by Les Brinsfield©

This article began prior to the 2001 Belmont Stakes but found the subject among the missing in the rubber match between Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners, Monarchos and Point Given. I thought his pedigree might help spring an upset at the longer 12 furlongs and even longer odds.

Congaree's sire, Arazi flopped in the 1992 Derby won by Lil E. Tee but he was a miler and his pedigree is confirmed by three-quarter brother Noverre, the winner of the 2001 French 2,000 Guineas at a mile. The stamina in Congaree is found here through a 3X3 to Northern Dancer, a triple of Almahmoud and a 4X4 cross to double Arc winner, Ribot, in his dam.

There are many ways to dissect and write about a pedigree - all are difficult to do as well as understand. I will try going deep into direct descent [tail female] from Ornament, discussing several aspects of her contribution to the gene pool, and then coming forward through the family stopping ever generation or two to sum events todate. This will bring us to Congaree eventually by which time, we will have tracked an extraordinary buildup of just exactly what the family needed - and got - in progressive generations. Finally, an attempt will be made to predict a few keys to returns Congaree might thrive on in the breeding shed.

Ornament was a multi-faceted mare who was dam of an immortal, the four-time classic winner, Sceptre - as lovely a mare as ever lived and literally an English national treasure. [If you can find her obituary in British Bloodstock Review, her life and battles with Rock Sand and Ard Patrick are recorded with inspirational eloquence for all time.]

Ornament is a full sister to unbeaten Triple Crown Winner, Ormonde, he the tail male scion of the Teddy sire line through his son Orme, he a son of Angelica, own sister to immortal St. Simon. In my opinion, nothing is more desirable or explosive in a pedigree than crossing a brother and sister. A key to pedigree study is kowing who has full siblings and where in the gene pool they can be had. Ornament was also one of the gaggle of important siblings, blood siblings and similarly bred progenitors featuring the famed Bend Or / Macaroni nick compounded by the Agnes branch of family 16.

Prior to our step by step analysis, let's digress fast forward to examine some impact of the preceding info. The brothers Bull Dog / Sir Gallahad III were by Teddy and descend from said same Agnes. Sir Gallahad got Roman from a Buchan mare and Buchan's third dam was Sceptre. Roman was thus crossed on Ormonde/Ornament. Teddy got brilliant producer La Troienne whose second was by St. Denis whose second dam was Ornament - she had this Ormonde/Ornament cross as well.

Bull Dog / Sir Gallahad III were in Mr. Prospector. Bull Dog / La Troienne were in Buckpasser, who got Con Game from a mare with Roman and she produced Seeking The Gold by Mr. Prospector. All of this has zilch to do with Congaree but is inserted here as a mini-lesson in the virtue of stacking brother / sister crosses in a pedigree as well as a sneak prediction of Seeking The Gold mares for Congaree's stud career.

Now to begin the step by step: one generation after Ornament came Splendid replete with a cross of full sisters, Polly Agnes / Little Agnes. Sheen, sire of Splendid had Voltiguer crossed on his own sister, Volley. Another two generations forward found us at Tuscan Red by rarity William Rufus, he replete with sire / dam Melton / Simena which tail female to sisters Violet / Feronia respectively. Next came War Feathers by Man O'War with a Galopin / Hampton cross in both parents and this nets Voltiguer / Volley again - twice. Hampton has brother / sister Lanercost / Otisina in his dam. For X-path devotees, War Feathers featured a neat double to St. Simon who will continue to build up, as well as Stockwell and Newminster who are plentiful by now.

Skip forward to Burgoo Maid, whose sire was Idle Hour Derby winner Burgoo King, a son of Idle Hour Derby winner, Bubbling Over. Burgoo King had Galopin / Hampton in both parents along with the consequences just defined above. Burgoo King brought the first influence of Domino via a triple to him in dam of Bubbling Over, she by Sweep and replete with Editha [sister to aforesaid Melton], as well as Lady Reel, dam of Hamburg and 5/8 sister to Domino. Domino will be featured later but to say he was a favorite of the Idle Hour tandem of Col. Bradley / Olin Gentry would be to berate the obvious.

Con Game [from above] also produced Fast Play by Seattle Slew whose dam was 3X3 to sisters Striking / Busher who were by War Admiral from Baby League by Bubbling Over from La Troienne to embellish a point. Both War Admiral and Bubbling Over were from Sweep mares.

Lonawand, damsire of Burgoo King, features Bend Or, Macaroni and Agnes through Kendal, on Ormonde whose dam was a 3/4 sister to the dam of Kendal. Lonawand had multiples of Galopin / Hampton and was 3X3 to St. Simon and his own sister, Angelica.

Secret Meeting was next and had a double of Orme, son of Ormonde, out of Angelica, the recently found sister to St. Simon. Now Orme was damsire of Tracery who was also 3X3 to St. Simon and Angelica, as his sire Rock Sand was out of a St. Simon mare. Rock Sand was also damsire Man O'War. Santorin was next and brought more Domino from Celt and Superman as well as Bridget, another sister to Melton.

Next was Long Look by Ribot, whose third was by Buchan - say Sceptre/Ornament. Ribot caused a double to Tracery and the 3X3 to siblings. Next was Come Back by Bold Lad who set up a double to Gay Crusader [two daughters of Galopin] and Papyrus and thus a triple to Tracery and his sibling cross we know by now. Bold Lad brought Mumtaz Begum and her 3/4 brother, Mahmoud, tripled The Tetrarch, and returned Sweep as well as Mannie Himyar, sister to Domino, in Ariel. Bold Ruler was one of five major sires out of Discovery mares [Native Dancer, Intentionally, Hasty Road and Traffic Judge are the others]. Discovery had Hamburg (just as Bubbling Over's dam) and the fact that Hamburg was out of Lady Reel, a 5/8 sister to Domino, made Discovery a natural return for Domino and his sisters.

Moving to Sheba Little by Known Fact, we have picked up another cross to Discovery, several more lines of Domino including the familiar three, and Sweep and Hamburg and Editha in a return of Bubbling Over, damsire of Intent whose dam was double Hamburg. Domino's sister Correction, dam of Yankee was present as was Tim Tam, a fresh source of family 23, home of Domino. There was a male line of Sweep in The Porter, a triple to Bull Dog, a double to long ignored Man O'War along with (via Known Fact) a double Chicle, who pulled double duty as he was by Spearmint, damsire of Bull Dog/ Sir Gallahad III and a son of Lady Hamburg, by Hamburg, by now known to be a son of Lady Reel, she a known 5/8 sister to Domino.

Sheba Little's daughter, Mari's Sheba was by Mari's Book, who brought Northern Dancer, two lines of Almahmoud [tail female to a Chicle mare] and a return of Tesio-bred Ribot. Northern Dancer and Ribot both had Tracery, and the dam of Congaree is quintupled to Tracery with the attendant sibling cross of St. Simon / Angelica 3X3.

Tracery is a prime example of how to accumulate desirable strains. In addition to 3X3 to siblings, there are nine strains of Pocahontas in his first seven generations which is a very tight linebreeding scenario. The five lines of Tracery thus yield 45 strains of this great mare, ignoring all else. Congaree is 3X3 to Northern Dancer who adds a sixth Tracery, another Hamburg from tail female, another Discovery [Hamburg again] from Natalma to go with the one from Raise A Native in Arazi's dam for a total of five. He gets a return of both Tom Fool and Tudor Minstrel from Arazi who is doubled to Wild Risk including a line of Le Fabuleux. Wild Risk had Lady Cynosure, a sister to Polymelus, sire of Phalaris. Le Fabuleux has two daughters of Phalaris, as well as one each daughters of well known sires, Blandford, Ksar and Teddy and is thus nearly universally attractive in any pedigree.

Congaree is 3X3 to Northern Dancer, 4X6 Nasrullah, 5X6 Tudor Minstrel, 5X5X6 Almahmoud, 5X6X5 Native Dancer, 6X6 Tom Fool, has four lines of Mahmoud, five of Discovery, six of Tracery and multiples of Ormonde / Ornament sibling cross reinforcing his thirteenth dam, Ornament. He is out of a mare 4X4 to Ribot. Beginning with Ornament and coming forward 13 generations, we have seen a series of regular returns of ancestors in each mare by the sires in each progressive generation.

Once something new is added to the mix, breeders should reinforce it, as in the case of Congaree, in a couple subsequent generations rather than just ignoring it. The introduction of Northern Dancer is new, yet simultaneously returns Discovery, Tracery and 2X Hamburg. This gives the benefit of the predictability of linebreeding at direct expense of random chance.

There two major players in the gene pool who cry out to be included in mares going to this horse at retirement - Tom Rolfe and La Troienne - neither appear in Congaree. Tom Rolfe was by Ribot [Tracery / Gay Crusader and tail female to mare by Buchan / Ornament] out of Pocahontas by Roman [Ormonde / Ornament / 3X Agnes] out of How by Princequillo [Tracery / Gay Crusader] out of The Squaw II [tail female to mare by Buchan / Ornament].

La Troienne had Melton, St. Simon / 2X Angelica, Ormonde and Ornament along with Doremi and Bona Vista - the last four by Bend Or from mares by Macaroni. Both will augment the older strains available in multiples. Importantly, neither Tom Rolfe or La Troiene are in the pedigree of Congaree and their use will be the first ocurrence of the common ancestors via new sources.

Congaree is a horse who is apt to be a better sire than racer - perhaps, an even better broodmare sire. He is cleverly linebred with constant returns of the gene pool from which he came. His pedigree is testamony to a pair of principles from the Olin Gentry legacy: " Return to the sire the best blood of his dam" and "It is very, very, very important to get the common ancestor in the same generation".

Copyright Les Brinsfield 2001.