Great pic! I wonder if that is at Trojan. Those were the days.
I had the same thought about Trojan! I learned a lot there over the years…some of it even about horses!
Grey Dawn was a French import and, IIRC, the JC added II to his name as they did to The Axe who became The Axe II when he was imported also from France. I saw both of them race, both grey, GD was a grandson of Mamoud, Axe was a son and both are not that rare in TB pedigrees but back aways. Both successful stakes horses.
I had a grand daughter of Axe who was a good Hunter and her sire ,April Axe, raced here then went back to France and was approved in some of the WB books and also learned April Axe was popular with Polo pony breeders. No idea if Grey Dawn II stayed here or went back to France but sure somebody knows.
Mamoud is not rare in pedigrees and his dam was a much respected mare called Mah Matal (sp?) but we are talking way back here, 100 years.
According to his progeny report he had a “few” US foals, and a couple Canadian.
Yep, that was the last year of Trojan. 2002.
They are references to horses deemed chefs-de-race. There’s a good description here: https://www.pedigreeonline.com/knowledgebase/reports/dosage-profile-chef-de-race
Wikipedia entry on dosage calculations is here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dosage_Index
Nope. Glad someone else was able to answer for me!
That was interesting! Thanks But it isn’t the designation we were looking at. When you look at a pedigree behind a few names will be a B or BI. Like in this one. https://www.pedigreequery.com/dash+with+sass
I’ve seen Grey Dawn in more than a few pedigrees over the years and always take note because, a long, long time ago, I had a Herbager granddaughter. I used to have a Derby betting angle where I bet horses with Herbager in their 5 generation pedigree, lol.
The best I ever did was Giacomo – who is by way of Grey Dawn, btw – but the friend who was betting for me, couldn’t get my $2 in on time
“ The five numbers listed on the Dosage Profile (DP) of a horse are essentially points given in the following categories based on Chefs in its ancestry:
• Brilliant (B): Sires that contribute to early speed and precocity.
• Intermediate (I): Sires that contribute to middle-distance speed.
• Classic (C ): Sires that contribute to stamina and the ability to perform well over classic distances (typically 1 1/4 miles).
• Solid (S): Sires that contribute to stamina and long-distance ability.
• Professional ( P): Sires that contribute to extreme stamina, typically effective at long distances (2 miles and above).”
From the portion @weixiao quoted above, a horse with [B] after its name is designated a chef-de-race in the “Brilliant” category. [BI] means they are chef-de-race in both the “Brilliant” and “Intermediate” categories. Mahmoud has an [IC] designation for “Intermediate” and “Classic” in the pedigree you posted for example.
The designations are used to calculate how significant sires in a horse’s ancestry contribute to its pedigree and if the breeding lends itself to short, middle, or long distance racing capability. That’s my 30 second layman’s understanding of it.
On that pedigree you linked to, you can also see Mamoud (IC) through his daughter Grey Flight. And just to add a bit if trivia, about the time Grey Dawn and Axe were running, there was a horse called Grey Eagle (there have been several, this is the one born in Ky 1957) whose sire was GB and damsire was French.
We might conclude French horses were popular in the late 50s/ early 60s? As were Argentina imports at least out west.
Thank you, that’s awesome information!
For having a double dose of BI, Toast was anything but speedy and precocious as a racehorse. He ran once as a 2yo and never could figure out how to get all 4 feet pointing in the same direction
He’s a monster on XC (even now at 20) and I’ve yet to find his tank empty over longer distances when we’re in fighting form, so I’m happy that particular genetic tendency didn’t translate, lol
Is Mahmoud an important sire? Did he figure into any Selle Francais breeding? Any significant sport horses?
I’ll add my contributions:
My first TB – I was about 16 here and about to go into the Start box (this was around 1973, my TB mare was 6 - she was a 1967 model.) No body protectors back then, and the lowest level was Training if I remember correctly?
I also showed her in the hunters, did some A shows and she was reasonably successful – back then you jumped, 3’6" as a Jr. I got her at four or five, and did schooling shows initially for the first year or two that I had her - the jumps were 2’9" at minimum. (Saddle in the picture was a Stubben Siegfried which I used for everything – looks like it’s too far forward here! She was pretty uphill.)
She was a bit of a pistol – but very game! She was only 15’2" but had a nice sweeping daisy cutter trot - so won a lot of hack classes.
I bred her and got a nice colt in 1978 (by Roman Steps - a TB stallion who had done the jumpers.) Back then, it was all TBs!
Her registered name was Probity, I showed her under Vanity Fair. She only went to the training track and never raced – too small and too spicy perhaps?
After taking a break from horses, I got back into it in my 30’s and started teaching at two lesson barns. I found this TB weanling at one of the barns where I taught - his dam had been bought to be an “Equishare horse” - the barn acquired nice, steady, “intermediate level rider” type horses to offer in this program: Prescreened riders who were already in the lesson program paid a certain amount per month (like a lease fee) and got to ride the Equishare horses in lessons and at shows. Felix was foaled there, and grew up with lesson kids paying lots of attention to him; he was never spoiled, and was very calm and sweet by nature - he had an exceptional temperament.
My DH (despite my many! and dire warnings about horse ownership) strongly encouraged me to buy this foal and start up again with my riding career. The BM/Lesson program supervisor sold him to me for $350 ) He retained his wonderful temperament, though as he grew, he got bigger, wider, and longer – really too big a horse for little old me! He wore a size 82-84 blanket, and weighed #1,400.
I evented him successfully through Training level and did some hunters and lower level dressage, and then unfortunately lost him at the age of 10 to a neurological disease – we were about to move up to Prelim I trusted him completely, and though he was big I was confident in putting people on him to do pony rides – including my very young daughter! He was very good natured and actually a bit lazy by nature – the first few times I asked him to gallop on the pipeline, he flicked an ear back, asking me: “really? Am I allowed to?” Obviously he never saw the track
, but had an incredible stride and could really put on the afterburners when asked.
This is us schooling over approximately 3’6" - maybe 3’9"? Because he had a very long neck I had to do an exaggerated release. This was around 2000 - he was a 1993 model.
Failed to include pedigree - the Bold Ruler influence was very evident; big chunky hindquarters, noble head - big shoulder. He was a good boy, though - not hot and not difficult
Who is the horse R U Sure born in 2016?
Love both your horses. You must be petite because that 15.2h mare looks pretty big in that pic.
This is a horse belonging to one of my current students – he was actually on the track (8 starts) – but was slow.
He is a gem of a horse, nicely uphill, great temperament and a good mover – though we did have to spend a year or two getting him past his greenness (he definitely had the spicy sillies when he was younger, used to bolt and crow hop when emotionally overwhelmed); he does have Storm Cat in his pedigree, but he’s by no means difficult or mean.
She got him from Windchase Farm (Phyllis Dawson - who sources a lot of good TBs) when he was just turning 5, and hadn’t really jumped.
One pic is of me on him 6–7 weeks post hip replacement surgery which is how much I trust him – his ears back do not mean he’s unhappy because he’s never unhappy, but he is a really good listener!
The second pic is of his owner doing the Waredaca 3-day with him this past October, he has come a long, long way! Very talented horse, and I think he has the potential to possibly do Prelim – though my student/his owner started out in the hunters, so I’ve had to bring her along slowly while “dragging her to the dark side.” Luckily, she’s an incredible student, a hard worker, and extremely dedicated – just a dream to teach and coach!
Sorry about that, I took pics of all of the pedigrees, but the writing is so small that I can’t see them, I’ve had to edit and put the right ones in a couple of times