On Saturday, September 28, Smart Strike sired the winner of the John Henry Turf Championship S.-G2 at Santa Anita. His spectacular son, Curlin, sired the winner, before disqualification, of the Jockey Club Gold Cup S.-G1 at Belmont, Vino Rosso. And his freshman sire grandson, Palace Malice, sired the winner of the Pilgrim S.-G3, at Belmont, Structor.

Smart Strike, a son of Mr. Prospector from the crop of 1992, died in 2015 after years of battling laminitis and other infirmities of old age, so it’s remarkable that he still appears on the leading sires list at number 94, with $2.8million in earnings; Cleopatra’s Strike, the John Henry winner, is a foal of 2013. With only older horses running (no two-year-olds or three-year-olds), he remains a winner producer, a sire of sires, and a grandsire of sires. His genetic power continues, four years after his death.

Cleopatra’s Strike is bred on a similar cross to Smart Strike’s best son, Curlin, with Vice Regent as his second dams’ sire. But by far the most outstanding aspect of this gelding’s pedigree is 3 x 3 inbreeding, top and bottom, to the great mare No Class, through her daughter, Classy ‘n Smart, Smart Strike’s dam, and through her son, Sky Classic, by Nijinsky II, who is the broodmare sire of Cleopatra’s Strike. No Class’s pedigree is a fabulous collection of very old school blood, with nine crosses to Canterbury Pilgrim through her son, Chaucer.

Chaucer, bred to Serenissima, created the Blue Hen Selene, dam of Hyperion, Sickle, and others, and she appears three times in No Class’s pedigree, along with a single dose of her half-brother, Great Sport. This might seem like ancient history—the animals mentioned all hail from the very early 1900s—but this concentration of DNA is clearly still affecting the breed today, through such horses as Cleopatra’s Needle. Add in, in No Class, Double Jay, Nasrullah and a second dam by Princequillo, and the genetic wealth of No Class becomes even clearer.

Whether Vino Rosso was robbed when he was disqualified as the winner of the Jockey Club Gold Cup S.-G1 is a question for the ages, but his pedigree documents why he is Curlin’s leading earner in 2019. Smart Strike crossed brilliantly with mares from the Vice Regent/Deputy Minister line, and also loved any addition of more Turn-to, which he had through Smarten, and Curlin has through Sir Ivor. On the theory that too much is not enough, why not add more? That’s exactly what Vino Rosso’s pedigree does, with his Street Cry broodmare sire, adding another dose of Mr. Prospector plus Halo/Turn-to through Street Cry’s sire, Machiavellian, his Touch Gold (by Deputy Minister) second dam, and his Lear Fan (Roberto, by Hail to Reason, by Turn-to) third dam. The symmetry of this pedigree, top and bottom, is perfection.

Then there’s Pilgrim S. winner Structor, by Smart Strike’s promising freshman sire grandson, Palace Malice—that young stud’s first graded stakes winner. Structor’s pedigree is very nearly a twin to Vino Rosso’s, mixing up the very same elements. Grandpa would approve. Palace Malice himself has inbreeding to Northern Dancer through Deputy Minister and Theatrical, along with inbreeding to Turn-to through Smarten, Theatrical’s dam Tree of Knowledge, plus a second dam by Red Ransom, a son of Roberto, as was noted in Vino Rosso’s bloodlines.

Structor is by a More Than Ready mare, adding the requisite Halo, and More Than Ready is out of a Woodman mare, by, of course, Mr. Prospector. But here's the coup de grace: Structor’s second dam, Miss Seffens, is by Dehere, who is quickly turning into one of Deputy Minister’s most productive sons as a broodmare sire, and who seems, more and more, to have created his own line, as inbreeding to Deputy Minister through him works like magic.

Smart Strike stood at Lane’s End, where I saw him the year before he died. I’d similarly seen Mr. Prospector, at Claiborne, shortly before his death, and the two looked like twins, crotchety, bony old men, plain brown, perturbed at being trotted out for show. It would seem that Smart Strike must be considered one of Mr. P’s most important sons, if not the most important, for his continued contribution to today’s thoroughbred horse

-- Roberta Smoodin