The frenzy over discovery of the next big thing in the thoroughbred industry—note the competitive if not frenzied bidding at the Keeneland September Sale for the offspring of Runhappy, Nyquist and Frosted—frequently obscures the great older sires and their achievements. On Saturday, September 14, old school sires shone, with Tiznow’s son Dennis’ Moment taking the Iroquois S.-G3 at Churchill in dominant, if not downright easy, fashion (and winning a slot in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile S.-G1) and Stormy Atlantic’s son, El Tormenta, winning the Woodbine Mile S.-G1 over favorite Got Stormy, herself a granddaughter of Stormy Atlantic.

It’s easy to forget what a wonderful race horse Tiznow, now 22 years old, was. He won the Breeders’ Cup Classic-G1 twice, defeating Giant’s Causeway both times, and was Horse of the Year, Champion Three-Year-Old Colt, and Champion Older Male, earning nearly $6.5 million. I went to see him at Winstar Farm shortly after his retirement, and he was such a big, handsome, well-made horse that I was convinced, after being a Giant’s Causeway fan throughout his career and resenting Tiznow’s superiority in the big race. After watching the races numerous times, it became clear to me that Tiznow would not be defeated—that he would do whatever he had to do to win.

Dennis’ Moment is out of an Elusive Quality mare, and a Deputy Minister second dam, and Tiznow has had great success with mares from the Mr. Prospector line, as well as with Deputy Minister mares. His millionaire son Tizway was out of a Dayjur mare. Another millionaire, Tiz Miz Sue, was out of a Woodman mare. Gemologist was out of a Mr. Prospector mare, with a Northern Dancer second dam, making this Grade One winner similarly bred to Dennis’ Moment. Strong Mandate, a promising young sire and Grade One winner, was out of a Deputy Minister mare. The list goes on and on.

As usual, though, if one looks a little deeper into Dennis’ Moment’s pedigree, one finds a wealth of older blood. Elusive Quality adds Secretariat’s dam, and Sir Ivor’s second dam, Somethingroyal in duplicate to the pedigree, and La Troienne is prominent through both the sire line and the dams’ side, through The Axe II, Seattle Slew, and Glowing Tribute, giving access to different strains of La Troienne’s strength, top and bottom. The other obvious strength is multiple doses of Mahmoud, four times through Northern Dancer’s dam, Natalma, and another time through his son, Oil Capitol, in Dennis’ Moment’s fourth dam, Perfect Pigeon (not the mention the huge dose through The Axe II, a son of Mahmoud, via Tiznow’s grandsire Relaunch). We see a wealth of Mahmoud, on the zigzag (through both sons and daughters), in this pedigree.

Stormy Atlantic, now 25 and standing for a bargain $15,000 at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms, was nowhere near the racehorse that Tiznow was, earning only $148,126 while winning only non-graded stakes races. However, his progeny have proved that his ton of pedigree, featuring two Triple Crown winners, Secretariat and Seattle Slew, and the Blue Hen mares Alluvial by Buckpasser and tail female Rough Shod II through her daughter Moccasin, not to mention being by Storm Cat, creates greatness in his offspring.

His son, El Tormenta, likewise has a ton of pedigree, tracing his dams’ side to the great Sam-Son foundation mare, No Class; he is Sam-Son bred and raced. Like Dennis’ Moment, he benefits from inbreeding to the great Somethingroyal, 4 x 6 x 5, through both her son Secretariat and her grandson, Sir Ivor. He is also inbred, top and bottom, to Seattle Slew, 3 x 4. But the real key may be his 4 x 4 inbreeding to Northern Dancer. Many of Stormy Atlantic’s best offspring utilize this paradigm, including Conquest Typhoon, Champion Two-Year-Old Colt in Canada, promising young sire and millionaire Get Stormy, Grade One winner Stormello, My Best Brother, Misty Ocean, and others. As noted above, the Woodbine Mile was a paean to Stormy Atlantic, as the very fast Got Stormy, by Get Stormy, is a granddaughter of the grand old man.

Both El Tormenta and Dennis’ Moment now have the golden ticket berths to their respective Breeders’ Cup races (as has Got Stormy from her previous stakes win at Saratoga, the Grade One FourstarDave S.), demonstrating how wrong it is to write off the older stallions in favor of the flavor of the moment young guns. There’s life left in the old horses yet. Though the fashionable dazzlement may have worn out a bit, the DNA hasn’t.

-- Roberta Smoodin