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“Pleasantly Perfect: A Deep Stud Analysis” by Michael Ventura, Copyright 2005. Owned by Gerald A. Ford of Dallas and
trained by “Patient” Richard Mandella, Pleasantly Perfect’s Globe spanning
accomplishments hardly require retelling. But
now the powerfully built son of Pleasant Colony has been retired to Lane's End
Farm in Kentucky, and there is a need on the part of mare owners and his
managers for deep analysis. Clearly Pleasantly Perfect is the last hope
to replace his late great sire Pleasant Colony and continue his male line in
America. Some of his times and his
move in the Dubai World Cup were excellent enough that I would gauge him as
having a real shot, but only if his mares are properly screened. Looking at the pedigree, we find classic
blood galore. His sire won
two-thirds of the Triple Crown; his damsire Affirmed won the whole thing.
After that it’s strong stamina influence Lyphard over Dante’s good
racing son Darius; winner of the Champagne (GB-GI) at two, Two Thousand Guineas
(GB-GI) at three, and Eclipse Stakes (GB-GI) at four.
Darius was over Champion German (read stamina) sire Neckar.
It’s rare for the sire and first two damsires on a horse to be of such
high quality; I think this is a case of pure ability trumping stamina and to be
on safe side he’ll need some speed in his mares. The female family of Pleasantly Perfect’s
grandsire His Majesty is 4-d (taproot Manganese, whose 3rd dam was
4-c taproot Maniac), and his dam Regal State is 16-a (Miss Agnes through Noor
Jahan, a full sister to Bull Dog and Sir Gallahad).
This is reminiscent of all the good horses of fairly long ago who
combined Maniac descendant Man O’ War with Bull Dog and/or his full brother
Sir Gallahad; for instance Affirmed’s damsire Crafty Admiral, Hail To
Reason’s dam Nothirdchance, or the famous
Buckpasser. And in the case of Crafty Admiral, who is found in Pleasantly
Perfect, it is an excellent example of the recapitulation/precapitulation
concept in action. Another thing that helps the sireside and
damside of Pleasantly Perfect “Fit” is the nick between his grandsire His
Majesty and his 2nd damsire Lyphard.
Though only one in five-hundred registered foals win Grade or Group One
races; including Pleasantly Perfect these two stallions have combined in eight
separate Grade/Group One winners including six multiple Grade/Group One winners,
one American Turf Champion, one American Champion Older Male, one American
Champion Steeplechaser, and a French Classic winner.
Namely: The 3/4 Brazilian brothers Absolute Ruler
and Art Variety;
the full American brothers Valiant Nature
and Tight Spot; Breeder’s Cup
Steeplechase winner Mcdynamo;
Cetewayo ; and the French Oaks Winner
Aquarelliste, a filly who also finished 2nd behind Sakhee in
the 2001 Arc. This nick may have something to do with
Lyphard’s second damsire Formor returning the Manganese (4-d) female line to
His Majesty. Pleasantly Perfect is also 3x5 Flower Bowl and Prompt Payment; two mares who crossed Hyperion and Mahmoud. The Sire Bred and owned by T. M. Evan’s Buckland
Farm and trained by Joe Campo, Pleasant Colony won the Remson at two by
disqualification and the Wood Memorial, Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Woodward
at three, he also lost the Triple Crown by finishing third in the ’81 Belmont
behind Summing and finished second in the Travers and Fountain of Youth. He was a rare source of stamina competitive in the
upper-echelon of the modern racing environment, siring eleven Millionaires until
he was pensioned in 2000 and died in 2002.
It’s also easy to see his get gets better with age. Looking at his stud record to get clues
about how his son will go we find Pleasant Colony got fully four top class
runners from Northfields mares: The full Payson brothers St. Jovite
and Lac Ouimet in the 80’s; plus Denon
and Forbidden Apple
in the
90’s. He hasn’t done all that
badly combined with Little Hut’s other son Habitat either; see Absolute Ruler
and Art Variety; who were already mentioned in another context. Are the right kind of mares with the
Northfields strain thus worth trying with Pleasantly Perfect?
It seems so to me; linebreeding to Northern Dancer through Northfields
and Lyphard being found in Arlington Million (GI) winner Sulamani; Gran
Premio Juliano Martins (BRZ-GI) winner Tierno; and
Cheers Flower,
the dam of 2000 Japanese Champion 3YO Cheer’s Grace. Payson Farm consultant George Smith says he
was convinced shortly following the retirement of Pleasant Colony that Ballymoss
blood would cross well with him and he has the pedigrees of Lac Ouimet and
his brother St. Jovite, who won the Irish Derby in a Curragh record time, to
prove it. Ballymoss was
champion of Europe in 1958 and he won such highly prestigious races as The Arc,
The St. Leger, The Irish Derby, The Coronation Cup, and The King George and
Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. At stud, Ballymoss became the damsire of
Payson Broodmare of the Year Northern Sunset (by Northfields) and when bred to
Pleasant Colony she got the aforementioned Lac Ouimet and St. Jovite and in
addition her daughter Far North got Dry North (dam of Champion 3YO Filly Farda
Amiga [ped]) when bred to Pleasantly Perfect’s sire. Ballymoss was also the damsire of Belmont
Stakes winner Stage Door Johnny, whose daughters have a liking for Pleasant
Colony: The ill-fated 1992 Champion 2YO filly and Kentucky Oaks/Acorn winner
Pleasant Stage; her brother Stage Colony; and ’92 Champion Older Horse /Jockey
Club Gold Cup winner Pleasant Tap were all by Pleasant Colony out of Stage Door
Johnny mares. Ballymoss’s
sire Mossborough (by Nearco) has Hyperion’s 3/4 sister All Moonshine as
his dam and Ballymoss himself is 3x4 to 1918 English Triple Crown winner
Gainsborough, sire of all-time great sire Hyperion and damsire of all-time great
sire Mahmoud. Perhaps this inbreeding to the Gainsborough
has something to do with this impressive affinity between Pleasant Colony and
Ballymoss; as Gainsborough was also inbred to 3x5 in Flower Bowl, dam of
Pleasant Colony’s sire His Majesty. If
that truly underlies it then this powerful nick may continue for another
generation forward because Gainsborough was returned big-time to Pleasant Colony
by Pleasantly Perfect’s 2nd dam La Trinite
(she being inbred
to him 6x6x6x6x7x7). Pleasantly Perfect also has Nearctic through
his 2nd damsire Lyphard. Nearctic
and Ballymoss’ sire Mossborough share Nearco, Gainsborough, and Selene close
up and have combined in many good horses. Though
Ballymoss is pretty far back there by now I’d still consider him a positive in
a mare for Pleasantly Perfect. Besides being a nick with Pleasantly
Perfect’s sire; Stage Door Johnny has done pretty well with components
of Pleasantly Perfect’s mother Regal State.
From a small sample, we find SDJ and Affirmed in Tighten the Girth,
dam of Guaraira (GI winner in Venezuela) and three other stakes winners from
that country. From a larger sample
we find Graded/Group I winners Ends Well,
Rainbows For Life,
Diazo, and Irving (Brz) combining Stage Door Johnny and Lyphard.
Also SDJ’s sire Prince John was crossed 4x1 with Regal State’s dam La
Trinite in 2x GI winner Seven Springs.
All this makes Stage Door Johnny a desirable name in the pedigree of a
potential Pleasantly Perfect mate. The Dam A daughter of Triple Crown winner Affirmed
out of the Lyphard mare La Trinite (also dam of Seven Springs), Regal State
won the group one Prix Morny in France and finished second in the highly
prestigious Prix De Salamandre (GI) against colts; she also was runner-up in the
group one Prix Jacques Marois. Her sire Affirmed’s 8th dam was
hard-knocking sprinting sensation Correction (b.1888), a full sister to Domino;
and the 7th dam of Regal State herself was Noor Jahan, a full sister
to Bull Dog and Sir Gallahad. I
consider it desirable if a horse’s close-up female families “recapitulate”
the pattern or cross of an important ancestor’s pedigree.
In the case of Regal State, it was her paternal granddam Won’t Tell You that got recapitulated as that daughter of Crafty Admiral was 2x4 to
Fighting Fox and Gallant Fox; two brothers by Sir Gallahad out of a mare by
Celt, a son of Commando, a son of Domino; and her sire’s dam was Admiral’s
Lady, who had Bull Dog sitting betwixt three crosses of Domino in the 5th.
Put another, more comprehensive way, Won’t Tell You was 3x5x6/4 Sir
Gallahad/Bull Dog and 6x7x7x7x8x8/8 Domino/Correction. Another key to Regal State’s pedigree
seems to be the 4/5 cross of Native Valor and Satenella; two daughters of
Mahmoud, one out of a Sir Gallahad mare, the other one out of a daughter of his
sister Noor Jahan. Regal State was
5x6x6 to Mahmoud. Note also that her sire was 5x5x6x6x7 to Teddy (with one cross of Gainsborough in the 6th) and her dam La Trinite 6x6x6x6x7x7 to Gainsborough (with one cross of Teddy in the 6th). That’s some powerful stuff when you consider the relationship and important affinity between those two sires. Owen Tudor and Citation are early examples
of combining Teddy and Gainsborough and Point Given is an example from the many
good modern horses strong in a Teddy/Gainsborough background. (See “Teddy/Hyperion: A Superstar Nick?” By Peter Hohlweg
[link].) Recommended Broodmare Sires for
Pleasantly Perfect Nureyev Nureyev
is inbred to Nearco and
Hyperion through Nearctic (by Nearco o/o Lady Angela by Hyperion), Aristophanes,
and Nasrullah; Pleasantly Perfect's 2nd dam La Trinite is inbred to them
through Nearctic, Rockafella, and Dante. Hyperion
and Nearco were two of true all-time greats and they were both linebred heavily
to St. Simon, the male-line ancestor of Pleasant Colony.
A further theoretical underpinning of the already successful Nureyev/La
Trinite cross is found in the pedigree of English Champion Sprinter Thatching:
this best son of Nureyev’s maternal uncle Thatch had Darius as his 2nd
damsire. It’s always good to get a broodmare sire
that nicks at least pretty well with the full spectrum of the sire’s pedigree;
cancelations should be avoided (a cancellation being the opposite of a nick).
Thus here is a table showing the high-level Nureyev has enjoyed with all
the components of Pleasantly Perfect’s pedigree save his dam Regal State (and
Nureyev's never been crossed with her!)
Danzig Like Nureyev one of the recent greats at stud and a good source of milers, Danzig’s damsire Admiral’s Voyage provides a long line of St. Marguerite for Affirmed (Sire’s dam Exclusive 4x5 to St. Marguerite’s grandson Rock Sand) and His Majesty (HM was 4x5 to Rock Sand’s son Tracery and seems to like the Baton Rouge branch of the St. Marguerite line; see Dynaformer and Risen Star’s dam Ribbon for examples of him with Hail To Reason besides the examples of him with Admiral’s Voyage through Danzig found below). He also hits key Pleasantly Perfect ancestor Crafty Admiral (Inbreeding to him through Danzig and Affirmed has worked; see chart). As is represented in this chart, Danzig nicks beautifully with His Majesty, Affirmed, and Lyphard (Graustark is included as confirmation of the Danzig / His Majesty nick):
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