Yes, fellow breeding nerds, it’s time for the first In The Blood post of 2021!

This is “just” a 4*S, which normally I wouldn’t really cover, but it’s the first big event of 2021 and we’ve got some possible LRK3DE entries in the field alongside some exciting up and coming horses, so let’s take a look!

It’s always interesting to me with big US events to see which horses are North American-bred and which ones are imports. Seeing NA-bred horses as the top levels of our sport makes me super happy, and it’s important for people to see that we indeed can and do produce that caliber of horse on this side of the pond. It’s good strong representation for us in this field, with 11 of the 30 entrants (36%) born and bred in North America.

As is pretty typical at this level, the average blood percentage of the field is 57%, although if you drop all of the full TB’s from the equation it drops to 51%. That would be low if this was a 4*L or 5*, but not really unusual for a 4*S. The lowest blood % horse in the field is FE Golden Eye at only 23% (but who’s damsire is the extremely well-proven eventing sire Contendro).

It’s also a pretty strong field if you’re a fan of the OTTB. We’ve got 4 in attendance, and these guys really do a good job of showing how hard-knocking a good TB can be. Among them we’ve got two of the oldest horses in the field in 18yo Cecelia by Connecticut xx (Ogygian xx/Secretariat xx) out of Penny Stock xx (Spend a Buck xx/Affirmed xx) and 16yo AP Prime by Aptitude xx (AP Indy xx/Northern Dancer xx) out of Czarina Kate xx (The Prime Minister xx/Sunpower xx). Plus there’s 10yo Sorocaima by Rock Hard Ten xx (Kris S xx/Mr Prospector xx) out of Sankobasi xx (Pulpit xx/Northern Jove xx), who was also at one time a CANTER listing, that had a racing career that spanned 4 years and included 43 starts.

As usual it’s the warmblood jumping lines that dominate the majority of the field though, particularly the Q and C jumping lines. That’s… to be expected by now I think? Irish Sporthorses have some good representation, with one stallion, US-based Irish Sporthorse Formula One, having two offspring in the field – full siblings Landmark’s Monaco and Landmark’s Monte Carlo. These two brothers were bred by Jackie Mars and are out of a full TB mare, making them 88% blood.

While we don’t have any others that are quite that closely related, a few stallions do pop up in more than one pedigree within the first few generations. Dutch stallion Mr Blue is the sire of Qorry Blue D’Argouges and the damsire of Rubens D’ysieux. Irish stallion Puissance is the damsire of two horses in the field – Fernhill Limited Edition and K.E.C. Zara. Puissance’s TB sire Imperius xx is also the damsire of Jack of Diamonds, who is represented by offspring Islandwood Captain Jack.

Several horses in the field also come from widely talented performance families, with a mix of dressage and showjumping success. Quidproquo’s sire jumped through 1.50m showjumping. Fidelius 35’s sire showed through Grand Prix level dressage. Global EX’s dam jumped through 1.30m showjumping. Magnum Martini’s sire jumped through 1.50m level showjumping. Flower Girl’s sire competed through 1.50m showjumping. Ruben’s dam competed at 1.60m showjumping. FE Golden Eye’s sire showjumped to 1.60m level. Prophet’s sire Tatendrang, a US-based Trakehner, sire competed through Advanced level eventing. Vermont’s sire Van Helsing competed through 1.60m showjumping (and is sired by Valentino, who stands at stud in North America) and Vermont’s dam also produced two other FEI level event horses (both by – guess who – Contendro).

Vermont isn’t the only one with a good-producing mother: Dutch Times has a whopping 7 full siblings, including one competing at PSG dressage. K.E.C. Zara’s dam produced two other FEI level eventers from different sires. FE Coldplay’s dam also produced a 1.35m showjumper. Voltaire de Tre’s dam also produced a 1.30m showjumper and a 1.40m showjumper. Ms Poppins’ dam has also produced two 1.30m showjumpers.

It is indeed in the blood, y’all.

Who are your favorites for Red Hills?