If I were to invent a perfect imaginary pedigree, I would probably invent Lewis Bay’s. I’ve wagered on her many a time because of her stunning lineage, and have been let down until recently because of my high expectations of her. But her victory in the June 8 Bed O’ Roses Invitational S.-G3, in which heavy favorite American Girl virtually failed to show up, validated her pedigree further, allowing me the great pleasure of writing about her. Her trainer, Chad Brown, said of her, after the race, “she deserves to get a Grade 1,” and, with that pedigree, she certainly does. The bay mare has won graded stakes races in each of her years at the track, at two, three, four and now five, so she can hardly be faulted, and she is a millionaire earner. From her 15 starts, she has been in the money 14 times, so the girl clearly tries. Her breeder, Alpha Delta Stables, ran her through the Keeneland September sale in 2014, buying her back for $170,000—surely a disappointment, as they had spent $1.7 million on her dam, Summer Raven, at Keeneland November in 2009. Summer Raven is now looking like a bargain, having produced not only Lewis Bay but also graded stakes winners Winslow Homer and Misconduct, both by Unbridled’s Song, and she is currently back in foal to Bernardini, the sire of Lewis Bay. Summer Raven’s affinity for Unbridled’s Song should be noted, since he is by Fappiano, just as Quiet American in Bernardini’s pedigree, is by Fappiano.
The first thing that initially drew me to admire Lewis Bay’s pedigree was that she was by Bernardini, out of a Summer Squall mare. This is a brilliant doubling of A.P. Indy’s and Summer Squall’s superb shared dam, Weekend Surprise, one of the greatest Secretariat mares of all time, and a wealth of other genetic material. Although I’m sure it exists, I don’t believe I’ve seen this twinning of Weekend Surprise, so close up, in any other stakes horse—Lewis Bay is 3 x 3 Weekend Surprise. So we’ve got a collection of Bold Ruler, the amazing Princequillo mare Somethingroyal (twice in each dose, through Secretariat and Sir Gaylord), Buckpasser, and My Babu, doubled. Add to this the dose of Buckpasser in the dam’s side, through Toll Booth, and the added, balanced, Princequillo line mares, top and bottom—Cequillo on top, through Quiet American, and Hardship, a granddaughter of Princequillo, on the bottom. For good measure, add another dose of Somethingroyal on the dam’s side, through Drone, the sire of Hardship and a son of Sir Gaylord, by Somethingroyal. Drone was out of Cap and Bells, a daughter of Tom Fool, which draws in the strands of Buckpasser, also by Tom Fool. Princequillo was the leading broodmare sire for years on end in his heyday, and contemporary pedigrees still demonstrate how powerful his influence is—one of the keys to breeding stakes winners is through as many daughters and granddaughters of Princequillo as one can squeeze into a pedigree, the most common being Secretariat’s and Sir Gaylord’s dam, Somethingroyal, a mare whom you simply can’t get enough of in a pedigree.
Summer Squall has every right to be a great broodmare sire on paper, but in person he was small and pigeon toed and light boned, an unimpressive specimen who nevertheless sired the winner of two/thirds of the Triple Crown, Charismatic, a huge, handsome, chestnut horse, among others. By Storm Bird, it’s no wonder that his pedigree features a second dam, Rahy Rose, by Rahy. The Storm Cat (by Storm Bird)/Rahy cross is a stone cold nick, responsible for Giant’s Causeway, Freud, and many others. Rahy, who stood his entire career at Three Chimneys in Midway, Kentucky, was known affectionately there as “the pony,”as he was a very small chestnut horse. By Blushing Groom, and out of Glorious Song, by Halo, who was out of the great Ballade, he too demonstrated early on that he would be a broodmare sire to be reckoned with. I owned two Rahy mares early in his career, believing that they would prove to be more than useful, and they were small chestnuts, like dad. But there was another make and model of Rahy Mare, a taller, leggier, longer bay, such as Serena’s Song, and that type has proved to be the better producer. Summer Raven represents the latter type.
Rahy represents a classic nick: as previously noted, he was by Blushing Groom, while his dam, Glorious Song, was by Halo, making him a Nasrullah-line sire over a Turn-to line broodmare sire. It is in this strain of Rahy, however, that we begin to see the pattern that defines and pulls together Lewis Bay’s pedigree, along with the preponderance of Princequillo mares. Halo is out of one of the two greatest Mahmoud mares, Cosmah, the other truly great being Cosmah’s half sister and the dam of Northern Dancer, Almahmoud. Lewis Bay is 5 x 4 inbred to Northern Dancer, top and bottom; inbreeding to these sisters is a tried and true pedigree gambit. This is not the extent of Mahmoud’s influence on this pedigree, however. Glorious Song, whose sire Herbager lends a bit of stamina and turf to the pedigree, is out of Miss Swapsco, by Cohoes. Cohoes is a son of Mahmoud, and is out of a daughter of La Troienne, who might have been the most influential mare of the twentieth century, and who also appears here through Buckpasser and Seattle Slew. Miss Swapsco’s dam, Soaring, is by Swaps, and out of a mare whose dam is by Mirza, whose dam is Mahmoud’s second dam, Mumtaz Mahal.
Many other strains and variations involving Mahmoud influence this pedigree, making him the most powerful relative for Lewis Bay (and the 1933 stallion may be responsible still for nearly 90% of gray coat color in thoroughbreds). On her dams’ side, Lewis Bay’s dose of Drone brings more Mahmoud to the table, as he is by Sir Gaylord, out of the Mahmoud daughter, Ghazni. Lewis Bay’s tail female line goes to Moonstone as seventh dam, another daughter of Mahmoud. Add to that Hardship’s grandsire, Court Martial, whose own pedigree features Lady Josephine, Mahmoud’s granddam, and the proliferation of Mahmoud blood becomes overwhelming.
One more clever bit of inbreeding should be noted. Lassie Dear, the dam of Weekend Surprise, is by Buckpasser, out of Gay Missile, who is by Sir Gaylord and out of Missy Baba, a daughter of My Babu.
Toll Booth, on the dams’ side, is by Buckpasser, out of Missy Baby herself. The two doses of Weekend Surprise, top and bottom, are pulled into the tapestry of this pedigree by Toll Booth. Weekend Surprise and Toll Booth are so similarly bred, that they influence Lewis Bay’s brilliance more than such old blood, occurring singly, ever could.
Lewis Bay’s pedigree is represents the best, classic blood, from the Princequillo and Mahmoud to the Buckpasser and Missy Baba. Her lineage is a veritable art museum—displaying works of art of yore that still influence our idea of art today. Sometimes history comes alive, just as art does. Just as “Las Meninas” by Velazquez could be said to be the granddam of “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” and other paintings by Picasso, Lewis Bay is an example of the theory that the past is prologue.
— Roberta Smoodin