Much has been made of the domination of the Galileo line in both the entries in the Epsom Derby-G1 and the winning order, and it is indeed impressive, and of trainer Aidan O’Brien and owners/breeders that are the usual Coolmore suspects lock on the race. No mention, though, has been made of the influence of North American breeding in the pedigree of Anthony Van Dyck, the brilliant winner. Though his sire is the great Galileo, and his broodmare sire is the Australian stallion Exceed and Excel, the rest of this pedigree brings together both important North American sires and Blue Hen North American mares in a star-studded cast designed to create a derby winner.

The first element to be noted is in-breeding to Northern Dancer, through his most prolific sons. Galileo’s sire was Sadler’s Wells, a son of Northern Dancer, out of the spectacularly well-bred mare Fairy Bridge, by Bold Reason, out of the Forli mare Special, herself one of the foremost representatives of her tail female line, starting with Roughshod II. Then there’s Exceed and Excel’s sire, Danehill, a son of Northern Dancer’s wonderful sire Danzig. Exceed and Excel, however, is out of the Lomond mare Patrona, and Lomond is another son of Northern Dancer. Ready for the next spectacular North American influence? Lomond’s dam is none other than My Charmer, the dam of Triple Crown Winner Seattle Slew.

It doesn’t end there. Anthony Van Dyck’s third dam was one of Storm Cat’s first big stakes-winners, and created Storm Cat’s first stone cold nick, on Alydar mares: she is November Snow, out of Princess Alydar, and of course her grandsire is Northern Dancer’s son, Storm Bird. Close up in this pedigree, then, we have three doses of Natalma, Northern Dancer’s dam and one of the true Blue Hens of American breeding. But wait: Danehill’s dam, Razyana, a product of the magnificent Juddmonte breeding program, was by His Majesty, and out of the Buckpasser mare Spring Adieu, whose own dam was none other than Natalma, yet again. To me, this is one of the keys to this pedigree’s success. A dose of Natalma through a tail-female line certainly had something to do with Danehill’s heart as a racehorse, and may have been enough to twist the genetics back toward Natalma’s own gifts as a broodmare.

So Seattle Slew has already made a cameo appearance in this pedigree, via his dam, and we can’t help but connect My Charmer with the Bold Reason in Sadler’s Wells—after all, a big part of Slew’s pedigree features Hail to Reason, Bold Reason’s sire, and of course this reaches out to the dose of My Charmer in the dams’ side. But there’s another Triple Crown Winner in the mix: two doses of Secretariat live in Anthony Van Dyck’s dams’ side, through two of his most fabled daughters: the sire of Anthony Van Dyck’s second dam, Arctic Drift, was none other than Gone West, out of the Secretariat mare Secrettame, while the sire of his third dam, November Snow, was Storm Cat, out of the Secretariat mare Terlingua.

Inbreeding to Somethingroyal, Secretariat’s dam, is a staple of North American breeding; there can never too much Somethingroyal. So we’ve noted Anthony Van Dyck’s strong relationship with two American Triple Crown Winners, Seattle Slew and Secretariat, who clearly had something to do with his ability to get the classic distance.

There is still more, as the inbreeding, top and bottom, to Mr. Prospector, purveyor of American speed and grit, must be noted, through Miswaki, the broodmare sire of Urban Sea, Galileo’s dam, and the previously mentioned Gone West, two of Mr. P’s most productive sons in terms of siring great broodmares. It is through Miswaki that Buckpasser, the embodiment of American toughness and brilliance, makes his second appearance, on the zig-zag, through Miswaki’s dam, Hopespringseternal.

This reaches out to that dose of Buckpasser in Razyana’s pedigree, and also hooks up with the other doses of the Blue Hen La Troienne in My Charmer and through Bold Reason’s dam, Lalun, whose pedigree features La Troienne’s son, Bimelich. More of the zig-zag, matching close genetic relatives through both male and female lines, is evident. It must also be noted that Urban Sea, Galileo’s dam, features inbreeding to classic American sources of pedigree power, Princequillo and Nasrulah.

Another of the classic crosses in American breeding is combining Hail to Reason/Turn-to with Ambiorix, who appears in the dams’ side through his son, Amber Morn, the broodmare sire of Princess Alydar. Add to that the fact that Lalun’s sire, Djeddah, is also a close genetic relative of Turn-to and Ambiorix, and you have a combination that makes stakes winners at an alarming rate. It would also be remiss not to mention the spectacular build-up of Bull Dog and his full brother, Sir Gallahad III, in the outer reaches of this pedigree, as this has been noted, again and again, as a foundation for success.

So as we hail the latest winner of the Epsom Derby-G1, the glorious Anthony Van Dyck, we are also hailing North American Triple Crown Winners and breeding in general, which have come together with European success stories like Danehill and Galileo to make a fabulous horse.

-- Roberta Smoodin