satisfies everyone. Selecting by family gives us more concrete results, since even talking about types is too generic. Although it may seem difficult at first, if we open our eyes and minds a little wider, it is much simpler than it looks, and families start to emerge of their own accord when we look for specific virtues or faults.
Another example: sometimes we talk about good heads and mention the name of a particular stud. We then make the mistake of trying to work out how the breeders behind that stud managed to fix those heads, which animal was the key, and so on, when these things are beyond our knowledge. Obviously one particular animal was the key, but not on its own – rather in combination with one or more others. The point is that the family has that head fixed. Now it is simply a matter of finding which member of that family suits us best.
The perfect outcross: Secretariat
Or how selective outcross breeding produced the greatest racehorse of all time.
More than half a century has passed since Secretariat won the Triple Crown and set records in all three races (the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes), and those records still stand, far beyond the reach of any horse foaled after him. Not only was he the fastest Thoroughbred in history, he was also a strikingly beautiful horse in conformation. On the racecourse he stood out above all others, first of all for his spectacular physique, his powerful musculature, his solid bone and his deep, gleaming colour… But he soon proved that he was much more than just a “pretty face”. The sports writer Mike Sullivan recalled in admiration:
“I was there at the 1973 Kentucky Derby that Secretariat ran. It was something… Just beautiful, you know? He started the race in last place, as he usually did. I was watching the horse that ended up finishing second, which turned out to be Sham. Going into the final turn it looked as though Sham was going to win the race. But what you have to understand is that Sham was really fast, a gorgeous horse. He would have won the Triple Crown in any other year. And it didn’t seem possible that anyone could be faster than him. Everybody was watching him. It was more or less clear that he was going to win. And suddenly something happened, like a disturbance in the corner of your eye, in your peripheral vision. And then, before you could even work out what was going on, there was Secretariat. And the next thing, Secretariat shot past Sham like lightning. Nobody had ever seen anything run like that (plenty of the old-timers said the same). It looked like a different kind of animal had just run.”
The last line of this moving account could be the foundation of selective outcross breeding – its goal, properly understood. “It looked like a different kind of animal had just run.” Because Secretariat was obviously a Thoroughbred, but he was unlike any other Thoroughbred. He was far better. Faster, more beautiful, with more stamina, more charisma. He was much more than a horse. He was the perfect horse. How was it possible to breed such a horse? Through selective outcross breeding based on family selection. Let us take a brief look at the lines of Secretariat’s four grandparents, which together produced this phenomenon.
Princequillo. King of the stayers
Conceived in France, foaled in England and raised in Ireland, Princequillo (Secretariat’s maternal grandsire) went on to enjoy a brilliant racing career in the United States. This great champion beat the best horses of his day and came to be hailed as the finest stayer in America. The longer the trip, the more emphatic his victories. All they had to do was open the stalls at the start, and he did the rest. Princequillo was by Prince Rose, the best Thoroughbred ever to race in Belgium, and his maternal grandsire was the Epsom Derby winner Papyrus. Princequillo was the latest link in a family of great champions with stout, staying blood, which went back to one of the greatest sires of all time, St. Simon, who also retired unbeaten.
Imperatrice. A passion for speed
Secretariat’s maternal granddam was Imperatrice. Although she was not a particularly attractive mare – she was as round as a barrel, rather short in the leg and lop-eared – she had a tremendous appetite for speed, and enjoyed great success in her brief racing career. More importantly, that passion for speed ran strongly through her family: not only in her sire Caruso or her grandsire Brown Bud, both notable champions, but also further back, for she descended from one of the most important Thoroughbreds in history: Domino, “The Black Whirlwind”, who sadly died young and was unable to leave many offspring. Among the chosen few, however, was Disguise, from whom Imperatrice was born several generations later.
The mating of Princequillo and Imperatrice produced Somethingroyal. Although she did not have a racing career, she was the dam of four stakes winners: Sir Gaylord, First Family, Syrian Sea and, of course, Secretariat. Somethingroyal was named Broodmare of the Year in 1973. She also has the distinction of being the oldest mare (at 18) to produce a Triple Crown winner.
Nasrullah. The vigour that came from Europe
Of almost entirely European blood, this son of the unbeaten Nearco, the finest European Thoroughbred of his day, brought exactly what the North American scene needed at the time: fresh blood of the highest quality. And that is precisely what Nasrullah delivered. Not only was he champion two-year-old in Britain in 1942, he was also leading sire in Britain in 1951 and in the United States in 1955, 1956, 1959 and 1960. We might say that Nasrullah was to Thoroughbreds in the United States what Witherford Hot Chestnut was to Boxers in continental Europe: the outcross the breed needed to keep improving. And among the improvements he brought were his son Bold Ruler, a Hall of Fame member and 1957 Horse of the Year, and Bold Ruler’s own son: Secretariat.
Miss Disco. A family of ironclads
Named Broodmare of the Year in 1958, Secretariat’s paternal granddam came from a true family of powerful horses. Her sire, Discovery, was by the blazingly fast champion Display, a half-brother to another legend of the breed: Man o’ War. Discovery weighed 90 kg more than an average horse and his speciality was handicap races, that is, races in which horses are set to carry extra weight to even out the differences between them. Able to carry any weight and still come out on top, he was known as “The Iron Horse” or “The Big Train”. The historian John Hervey said of him:
“No other horse in the history of racing, American or foreign, has ever attempted anything even remotely as tremendous as what Discovery achieved with such success.”
As mentioned earlier, the son of Nasrullah and Miss Disco was Bold Ruler, the sire of Secretariat. To the achievements already mentioned we should add that Bold Ruler was leading sire in North America from 1963 to 1969 and again in 1973, and American Champion Sprint Horse in 1958.
