Danzig

Danzig: Mystery No Mystery

by Les Brinsfield ©

Danzig is a great sire. Dirt or turf; sprinter, miler or classic winner, he can get any kind of horse to compete in Grade or Group I events and so can his sons. Danehill, for instance, is carrying on much like his father just as A.P. Indy is for his, the venerable Seattle Slew.

What the operative part of Danzig's pedigree is has been a hot question among pundits and I will join in the fray with my two cents worth as well. I have heard Turn-to suggested as THE nick with Danzig as well as Grey Flight and that the unfamiliar foreign strains of Danzig's second dam, including a double to Tracery who is also in Northern Dancer, ascribed some mystical influence.

Armed with little more than attitude, a search was made of my private database for all Danzig's offspring of which there were 131 split evenly among gender: 66 distaffers and 65 males with 28 of the first group and 33 of the second carrying one of more strains of War Admiral. This was hardly a shock given Danzig's damsire is Admiral's Voyage, a son of Crafty Admiral from Admiral's Lady by War Admiral. Not the first time the damsire figured in a stallion's career.

Native Dancer, damsire of Northern Dancer was found to have all matter of common kinship with Admiral's Voyage who surprised me as being tail female to Baton Rouge by Man O'War, aka the family of Hail To Reason - hold that thought. Back to comparing Native Dancer and Admiral's Voyage. Both have Domino in multiples. Both have Peter Pan/Broomstick. Both have Sweep, damsire of War Admiral and son of Pink Domino. Both have an off strain of Pink Domino who is John P. Grier's third dam and fifth dam of Crafty Admiral. Sweep, like Broomstick, is by Ben Brush.

We could have postulated, based on comparing damsire of the object horse, Danzig, and that of his sire, Northern Dancer, that things Pink Domino/Sweep/War Admiral would figure in Danzig's get. We could look at his first good horse, Champion Chief's Crown to confirm that or, absent any prediction, look for what was working by waiting half way or longer into Danzig's career examining his progeny for the common link.

I will admit the last is highly in play here, though I do remember all the MALE strains of Sweep in Chris Evert which have a counterpart in Bold Ruler as well. And that would suggest a sex balance with War Admiral and remember, this Triple Crown winner and broodmare sire supreme is a son of Man O'War, who sired Baton Rouge, ancestress of Hail To Reason whose dam, the beautifully named Nothirdchance, is double to daughters of Man O'War thus adding sex balance to the real "Big Red".

A good place as any to enter Buckpasser, as he is two things if nothing else but the horse who set the world record for a mile that Dr. Fager [War Admiral/La Troienne] broke by a tick, to wit: a turned inside out equivalent to Hail To Reason with sex balance crosses to Man O'War, Teddy, Blue Larkspur and a cross of brothers Bull Dog/Sir Gallahad III - and finally, at long last ending to this sentence, the most common source of War Admiral in the dams of Danzig's progeny. [To throw any semblance of continuity aside, Scorpion is double Hail To Reason [him with 2 daughters of Man O'War]: by Seattle Slew [2X War Admiral / La Troienne]: out of Chief's Crown mare with 5 male Sweeps and double Crafty Admiral and tail female to La Troienne. All of which tie neatly to Danzig]

Now, after a shot at predicting [with benefit of hindsight] and looking at his first good horse, Chief's Crown, we get to the easy way to do pedigree research. Always the easiest, and nearly always after the stud fee has gone over the top, a look at the progeny should reveal something.

As indicated at the top of things in reference to my database, nearly half [61] of all [131] the progeny of Danzig had War Admiral in the dam. Nearly half [65] were male and of these over half [33] had War Admiral and of these, nearly half [14] have Buckpasser. Nearly half [28] of the females had War Admiral, and of these nearly half [12] have Buckpasser. Six of the males have Hail To Reason but only one of these, Lustra has Buckpasser. Seven males had Grey Flight and only one, Polish Precedent had Buckpasser. Anything that clicks with War Admiral/Sweep will work with the sisters to Domino. Brothers Petit Loup and Ascot Knight get Correction and Mannie Himyar from Haste/Wise Counsellor 3X3 in their dam Bambee T.T., dam of Clever Trick Zieten and the BC Miler winner of 2000, War Chant benefit from a double of sisters to Domino.

Despite the lack of War Admiral, Chief's Crown was a key pointer to what was coming given at least 5 lines of male Sweep, four alone (Leonardo II, Sweep Like, The Porter twice) from unforgettable Chris Evert.

The list with War Admiral numbers major sires and runners among its members: Danehill, Agnes World, Polish Navy, Green Desert, Adjudicating, Strolling Along, Shaadi and Polish Numbers. Of this lot Polish Numbers and all world Danehill [as well as his good brother, Eagle Eyed] have Buckpasser and Polish Navy is out of a half sister to the Phipps bred son of Tom Fool. Many others like Deerhound, Foxhound, Honor Grades, Lustra and Slavic are packing Buckpasser.

Now, Danzig also has a four way to Gainsborough and Danehill has His Majesty with a double to Tracery and the Alibhai/Mahmoud with a double Gainsborough and that may be a way to explore as well. Surely, the brilliant Mozart did not seem to mind a close up return of Graustark but gee whiz, granny - War Admiral /La Troienne came with it and that double Pink Domino in a return of Natalma. Now Gainsborough is very similar to Teddy and Teddy is found in Danzig through a cross of Bull Dog/Sir Gallahad III in Crafty Admiral sandwiched around War Admiral. War Admiral often brings Teddy as he travels well with La Troienne - Buckpasser has her crossed on Bull Dog.

The point is, there is no one right answer to any question pertaining to pedigree - only more questions. Be not daunted - nobody can live long enough to learn it all. And maybe what we consider knowledge is no more than strongly held opinions. Perhaps only the Almighty knows for sure and maybe that is good. The upside is joyful though, and that is you only have to be right once in a lifetime - one good horse is all you need. Please Lord, make mine like Danzig.