Well, maybe not OK.
Here’s a question.
How long can a sire-line last when it comes to producing excellence?
And how should we define “sire-line”?
Karel Miedema - posted February 2021
Worldwide, sires currently at stud descend, for over 90% of them, from Phalaris, through two sons, Pharos (full brother to Fairway) and Sickle (full brother to Pharamond & half brother to Hyperion).
Let’s hypothesize that a Sire-line-Sire is defined as ‘a stallion who has at least one grandson who is a major G1 producing sire’.
Now follow the legacy of the two Phalaris-sons, Pharos and Sickle.
".. a Sire-line-Sire is defined as a stallion who has at least one grandson who is a major G1 producing sire"
Sickle has just one son who got a lasting legacy, Unbreakable.
Unbreakable in turn has one qualifying son, Polynesian.
Polynesian has a single sire-line son, Native Dancer.
Native Dancer has one son, Raise A Native.
Raise A Native has one son, Mr Prospector.
Now let’s look at the sons of Mr Prospector who might be able to continue the line. They have to be sires of note to begin with (else their grandsire Raise A Native would fall off the chart).
So: Fappiano, Forty Niner, Gone West, Seeking The Gold, Machiavellian, Kingmambo, Smart Strike …
Four of these have options: Fappiano with Unbridled, sire of Unbridled’s Song; Gone West with Elusive Quality and son Quality Road; Machiavellian with Street Cry to Street Sense; Seeking The Gold with Dubai Millenium and son Dubawi.
Nothing conclusive yet about who’ll be able to continue the Mr Prospector line.
Pharos also has just one son who got a lasting legacy, Nearco.
Nearco got Nasrullah and 3-part brother Royal Charger, and border-line Nearctic.
Nasrullah has one son, Bold Ruler, who got What A Pleasure, Sir Gaylord, Secretariat, Boldnesian. Of these, Boldnesian got Seattle Slew, who is sire of AP Indy, sire of Pulpit who got Tapit, which leads to … who knows.
Royal Charger got Turn To, who has Hail To Reason, sire of Halo and Roberto. Halo sired Sunday Silence who has Deep Impact, and Southern Halo with More Than Ready. Roberto has Kris S, sire of Arch who has Blame. But what next?
Nearctic got Northern Dancer.
Now we’re talking, you might think.
Northern Dancer has Storm Bird, Nijinsky, Danzig, Vice Regent, Sadler’s Wells.
Storm Bird got Storm Cat, whose legacy is through Hennessy (Johannesburg to Scat Daddy to No Nay Never) and Harlan (Harlan’s Holiday to Into Mischief).
Nijinsky has no male line presence. Vice Regent got Deputy Minister, who goes through Awesome Again to Ghostzapper.
Danzig got Danehill, War Front and Green Desert. Danehill has Redoute’s Choice and Dansili, and maybe there’s still something else not yet on the radar. Same for War Front. Green Desert has Cape Cross (sire of Sea The Stars), Invincible Spirit (sire of Kingman, I’m Invincible).
That leaves, for Northern Dancer, Sadler’s Wells, who has Galileo (anything is still possible with him, Frankel leading the pack) and El Prado (Medaglia d’Oro, Kitten’s Joy his possible options).
That’s it.
That’s all in the whole wide world.
But if sire-lines have limited lives, where then should we look for continuation of excellence?