French (and other) connections in Motivator

copyright Manuel de Luque © 2005

Pictures of Motivator, one of the best 2yos of the 2004 European racing season, show him to be a long legged, short-backed, sparely made  bay with a longish head which he carries a little high. The same things can be said when one looks at photographs of Top Ville, the 1979 Prix du Jockey Club G1 (French derby) winner, who appears in the pedigree of Motivator as maternal grandsire of the colt’s sire, Montjeu.

Connections of Motivator (winner of both his races, the second one the Racing Post Trophy G1) will be more than happy if he is able to emulate Top Ville in his classic season and, even more, if he shows a fraction of the quality of the magnificent Montjeu, a really beautiful horse who also carried his head high, and for a good reason, as he was the winner of 6 G1 races, amongst them the Irish and French derbies, the Arc and the King George. He is by Sadler’s Wells out of Floripedes, by Top Ville – Toute Cy, by Tennyson – Adele Toumignon, by Zeddaan – Alvorada, by Beau Prince.   

Motivator is a member of Montjeu’s first crop. He is a son of the Listed winner Out West, by Gone West – Chellingoua, by Sharpen Up – Uncommitted, by Buckpasser out of the great tap root mare Lady Be Good, by Better Self.

n      First of all, Out West shows a 4 x 4 inbreeding to Native Dance through males, Raise A Native and Sharpen Up, which is balanced by a daughter, Natalma, in Montjeu. So Motivator has Native Dancer 5f x 5m x 5m.

n     In Motivator we find combined the names of Northern Dancer, Special, Wild Risk, Bold Ruler and Princequillo plus Lady Be Good in tail female line. We can find the same names in the ancestry of top miler and good sire Zilzal (by Nureyev). Similar situation: Motivator has Northern Dancer, Buckpasser, Bold Ruler and Princequillo plus Lady Be Good. The same as another great miler and influential sire, Polish Precedent (by Danzig). Third connection in the same vein (and apologies for being tiresome): in the French Classic winner Culture Vulture we find Northern Dancer, another line of Native Dancer though a female, Bold Ruler, Princequillo, a daughter of Count Fleet and Lady Be Good as third dam.

n     One of the features of Out West pedigree is the 4 x 4 duplication of the mare Mixed Marriage (Tudor Minstrel –Persian Maid, by Tehran) through her daughter Tamerett and his son Atan, Mixed Marriage ancestry show the names of Owen Tudor (Hyperion, Pharos, Teddy), Lady Juror, Aroma (by Fairway out of  Aloe, a daughter of Sin-in-Law), Aloe herself (by Son-in-Law – Alope) and Solario. In the pedigree of Montjeu we find two names with similar combinations. Forli has Hyperion, Fair Trial (by Fairway –own brother to Pharos- out of Lady Juror), Teddy and Foxlaw (own brother to Aloe). And Sispsey Bridge (dam of Derring Do, Top Ville’s paternal grandsire) combines Owen Tudor, Son-in-Law, Mumtaz Mahal (half sister to Lady Juror) and Solario.

n     In the pedigree of Montjeu’sn dam, Floripedes, there are three names with similar combinations. They are:

o      French Derby winner Charlottesville, a son of Pirnce Chevalier out of  Noorani, by Nearco. He also has lines of Gainsborough, The Tetrarch, Sunstar and St. Simon.

o      The mare Tidra, by Prince Taj (by Prince Bio) out of Malindi, by Nearco out of Mumtaz Begum. She also has lines of The Tetrarch and Sunstar.

o      Another mare, Adele Toumignon, whose pedigree contains Nasrullah (own brother to Malindi) and Prince Chevalier, and has a 4 x 4 duplication to Mon Talisman, grandson of Sunstar.

If we look at the names in the pedigree of Out West, we can see that Secretariat has     Nasrullah, Princequillo, and three lines of Sundridge, sire of Sunstar. It must be noted in this context that Prince Chevalier, Prince Bio and Princequillo are all of them sons of Prince Rose. Further than that, Prince Chevalier and Princequillo share lines of Tracery and Cyllene.

n     Some of the best lines of French classic breeding combine in the pedigree of Montjeu. One of the more illustrious of those names is Tantieme. He descends in tail male line from Deiri (by Aethelstan, by Teddy) and shows in his pedigree the names of Alcantara, Hurry On and Sans Souci. Chambiges, granddam of Sharpen Up, is also a granddaughter of Deiri and has the other names too in her pedigree.(It should be remembered that Kris and Diesis, two of the best sons of Sharepen Up, are out of Doubly Sure, a granddaughter of Tantieme).

n     Finally, it is interesting to compare the similarities between two names in the pedigree of Sadler’s Wells (Be Faithful and Nothirdchance, both in Bold Reason) and two other on Out West’s ancestry (Busanda and Better Self, both in Uncommitted). Let’s see:

o       Be Faithful is by Bimelech (Black Toney – La Troienne, by Teddy), out of Bloodroot, by Blue Larkspur (Black Servant)

o       Nothirdchance is by Blue Swords (Blue Larkspur – Flaming Sword, by Man o’War) out of Galla Colors, by Sir Gallahad (Teddy)

o       Busanda is by War Admiral (Man o’War) out of Busineslike (Blue Larkspur – La Troienne)

o       Better Self is by Bimelech (Black Toney – La Troienne) out of Bee Mac (War Admiral – Baba Kenny, by Black Servant)

n     The Teddy lines mentioned above are only a portion of the big number of appearances of this horse in Motivator’s pedigree. There are also a significant quantity of lines of Gainsborough, and it is well known that these two names form a rich and influential tapestry in pedigrees when combined in significant numbers and through linebred or inbred animals.