Chapter Two – A Great Horse Success Story in a Great Horse Year

Horse racing is an age-old sport, probably dating back thousands of years. But modern horse racing
began in Europe around the beginning of the seventeenth century. Breeding horses that could be
competitive at the highest levels became an occupation unto itself. So, it’s not surprising that a major
part of racing today begins in the breeding barns, long before a horse ever gets to the track.

Some great horses, like Man ‘O War and Secretariat were best known for their racing abilities. They
were the stars of the sport. They still live in the memories of all true race fans. Others, like Phalaris
Northern Dancer and Mr. Prospector, will be remembered through their genes, which are guaranteed to
survive as long as the sport exists. Still others like Nearco, Native Dancer and Eclipse will be
remembered for both. Of course, there are those like Nashua, Easy Goer and Riva Ridge that old fans
like me will always remember simply because we loved them. And then there are the near greats like
Seabiscuit and Charismatic that have great stories to be told as long as people tell stories. And let’s
never forget the rising stars that never got a chance to show their full potential like Ruffian, Eight Belles
and Barbaro.

An easy place to start this saga is near the end of the story, as least as it has unfolded so far. In 1970,
which is recent in the long history of this sport of kings, a crop of young colts was born that will forever
dominate the history of the sport. Foremost in memories of fans of the era is the Great Secretariat.
Today, 40 years later, he still holds several major records, at least one of which will likely never be
broken.

His victory by 31½ lengths in the 1973 Belmont Stakes, to cement the Triple Crown, is far and away the
biggest moment in the history of the sport. Sports Illustrated ranked it the second most remarkable
event in all sports for the 20th Century, behind only Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point single game NBA
performance. I rank it number one because Chamberlain had teammates feeding him the ball. Further,
Frank Selvey scored 100 points for Furman University in a college game which is 1/3 shorter time-wise
than the pro game. Secretariat had Secretariat. His jockey, a good one in Ron Turcotte, admits he lost
control of the horse early on in the race. He was merely along for the ride that day. Not falling off was
his only challenge.

Usually fast races involve a super speedster setting the pace, often called a “rabbit” like the rabbit in dog
races. Secretariat had so dominated the field in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness that Sham, second in
both races, was the only truly credible horse to show up that day. And Sham was a stalker, not a pace
setter. Secretariat, unlike his normal style, went for the early lead in the Belmont.

Secretariat had come from dead last in the Kentucky Derby to win. But, in the Belmont, only Sham
stayed with him. For the first half mile it was a match race, with the two of them matching stride for
stride and the rest of the field far back. At the ¾ mile pole, Secretariat was so far in front that the race
was long over - - but he was intent on putting on a show. This was pure will. I have no doubt in my mind
Secretariat knew he was doing something very special that day. He was setting a world record that will
likely stand forever!

Secretariat broke the stakes, track and world record on dirt by over 2 ½ seconds. No horse has ever
since been closer than 2 seconds to that record. By the way, my all-time favorite horse, Easy Goer and
one other, A. P. Indy, a grandson of Secretariat, are the only ones to come that close.

Also, 1970 horses included the great Sham, mentioned above, who ran the second fastest Kentucky
Derby ever run even to this day, only to see Secretariat’s tail flapping in the breeze in front of him, and
Forego, a Gelding who finished fourth in the Derby that year and later became three-time Horse of the
Year and retired as the second all-time leading money winner.

But this part of the story isn’t about any of them, nor is it about Shecky Greene, a 1970 colt who set a
world record for the mile, or My Gallant, Twice a Prince, Our Native, Angle Light or several other
amazing colts born in 1970. Nor is it about Dahlia, a filly born in 1970 that Blood-Horse ranks in the top
50 racers of the 20th Century.

No, this is all about a 1970 colt named Mr. Prospector, who is rapidly becoming the Grandfather of
modern American horse racing. If you look at the progeny of many great race horses, you can find an
extensive family tree with two or three lines. By comparison, Mr. Prospector has sprouted a thicket, a
huge bush with an unbelievable number of branches. His offspring have sprouted numerous third,
fourth and fifth generation champions. As a race horse, Mr. Prospector was very good but not great. He
set a couple of race records in sprint races, but never won what, in golf or tennis, we’d call a “major”.

Now we digress for ten seconds of technical stuff. A winner of a race is of course called a winner. The
second place horse is said to “place” and the third horse is said to “show”. Generally, these are the
positions that pay prizes and are also the subject of betting. A horse’s career record is often expressed
in a format such as 10: 3-1-2 where 10 is the total career races, 3 is the number of wins, 1 is the number
of places (seconds) and 2 is the number of shows. Races where the horse finishes 4 th or lower are not
shown in this expression and are said to be “out of the money” meaning that there is no prize for the
finish. Mr. Prospector’s record was 14: 7-4-2. That means he won half his races and finished “in the
money” 13 times (7+4+2). Not a bad record at all.

But it was in the barn, at stud, where Mr. Prospector earned his reputation and his place in horse racing
history. He died in June 1999, so, many of his progeny have only recently quit racing and their offspring
are still out there running, and it will be several more years before the full extent of his prowess will be
known. But, he is already a legend. An outstanding sire might produce two horses that in turn father
strong grade 1 stakes winners. Phalaris, who I consider the greatest sire in history, produced three - -
four if you count his son Fairway (not to be confused with Fair Play) whose progeny includes a lot of
good horses over the first 50 years but has basically disappeared from the top bloodlines.

By comparison, Mr. Prospector already has more than a dozen strong lines in play. Blood-Horse, a very
reputable magazine on the sport, rated Phalaris the greatest sire of the 20 th Century. Mr. Prospector is
well on his way to becoming the greatest of all time.
As we enter the “Age of Mr. Prospector” we only continue the “Age of Phalaris”. Mr. Prospector is a
direct male-line descendent of Phalaris on both sides of his family, up until his mother, of course.

Below, we’ll look at Mr. P’s pedigree. Note especially the top right-most horse Sickle on the chart and
also Pharos, at the right middle of the chart. Note that these two horses are the father of fathers across
the chart. We call these the tale-male lines or the foundation horses.

Note: This same chart can be seen for almost any race horse and all important horses by going to

http://www.pedigreequery.com/
and typing in the desired horse’s name.

In the above chart of Mr. P’s family tree, Sickle is a son of Phalaris as is Pharos, the foundation sire in this
chart of Mr. Prospector’s mother, Gold Digger (from whence he got his name). Also note that Gold
Digger’s sire is Nashua. Nashua was the first real race horse I ever followed. He began my love story with
racing. Right below Sickle (in the male line – shown in blue) is Polymelian, a half-brother of Phalaris
through their father Polymelus, a great horse in his own right. Noteworthy is the next male down the
chart, Discovery, a half brother to the Great Man ‘O War through their father the Great Fair Play,
another top ten all-time sire, in my book (this book to be exact!). And, further down the chart, we come
to Man ‘O War himself. This is in fact, Man ‘O War’s best chance to keep his genes in the breeding pool.
His direct tail-male line is barely clinging on today through a sole male line from his fourth generation
descendant, In Reality. The current In Reality/Man ‘o War sire line quality horse is Tiznow. We’ll hear a
lot more about him later in the book.

As you can see, this whole thing is beginning to look a little incestuous. That’s one of the major knocks
on modern horse breeding - - that the lines are too crossed. We’ll come back to this also, later in the
book.

Another thing that becomes clear as we go is the naming of horses. Mr. Prospector is just a creative way
of naming him after his mother, Gold Digger. His father, Raise a Native was named after both his mother
Raise You and his father the Great Native Dancer. Note: When I capitalize “great” in front of a horse’s
name, I truly mean this is an immortal horse. Native Dancer is listed as the 6 th most important horse in
the Blood-Horse magazine ranking of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th century . Had
he won the Kentucky Derby, he would have finished his career undefeated, with 22 wins , a record that
would likely move him to number one all time! He finished second, in an almost photo finish on that first
Saturday in May. I consider Native Dancer, as a race horse to be the equal of Secretariat (Blood-Horse #
2) and Man ‘o War (Blood-Horse # 1). As a sire, he leaves them both in the dust.

And as for Raise a Native, Native Dancer’s most important son, his only accomplishment wasn’t
fathering Mr. Prospector. He also fathered Alydar, ranked # 27 in Blood-Horse magazine’s rankings as
well as Majestic Prince, ranked # 46 and tail-male ancestor of 2010 Preakness winner Lookin’ at Lucky.
Another of Raise a Native’s sons, Exclusive Native, sired Triple Crown Winner Affirmed, Blood-Horse # 12
and Genuine Risk, # 91 and one of only three fillies to win the Kentucky Derby. Raise a Native ended his
racing career with a record of 4-4-0-0 (in other words, undefeated) and set NTR (new track records) in
two of his four races. Unfortunately he was retired at two because of a bowed tendon. Who knows how
great he could have been. The picture of him I saw shows as perfect a horse as I have ever seen,
Secretariat included. I for one believe a healthy Raise A Native could have been the greatest race horse
of all time.

But, this Chapter is about Mr. P.

Just naming a few of Mr. Prospector’s progeny will ring a lot of bells to fans of the last 20 years. Perhaps
his most successful son as a sire was Fappiano, who probably rings no bells. But …

Fappiano’s progeny include Tasso, winner of the 1985 Breeders' Cup Juvenile and Champion 2YO Colt.
He was also sire of Cryptoclearance (father of Victory Gallop, winner of the 1998 Belmont Stakes), Quiet
American (sire of Real Quiet, 1998 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner), Unbridled, 1990 Kentucky
Derby Winner (and father of 1996 Kentucky Derby winner Grindstone, who in turn fathered Birdstone,
the 2004 Belmont Stakes Winner who begat both Summer Bird [2009 Belmont] and Mine That Bird
[2009 Kentucky Derby]).

We’re not through with the Fappiano line yet. We still have two more Unbridled sons, Red Bullet (2000
Preakness winner) and Empire Maker (2003 Belmont Stakes) Incidentally, Unbridled thus became only
the second horse in history to sire three separate winners of each of the three triple crown races. And
just below, you’ll read about the first!! And also Real Quiet, mentioned above, was damsire of 2005
Horse of the Year Saint Liam. Thus, Fappiano can probably be considered as at least one of the best of
the many sons of Mr. Prospector. But there are many others!

Fappiano was, in addition to being a great sire, a very beautiful horse. But, he was also an unfortunate
horse in that he developed a severe case of laminitis in 1990 at age 13 and “foundered”. A horse that
founders basically has a collapsed hoof which is virtually always fatal. It is amazing how successful a sire
Fappiano was considering he stood at stud for just ten years. Many horses stand stud for as many as 25
years. His overall racing record was 17: 10-3-1, not at all shabby, and included at least one Grade 1
stakes win.

Next, we’ll quickly mention a second son Conquistador Cielo, winner of the 1982 Belmont Stakes. He set
a new track record in winning the Metropolitan Handicap and was 1982 Horse of the Year.

A third son of Mr. P, Tank’s Prospect, was the winner of the 1985 Preakness.

Conquistador Cielo and Tank’s Prospect are significant not just because they were great race horses,
but, coupled with Fusiachi Pegasis, mentioned below, they form the first “family” where brothers each
won one leg of the Triple Crown. This feat alone ensured Mr. P’s legendary status. His grandson
Unbridled, is the only other horse ever to accomplish that feat.

Our fourth Mr. P son is Woodman, sire of over 90 stakes winners including Hansel, winner of the 1991
Preakness and Belmont Stakes and one of several strong triple crown challengers in the family and
Timber Country, winner of the 1995 Preakness (and thus spoiling the triple crown for another Mr. P
progeny below).

A fifth son is Gulch, sire of Thunder Gulch, winner of the 1995 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes and
the recipient of his cousin’s spoiler ride above that deprived him of the triple crown and Point Given,
another near miss on the triple crown who did win the 2001 Preakness and Belmont. Point Given had a
rare bad day on that first Saturday in May 2001 or he would have been the last Triple Crown winner.

Son # 6 is Gone West, sire of Elusive Quality, who in turn sired the people’s horse, Smarty Jones, who
came very close to winning his own triple crown, losing only the 2004 Belmont with a strong second
place finish. Gone West also sired Commendable, winner of the 2000 Belmont Stakes. Gone West
offspring are still showing up and we’ll hear more from his progeny in the near future.

Son # 7 is Afleet, sire of Northern Afleet, in turn the sire of Afleet Alex, winner of the 2005 Preakness
and Belmont.

Number 8 is Forty Niner, sire of 1996 Belmont winner Editor’s Note who in turn sired Funny Cide, the
almost miracle horse owned by a group of blue collar friends who almost won his triple crown, again
losing only the Belmont in 2003. Forty-Niner’s son Roar is also the damsire of 2009 Eclipse Award Horse
of the Year and winner of the 2009 Preakness, Rachel Alexandra. And Forty-niner’s son, Distorted Humor
was sire of 2010 Belmont Stakes winner, Drosselmeyer. Distorted Humor is also on his way the future
glory as more and more great sons will likely emerge.
Number 9 is Seeking the Gold, sire of Jazil, winner of the 2006 Belmont Stakes. Seeking The Gold was
also sire of four breeders cup winners and two eclipse winners. Jazil is a currently breeding sire and
likely will leave his mark on posterity.

Another son of most particular note is Machiavellian, sire of Street Cry, who in turn sired Street Sense,
the 2006 Eclipse two-year-old male champion and winner of the 2007 Kentucky Derby.

And now we come to the greatest offspring to date of the Mr. Prospector line. She is the daughter of
Street Cry, granddaughter of Machiavellian, the Great Zenyatta, presently an undefeated 18: 18-0-0 and
winner of the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic. Depending on the outcome of her scheduled remaining two
races in 2010 Zenyatta may well become the greatest filly in racing history. She may even become the
greatest race horse in history, period!

Next, we have number 11, Kingmambo, whose son, Lemon Drop Kid, won the 1999 Belmont Stakes.
Lemon Drop Kid has some great sons out there and soon one will win a “Major”.

Then, there’s # 12 Our Emblem, sire of War Emblem 2002 Derby and Preakness Winner.

Mr. P’s son # 13, Smart Strike sired Curlin, winner of the 2007 Preakness. Expect to see some Curlin sons
out there soon, because Curlin was the Eclipse Champion Three Year Old Male & Horse of the Year,
2007. Eclipse Champion Older Male & Horse Of The Year, 2008 and is the American winnings record
holder with over $10 Million in earnings. Smart Strike was not a one-hit wonder, either. He is also the
sire of 2010 Preakness Winner Lookin’ At Lucky.

Son # 14 is Miswaki who ran mostly in Europe but stood stud in Kentucky and sired over 100 stakes
winners, an extremely rare feat. To my knowledge, he is the only Mr. P progeny to accomplish that feat.

And last for this list, is # 15 Fusaichi Pegasus, 2000 Kentucky Derby winner and now standing stud in
Japan. As is the case with many horse families, he, as a son of Mr. P is younger than some of Mr. P’s
great-grandsons. It will be quite a while before his grandsons hit the tracks, let alone the breeding barns.

Then there is still the yet to be known Ventura, just entering stud after a very good racing career. He is a
son of Chester House, a 1995 colt of Mr. P’s who was euthanized because of cancer after only three
years at stud. Ventura could be the next Fappiano. With Mr. P sons and grandsons, you can never count
a good one out. Ventura’s record of 21: 10-8-1 is similar to grandpa and he was also a great sprinter, like
grandpa.

There are also many other very good horses in the Mr. P family. For example, Cryptoclearance
(mentioned above as sire of Victory Gallop) currently has a great-grandson named Misremembered,
who just won the Santa Anita Handicap. Although not considered in the same class as the Triple Crown
races, it is still a Grade I race of 1 ¼ miles. Misremembered’s father, Candy Ride, (son of
Cryptoclearance’s son Ride the Rails, who was exported to South America early on) ran undefeated in six
races, mostly in South America. Furthermore, Candy Ride is the unofficial world record holder for the
mile. And that is only because Argentine records are not recognized in several other countries.
Candy Ride also sired Chocolate Candy, one of the leading three-year-olds of the 2009 American racing
season. Another son in the class of 2006 (birth year) is Capt Candyman Can, winner of 6 of 12 starts.
Candy Ride’s best days as a sire appear to be ahead of him as his sons and daughters are just hitting the
tracks. Ride the Rails also sired Good Report, who won several foreign Grade I Stakes. This one offshoot
of the family tree is just another of many examples of Mr. Prospector’s enormous impact on racing and
also further proof that his full impact is far from being known. Who knows what future son or daughter
of Chocolate Candy or Good Report or Street Sense or Tasso or Fusaichi Pegasus or some other Mr. P
offspring will become the next Secretariat or Man ‘o War or Zenyatta. The track record so far certainly
holds the promise!!

Update: Candy Ride outdid himself with his 2007 sons and daughters who came of age in 2010. These
include Sidney’s Candy, Twirled Candy and xxxx.

I already have my eye on a young colt named Prince of Madness, a great-grandson of Unbridled, whom I
would have bought but for lack of a spare $35,000! If he gets the right training and ride, he could
possibly be that colt.

As though we haven’t already said enough to demonstrate his breeding quality, let’s point out that Mr. P
is also the dam-sire (mother’s father) of Pulpit, Mineshaft and Rock Hard Ten. Pulpit had four wins in six
races before being retired early. He has had some amazing sons and one of them was Ice Box who
finished a strong second in the 2010 Kentucky Derby and whose best days are ahead of him. Mineshaft
had a great racing career as an older horse and is now standing stud. He was 2003 American Horse of
the year. Rock Hard Ten had a good career in the US and is now standing stud and already has stakes
winners in his first crop of offspring. Rock Hard Ten stands 17.3 hands, making him one of the biggest
thoroughbreds of recent times. Count on Pulpit, Rock Hard Ten and Mineshaft leaving a legacy that
would make Mr. Prospector remembered even if none of his sons existed!

And then there is son Carson City, better known as a broodmare sire. Among his many damsired colts
was the Great Barbaro, winner of the 2006 Kentucky Derby.

And the whole story will still take quite a while to sort out. A son named Northern Prospect, born in
1976, even before Fappiano, had a fairly mediocre career. But his Great Grandson, Ron the Greek, was
considered to be one of the top early contenders for 2010. There are over a thousand grandsons out
there yet to be heard from!

We have just finished a very quick review of the Mr. Prospector family. Note that we talked about no
less than eighteen significant sons – the fifteen listed and two others that may well become worthy of
the list as well as Carson City, a great broodmare sire. By comparison, Nearco had three great sons,
Phalaris had three or four and Fair Play had two. History will be the ultimate judge but the numbers are
certainly on his side to become the greatest sire in history. Another big plus to this is that the whole
breed may well get less inbred as the many sons of Mr. Prospector (and his close cousin Northern
Dancer) further spread out the gene pool. Maybe the days of only a handful of horses accounting for all
the winners are finally behind us!
And now, a bit of irony. Mr. Prospector and Secretariat, both born in 1970 and probably the two most
important horses in the sport in the last 50 years, each in their own way, are buried right beside each
other at Claiborne Farms in Kentucky where they both stood stud. Buried in the same small plot are
Nijinski and Secretariat’s stable-mate, “the little horse that could”, Riva Ridge. It is also the final resting
place of Bold Ruler, Gallant Fox, Blenheim II, Buckpasser, Swale, Nasrulla and Princequello as well as
many others. Nearby, another division of Claiborne has the cemetery where Easy Goer is buried.

Direct Tail Male Progeny of Mr. Prospector who Won Triple Crown Races

Year Kentucky Derby Preakness Stakes Belmont Stakes

Early Years:
1982 Conquistador Cielo
1985 Tank’s Prospect
1990 Unbridled
1991 Hansel Hansel

Last 16 Years:
1995 Thunder Gulch Timber Country Thunder Gulch
1996 Grindstone Editor’s Note
1997
1998 Real Quiet Real Quiet Victory Gallop
1999 Lemon Drop Kid
2000 Fusaichi Pegasus Red Bullet Commendable
2001 Point Given Point Given
2002 War Emblem War Emblem
2003 Funny Cide Funny Cide Empire Maker
2004 Smarty Jones Smarty Jones Birdstone
2005 Afleet Alex Afleet Alex
2006 Jazil
2007 Street Sense Curlin
2008
2009 Mine That Bird Summer Bird
2010 Lookin’ at Lucky Drosselmeyer

16 Year Totals 9 10 12

That is 31 of the last 48 Triple Crown Races won by Tail Male Progeny of Mr. Prospector! A lot of the
others have Mr. P in their pedigree, but these are DIRECT TAIL MALE PROGENY.

By comparison, a chart like this for Secretariat would have two, the 1988 Preakness and Belmont Stakes,
both won by his son Risen Star.
We’ve already said a lot about Mr. Prospector. But we have focused mostly on the Triple Crown races.
How have his sons and daughters fared in other races? Let’s look at the Breeders Cup Classic. This race
has a $5,000,000 prize fund, far the largest in American racing. It’s actually larger than the Kentucky
Derby, Preakness and Belmont combined!

The 2009 Breeders Cup Classic was won by the Great Zenyatta (2004). Her sire was Street Cry (1998). His
sire was Machiavellian (1987) and his sire was – yes, Mr. Prospector.

The 2008 Breeders Cup was won by Ravens Pass. His sire was Elusive Quality (1993) who was begat by
Gone West (1984) and yes, his daddy was Mr. P. By the way, another grandson, Curlin, finished a close
third and was the oods-on favorite.

We’ve already spoiled the surprise here, because the 2007 Breeders Cup was won by none other than
Curlin, whose dad, Smart Strike (1987) was a son of Mr. P. Curlin is the North American record holder
for earnings.

Invasor, the 2006 winner was an Argentine bred colt by Candy Stripes out of the Nearco family.

St Liam. The 2005 winner was from the Hail to Reason family, but his dam was a tail male line
descendant of Mr. P through Fappiano.

In 2004 the winner was Ghostzapper out of the Northern Dancer family.

The 2003 winner and so on. Actually, we have to go back to 1991 and Black Tie Affair (1986), son of Mr.
P’s colt Miswaki (1978) for the next one.

But, 1990 saw Unbridled (1987), son of one of Mr. P’s best breeding sons, Fappiano (1977) win.

The 1988 winner, Alysheba, barely misses out as he was instead out of the Tail Male line of Mr. P’s half
brother, Alydar (they were both sons of Raise a Native).

Five out of the 26 Breeders CupsClassics “Aint Bad”. I did not see another that close in doing this
research. But the most significant fact is the trend. The last three winners were all Mr. P tail male
progeny. And in 2010, the favorites will likely be Zenyatta and Quality Road. Both are Mr. P Tail Male
progeny.

Overall, Mr. P’s progeny have well over a billion dollars in earnings. With the possible exception of
Northern Dancer, nobody else is even close.

Another simply remarkable thing that needs to be said in conclusion is that Mr. P was a sprinter, running
his best races at less than 7 furlongs. He never won a race of a mile or more. Yet his progeny have
performed at their very best in America’s longest grade I race, the Belmont Stakes, which is 12 furlongs
(a mile and one-half). This is the kind of thing that keeps breeders awake at night!