It doesn’t take Albert Einstein to realize some genetics are, simply, magical. Juddmonte Farms advertised Empire Maker, when he first went to stud, as a “genetic masterpiece,” and they were correct, but Empire Maker isn’t Juddmonte’s only genetic masterpiece. The full brothers Frankel and Noble Mission represent more great art, with Frankel on fire in Europe, and Noble Mission, who stands at Lane’s End in the Bluegrass for $15,000, now has a Grade One winner in Code of Honor, who won the Travers S. as well as the Grade Two Fountain of Youth S., and on September 7 his son, Spanish Mission, won the inaugural, million dollar Jockey Club Derby Invitational S. at Belmont, both from his first crop.

The two three-year-old colts share some pedigree similarities which begin to indicate a nick that works for Noble Mission. Code of Honor features inbreeding to Northern Dancer in the fourth position on his dams’ side, and a dose of Seattle Slew in the fifth position. Spanish Mission similarly has on his dams’ side Northern Dancer in the fifth position, and Seattle Slew in the fourth, with a dose of Halo added through his broodmare sire, Street Cry, contributing to the strength of the great mare Almahmoud through her two influential daughters. These two stakes winners put Noble Mission only $200,000 behind Goldencents, the leading freshman sire.

Liam’s Map’s winners are also demonstrating a serious pattern in terms of their pedigrees. Basin has Storm Cat in the fourth position on his dams’ side, as does Wicked Whisper and Song River, while Alpha Sixty Six has Storm Cat in the third position. They also all share inbreeding to Mr. Prospector on their dams’ side, complementing their sire’s 5 x 4 inbreeding to him. Basin and Alpha Sixty Six also both have Dixieland Band on their dams’ side, in the fourth position. Basin, the only Grade One winner of the group, has the unusual inbreeding, close up in the pedigree, to Damascus, 5 x 5 in sire and dams.

Now in seventh on the leading freshman sires’ list, Liam’s Map is flourishing, much as Noble Mission is on the sophomore sires’ list, at number two. Can Lane’s End get any hotter? Tonalist is a surprising number 17 on the freshman sires list, as one would have expected his first crop to come on as three-year-olds more, given his Belmont S.-G1 win. Honor Code can also be expected to show more when his first crop turns three, if not before. So the answer is yes—expect more great things from these young guns at Lane’s End.

-- Roberta Smoodin