Quite a lot of articles have been written recently of the power of inbreeding to Secretariat.  I just don't get why at all?  It seems in the mad world of pedigree commentary you just need one top class runner like Bluegrass Cat to be flavour of the month.

If inbreeding to Secretariat is so powerful one should be expecting it to appear frequently in Gr1 winners not a few times.  It is not as if this has not been tried in the past.  In my database I have over 700 inbred to Secretariat.  I have exactly 6 Gr1 winners.  Now considering I almost certainly will have all the good runners but not all the bad runners the percentage of Gr1 winners to foals is possibly going to fall below the breed average!  And this is when we inbreed to one of the most famous racehorses of all time who got to see some top class mares.

Let's have a look at those 6 Gr1 winners:
Bluegrass Cat (Storm Cat out of an AP Indy mare)
D'WildCat (by Forest Wildcat, a Storm Cat son out of a D'Accord mare)
Sky Mesa (Pulpit, an AP Indy son over a Storm Cat mare)
Speightstown (Gone West, a Mr Prospector son,  over a Storm Cat mare)
Pel (Chi) (3x5 Secretariat and Mr Prospector over Danzig sire lines)
Secret Ridge (Brz) by top local stallion Mr Prospector son Choctaw Ridge

Now it gets interesting because it seems inbreeding to Secretariat only works in Gr1 winners if top class stallions like Storm Cat, AP Indy, Mr Prospector and Danzig are there in force!

On to the Gr2's candidates:
Be Gentle by Tale of The Cat (Storm Cat)
Dazzle Me by Tactical Cat (Storm Cat) out of a Chief's Crown mare
Jump Start by Ap Indy out of a Storm Cat mare)
Oratory by Pulpit (Ap Indy) out of a Dehere mare)
Postponed (3x3 Northern Dancer out of a Gulch by Mr Prospector mare)
Saudi Poetry (Storm Cat out of a Gone West by Mr Prospector mare)
Deleite Pin (Arg) also full brother/sister Raise A Native and Ace's Swinging

Gr3's?
Frost Giant (Giant's Causeway by Storm Cat out of a Gone West (Mr Prospector) mare)
Haberanos (Tabasco Cat by Storm Cat out of a Gone West (Mr Prospector) mare)
Indian Ocean (Stormy Atlantic by Storm Cat out Halo mare out of a Gone West mare)
Level Playingfield (by Level Sands by Storm Cat)
Master Command (by AP Indy)
Mountain General (by Mountain Cat by Storm Cat)
Shooter (by Dehere out a a Gone West mare)
Untouched Talent (by Storm Cat out of a AP Indy mare)

In summary we have hundreds, and possibly thousands, of horses inbred to Secretariat  Those few that have worked well have strains of Secretariat through some of the top stallions of the past decades.  Storm Cat, AP Indy, Chief's Crown, Gone West and similiar top class strains cover just about all those that work. 

Adrian Parry Copyright August 2006