In the thoroughbred game, a once hugely successful commercial family can all but disappear in the space of a few generations, while a rare few can power on for centuries.
Our Best On Breeding selection descends from a family that has branched out over the last half century and continues to churn out stakes-winners at an ever-increasing rate.
Looking through the 2019 sales catalogues there are three lots who do not have a common ancestor on the page, yet they all descend from a mare that was imported to race here in the early 1970s.
She is the Neville Begg-trained import, Gypsy Moss (IRE), a daughter of Mossborough, who finished second to Divide And Rule in the 1970 Group I Stradbroke Handicap before defeating the champion son of Alcimedes a fortnight later in the Listed Tattersall's Cup.
Some may remember that two branches of this family have featured in this column previously.
They are the now Coolmore-based stallion Merchant Navy (Fastnet Rock) and the stakes-placed filly Anchor Bid (High Chaparral).
Merchant Navy is a son of the stakes-winner and increasingly influential matron Legally Bay (see the pedigree for her Fastnet Rock colt in the Segenhoe draft heading to Easter), while Anchor Bid is a daughter of the Group III winning Zabeel mare Zapurple (see her 2019 Tavistock yearling colt here).
The enduring success of the family is due in no small part to the fact that many mares have fallen into the hands of breeders with access to top stallions.
Zapurple was bred and owned by Jonathon Munz, while Chris and Jane Barham have not looked back since purchasing the Snippets filly Legally Bay for $220,000 from the Highgrove draft at Easter 2002.
The great Fastnet Rock features strongly in the continuing success of the family, as he does in third of the three lots we mentioned.
She is the Deep Field yearling filly offered by Bhima Stud at the Magic Millions as lot 495, which was purchased by James Bester for $320,000.
She is the second foal of Dance Card who won nothing more than a Bairnsdale maiden in a 12-start career but was twice placed at Flemington.
The daughter of Exceed And Excel is another bred by Jonathon Munz whose Pinecliff Racing retains a share in the mares first live foal, Rome, who is one of four, one million dollar yearlings by the champion Pierro.
Consigned by Bhima Thoroughbreds, Rome (pictured above as a yearling ) was knocked down to James Harron Bloodstock for $1,050,000 at the 2018 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
Following a solid fourth in the Group III Breeders’ Plate at Randwick, Rome had a three-month break before just missing opening his winning account in the Group III McLachlan Plate at Doomben on December 29.
The Peter and Paul Snowden-trained colt resumes in a field of Golden Slipper hopefuls in the Group II Skyline Stakes at Randwick on Saturday.
Like the other two branches of the Gypsy Moss (GB) line, this a very active family.
Dance Card is a half-sister to the near $800,000 earner Kaepernick (Fastnet Rock again) while that wonderfully big-hearted and often luckless mare Spright (by Fastnet Rock’s son Hinchinbrook) features further back in the pedigree.
Dance Card has a Pierro filly foal and was bred back to the champion son of Lonhro.
Legally Bay missed to Fastnet Rock in 2017 and was covered by Coolmore’s flagship stallion again last spring.
Zapurple left two colts from her tryst in New Zealand with Tavistock, while her daughter was retired to last spring.
No prizes for guessing her first consort, Fastnet Rock.
