by Ann Ferland

Cagney : Top Of The World Ma!

by Ann Ferland ©

Say the name Cagney and most people will think of the well-known Irish-American actor Jimmy Cagney, a song-and-dance man who became famous as a tough-guy mobster. Undoubtedly that is who his owners had in mind when they named their colt Cagney and the irony is that among the many nationalities of horses that went into his breeding, the Irish are poorly represented.

Cagney, the colt, was bred in Brazil but the greater part of his ancestors originated in France or the United States. Although bred in the U.S., Cagney's sire, Roy, has been quite a globetrotter. After beginning his stud career in Chile in 1987, Roy moved north back home in the states in 1996, then south again to Brazil. He shuttled between the U.S. and Brazil, then Argentina, up through the 2001 breeding seasons, but will not return to Darby Dan in Kentucky for 2002.

Roy ended up in Chile despite his fine pedigree - by Fappiano from a stakes-winning Never Bend mare - because his career on the track was less than stellar. It was starting well at two, when he broke his maiden by 17 lengths over six furlongs at Belmont; then ran second in the Sanford S. (G2) by a neck. But he had to be put away after that and didn't race again until three. Either his form was compromised by injury or he didn't progress from two to three, for Roy's second year at the track was middling at best, including two allowance wins and a placing in the Jaipur S. (G3).

Roy's four-year-old campaign was short and not sweet, resulting in one third place finish from three starts, and he was out of action early enough to make the South American covering season that September. The promise of that impressive maiden win seems to have come to fruition in Roy's stud career for he has been a success right from the start. From his very first crop he got the two-year-old champions of their respective sexes in Chile, the colt Campo Marzio and the filly Porta Pia. Both went on to be classic winners at three, and more champions were to follow.

Among the offspring of his Chilean sojourn were several horses that raced with distinction in the U.S., notably India Divina, winner of the Santa Maria H. (G1), and Miss of Wales. Things seem to be going just as well for Roy in Brazil, for a son from his first crop there, Cagney himself, was champion two-year-old of the 1999/2000 season and he sired several other group winners as well. Only in the states have the top-class performers been slow to make their appearance, but one shouldn't doubt that they will come.

To analyze Roy's pedigree, I want to start at unusual place - his seventh dam. Ordinarily, such a remote ancestor would seem to have limited influence at best, but in this case she is no ordinary ancestor; she was the remarkable broodmare Frizette. Hamburg's famous daughter was foaled in 1905 and was a top two-year-old in New York, winning the Rosedale, Laureate and Troy Stakes. The climate against gambling in the state legislature in those times, which led to the closing of the New York tracks a few years later, moved many breeders to transfer their stock to Europe, which is how Frizette ended up as a broodmare in France.

Her success as the founder of a wide-reaching family is well known, so here I will focus only on the branches concerned in Roy's pedigree, those of her 1910 filly Banshee, by the U.S.-bred Irish Lad, and of her 1915 filly Frizeur, by U.S.-sired Sweeper. Banshee remained in France and produced a number of important offspring, including the top filly Durban, who became in turn dam of chef-de-race Tourbillon.

Frizeur came to the U.S. for her stud career and foaled, among others, the celebrated sprinting mare Myrtlewood. One of those others was her first foal, a filly called Janet Blair, sired by the English champion two-year-old Sir Martin, a half-brother to Triple Crown winner Sir Barton. Janet Blair was not as distinguished on the track or in the stud as her younger half-sibling but she was a winner and the dam of Heather Broom, a Blue Grass Stakes winner who ran third thereafter in the Kentucky Derby.

Bred to Blue Larkspur, Janet Blair produced a three-quarter sister to Myrtlewood who was named Spur Flower. This winner of four of her 39 tries became an adequate producer but no Myrtlewood - one of her sons, Good Story, won 27 of 104 starts, finally winning a stakes race at six; one of her daughters became second dam of the classy and tough Sunrise County; and a stakes-placed daughter is ancestress of recent turf grade two winner Middlesex Drive as well as French group winners Deep Roots and Daeltown.

The offspring of interest to us is Meadow Flower, Spur Flower's daughter by Bull Lea, winner of one of her four starts. As her dam had much common blood with Myrtlewood, Spur Flower shared much with Myrtlewood's best racing offspring, the fillies Durazna (also by Bull Lea) and Miss Dogwood (by Bull Lea's sire Bull Dog). Meadow Flower produced foals from 1952 to 1971, 12 of them in all, and all of them made it to the track, with nine winning races.

The best of the lot was Lester's Pride, a filly by Model Cadet and winner of a stakes race at age two. Her sire was also precocious, winning the Washington Park Futurity (before it merged with the Arlington race); he was a son of Requested (a son of Questionnaire) from a mare by Hadagal, he a son of Sir Gallahad III, a full brother to Bull Dog, bringing in some inbreeding via these French-bred sons of Teddy and Plucky Liege. Lester's Pride became a 'theme' broodmare, with most of her foals named after comedians. Her best was undoubtedly her Noholme II colt Shecky Greene, a leading sprinter at three and a sire of some note, particularly of the top French colt Green Forest. Four of her other foals earned black-type, Phil Foster, Ivy Hackett, Pat Henry, and Totie Fields, all but one doing so at age two. Shecky Greene and Green Forest also won major stakes at two, so that one could say that Lester's Pride's crew was distinguished by precocious speed.

Ivy Hackett hung out in Detroit, with her stakes wins coming at the old Detroit Race Course and Hazel Park. Her sire, Mr. Brick, was also a fast two-year-old, winner of the Sapling Stakes, but he also won the mile Withers Stakes at three, while placing in such races as the Flamingo, Wood Memorial, and Jersey Derby. Mr. Brick was a son of the ultra-tough sire John's Joy, himself a son of the aforementioned Bull Dog. But this is not all of the repeated names in Ivy Hackett's pedigree. Mr. Brick's second dam was a mare named Gallawood, by Sir Gallahad III out of none other than Myrtlewood! So Ivy Hackett has the close relations Gallawood and Meadow Flower 3x2, with additional crosses of the famous brothers from the other quadrants of the pedigree.

Now we see something interesting happen when Ivy Hackett was bred to Never Bend to produce the New York-bred stakes winner Adlibber. Never Bend's second dam was Be Faithful, by Bimelech out of Bloodroot, by Blue Larkspur: Bimelech was a son of Black Toney (sire of Black Servant, sire of Blue Larkspur) out La Troienne, by Teddy.

Never Bend's damsire was a French-bred horse named Djeddah, from the famous Boussac stud. Djeddah was sired by Djebel, a son of Tourbillon, who was, as we mentioned, out of a granddaughter of Frizette; Djebel's second dam was a mare by Teddy. Meanwhile Djezima, dam of Djeddah, was by Teddy's son Asterus out of Heldifann, a full sister of Durban. So in the pedigrees of Ivy Hackett and Djeddah we have the same elements - the mare Frizette and the stallion Teddy - repeated but being supplied by different offspring. In fact, the two are inbred on the same pattern, 3x2 - Djeddah to the sisters Durban and Heldifann, and Ivy Hackett to the five-eighths relations Gallawood and Meadow Flower.

Finally we come to Roy himself, out of Adlibber and by Fappiano. And does Fappiano add anything to the inbreeding to Teddy and Frizette? Indeed he does, coming from several sources not found in Adlibber. The third dam of his sire Mr. Prospector is Miss Dogwood, a seven-eighths-sister to Meadow Flower and sister in blood to Gallawood. Moreover, Mr. Prospector's sire Raise a Native was out of a mare by Case Ace, a U.S.-bred son of Teddy. And his dam was by Nashua, whose damsire Johnstown was out of La France, a daughter of Sir Gallahad III out of a mare by Durbar II (sire of Durban and Heldifann). Meanwhile, Killaloe, the dam of Fappiano was by Dr. Fager, whose sire Rough'n Tumble was out of a Bull Dog mare and whose dam Aspidistra was by Bimelech's son Better Self. Dr. Fager's second dam was by a son of Bull Dog called Bull Brier, and his fifth dam was sired by Frizzle, Frizette's son of 1911 by Biniou. Fappiano himself traces in tail-female to Marguerite de Valois, a sister to Bull Dog and Sir Gallahad III.

The obvious inbreeding in Roy's pedigree is the presence of the Irish(!)-bred Nasrullah 5x3, but in the background is a build-up of Teddy, Plucky Liege, and Frizette, with Black Toney (through Black Servant, sire of Blue Larkspur, and Bimelech) thrown into the mix. A sprinkling of Man o' War and Ben Brush complete the picture.

Most of the names of the horses in the pedigree of Cagney's sire Roy will have been familiar to even the casual student of Thoroughbred bloodlines. It is otherwise for Cagney's female side. His first and third dams were sired by French-bred horses and the fourth and fifth by English-bred ones so we stand some chance of recognizing some of the influences from her side. Cagney's dam was Donnegalle, a group 2 winner at Cidade Jardim, scoring in the GP 25 de Janeiro, a 2000-meter (10 furlongs) test for older mares. She also shows wins in a group 3 and a listed stakes and several other stakes-placings, but none above the group 2 level.

Information about her production record is spotty - the only data seems to be on group and listed winners - and Cagney is her fourth black-type winner. In particularly, her first foal Malmedy won a couple of quite good mile races in Brazil, the GP Salgado Filho (G2) and the Copa ANPC-Milha (G3), the latter being a sort of Breeders' Cup for Brazilian-breds.

This author does not have comprehensive access to Brazilian records so it's unknown whether Donnegalle's sire Campero was a top sire or not. He was, however, a tough and honest racehorse in France. (Note that this is not the same horse as the Campero from Argentina who went to Italy and won the Premio Roma in 1982.) The French Campero was something of an over-achiever, as he had rather a blue-collar pedigree yet won the Prix Berteux (G3) at three and kept going until age six, when he won two group 2 races in Paris, the Prix Jean Prat and the Prix Kergolay.

Campero's sire A Tempo won the Prix de Conde at two and the Prix Edmond Blanc; his sire Tombeur won the Prix du Conseil Municipal and Prix Boiard, both now group races. (Interestingly, Tombeur traces in tail-female to Zuna, by Hamburg, dam of Golden Broom, Man o' War's trial-mate in his early training in Maryland.) Tresor, sire of Tombeur, won the Prix Greffuhle at three, while his sire Louqsor was a top older horse, winning the race now known as the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. Another generation back up the sire-line is the moderate stakes winner Aethelstan, a son of none other than our old friend Teddy. Most would be familiar with this line through Aethelstan's son Deiri, sire of Deux pour Cent, sire of Tantieme.

Despite his seemly deep French roots, Campero manages to carry a fair amount of old American blood. As noted, Tombeur traces to an American mare from the A1 family; Aethelstan belongs to the Cotillion branch of the Gallopade family (23-b). A Tempo was out of a mare by Jockey Club Gold Cup and Champagne Stakes winner Pot o' Luck, a half-brother to champion Bewitch. Pot o' Luck was by Chance Play out of Potheen by Wildair, the next dam Rosie O'Grady, by Hamburg. He stood in France without much success.

Campero's dam was by Neptunus, a son of the U.S.-bred Neptune, himself a son of Crafty Admiral and the Eight Thirty mare Timely Tune; Neptune was inbred 3x3 to Sir Gallahad III and had another cross of his brother Bull Dog in the fourth generation. Man o' War shows up here again, through the close relations War Admiral and Seaplane, not to mention the Domino and Ben Brush lurking in the background.

Exploring Campero's dam-line we find a lot of unfamiliar names, but also some of our old friends as well. His second dam was by Amber, by Zuccarello, by Ortello, by Teddy. His third dam was by Pan, a son of Atys by Asterus by Teddy out of a daughter of Tourbillon (more Frizette!). And his fifth dam was by Aethelstan. Pharos, best known as the sire of Nearco, shows up as a damsire in Amber's pedigree.

Cagney's second dam, Draw Back, placed in a listed stakes in Brazil and was sired by the Derby Paulista winner Quiz, a son of Brazilian-bred Eviva Violon, from the male line of Coronach and Hurry On. Eviva Violon carries French bloodlines of Gris Perle, Brantome, Sans Souci and Alcantara in his background.

Like his sire, Quiz's dam was Brazilian-bred, the product of two French-bred parents. Her sire, Faublas, came from the Boussac stud - by Pharis out of Naziad, by Jock (son of Asterus, son of Teddy) out of Tourzima, a three-quarter sister to Djeddah. In Tourzima's pedigree, the sisters Durban and Heldifann are even closer than in Djeddah's at 2x2, while Naziad has Asterus 3x3 - concentrated essence of Teddy, Durbar, and Frizette. Quiz's third dam Lady Admiral was by Plucky Liege's son by Craig an Eran Admiral Drake out of Lady Elinor, by Teddy, making her closely related to Sir Gallahad III and Bull Dog as well as being a half-sister to the noted sire Vatellor.

Draw Back was a daughter of the Brazilian-bred mare Echarpe, by the Frenchman Tang and For You, by Pewter Platter. Tang, a multiple group 2-type winner and placed in the Prix d'Ispahan (now G1), was a son of the top sire Vieux Manoir out of the Prix d'Astarte winner Tanina, by Nearco's Derby winner Nimbus, while next dam was a listed-type winner by Vatellor (whose half-sister we noted above in Quiz's dam line). This has been a good-class family in France whose members rarely visit U.S. shores, although Tanina's half-sister came over to win the Vagrancy Handicap in 1955.

For You's sire Pewter Platter may look a bit familiar because he shows up in any catalogue-type listing of stakes-winners for his dam, Jennydang, a daughter of foundation mare Dalmary. Pewter Platter won the 2,000 Guineas Trial and became a classic sire in Brazil. He was a son of Owen Tudor (by Hyperion), the sire of Tudor Minstrel and Abernant, whose dam was by Pharos from a daughter of Teddy (again). Pewter Platter's grandparents Mary Tudor and Colombo shared having Phalaris and Chaucer in their second generation without sharing a parent.

Cagney's fifth dam was called Guaponga and her sire was another English-bred named Red October, by Solario - Myrobella, by Tetratema, making him a half-brother to chef-de-race Big Game. His sire has also been an important influence in bloodlines worldwide. Red October has some pedigree similarities to Hyperion, as both have Gainsborough on the sire line and the mare Gondolette on the dam line.

The next dam, Castellana, a chestnut foal of 1941, came from Argentina and finally connects this author with some bloodlines she recognizes. Castellana was a half-sister to Candida, who produced a Uruguayan classic winner named Yagua; the latter's descendents have included the Uruguayan Triple Crown winner Hampstead, Mogambo, winner of the GP de Sao Paulo in Brazil, and the mare Immensity, who went to Argentina to land the GP Carlos Pellegrini. Castellana's sire was the major stakes winer and sire in Argentina, Barranquero, imported in utero from (surprise!) France; his sire Verdun was, like Durbar II, a son of Rabelais, while his dam was by Sardanapale.

Castellana's dam, Castiza, was by one of the few Quadruple Crown winners in Argentine history, Rico; the next three dams were daughters of English sires imported to Argentina - Your Majesty (St. Leger), Cyllene, and Pietermaritzburg; and the next dam, Cagney's 11th, came to South America before the turn of the last century. Her name was Nesta, by Galopin, and she has founded a female family that has made itself heard all over the world.

Most of Nesta's famous descendents trace to her daughter Albilla, by Gay Hermit, through the latter's daughters Iquem, Bourgogne and Mistela. Tabasco Cat belongs to a minor branch of the Iquem line, whose major lines lead to such stars as La Mission (the only filly winner of Argentina's Quadruple Crown), Grimaldi (in Brazil), Cleante (in Argentina) and Antespend (in the U.S.). Bourgogne's daughter Cote d'Or was a dual classic winner; other family members include Free Guest (Sun Chariot Stakes 2x), Dimbokro (GP del Jockey Club), Duero (GP del Jockey Club) and the top mare Luck (GP Ignacio Correas 2x). Mistela's family has been less prolific but still has made some noise, with descendents like Napoles (Polla de Potrillos), Fontana (GP Eliseo Ramirez), and Polar Air (Desert Gold Stakes in New Zealand).

So although Cagney belongs to an historically South American female family, his ancestry is strongly French and North American. Many horses show up repeatedly in his pedigree, as is inevitable with a closed stud book, but I feel the most important elements are the multitudinous crosses of Teddy and Frizette, with their attendant presences of Plucky Liege and Durbar II.

The author sees herself more of an historian than an analyst and so tends not to make judgments about matings, as many of her colleagues will, but she does do have a few opinions about breeding racehorses and one of them is "You can never have too much Teddy in a pedigree." Consequently, Cagney has approval as an animal bred to be a versatile and tough racehorse, and expectations are that he will continue to run with distinction during his American sojourn. Perhaps one day he will be able to say, in the words of one of Jimmy Cagney's more memorable characters, "Top o' the world, Ma!"