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Palace Line - Gr1 SA Nursery (7 April)
Palace Coup

Australian bred Palace Line is a son of Palace Music, who is probably best known for the exploits of his son Cigar. Palace Music is by Epsom Derby winner The Minstrel, a three-parts brother to another Epsom Derby winner, Nijinsky. Both are sons of Northern Dancer, Nijinsky’s dam is Flaming Page, while The Minstrel’s dam is Fleur, a daughter of Flaming Page. At stud the pair have shown wildly different affinities. As broodmare sire Nijinsky has a great record with sires carrying Blushing Groom or Rainbow Quest, Damascus and Habitat. Mares by The Minstrel have an outstanding record with stallions carrying Kris or Diesis, writes Karel Miedema.

As sires the story isn’t any different. Nijinsky loves to have Bull Dog, Sir Gallahad, Teddy or La Troienne. The Minstrel seems more at home with concentrations of remote ancestors Sundridge, Melton and Ayrshire. New Zealand pedigree analyst Clive Harper gives a summary of The Minstrel’s Gr1 winners based on that observation. Of The Minstrel’s son Palace Music he says: “Palace Music has six lines of Sundridge, two of Ayshire, two of Robert le Diable (who is by Ayrshire out of a Melton mare) and one of Sunreigh (by Sundridge, third dam by Ayrshire). He has already shown that, as a sire, he picks up this pattern in the dams of his best runners.” Harper wrote this before the successes of Cigar, and of Gr1 SA Nursery winner Palace Line. The latter’s dam has five lines of Robert le Diable, one of Bridget (full sister to Melton), another four lines of Melton, and a dozen each of Aysrshire and Sundridge. Remarkable. Cigar’s dam also has five lines of Robert le Diable, one of Bridget, and a dozen each of Aysrshire and Sundridge.

Looking at the pedigree of Palace Line in a more conventional way, we start with his third dam Rustic Melody. She is inbred to Hyperion through a son and a daughter, and has two lines of Lady Juror, also through a son and a daughter. Rustic Melody was mated to sire El Abra to produce the second dam of Palace Line, La Malvada. El Abra is by Aristophanes out of a mare by Advocate, the same way as major sire Forli is constructed. The combination makes for inbreeding to Lady Juror, through a son (Fair Trial) and a daughter. Aristophanes is a son of Hyperion. This went well with Rustic Melody, and her daughter La Malvada now had four lines of Lady Juror (sons and daughters) and three of Hyperion (sons and daughters). It seemed to be a good broodmare pedigree. Subsequent matings to Pepenador (to produce Mamarracha) and Palace Music (which gave Palace Line) did not directly add any Hyperion or Lady Juror close up. But perhaps Harper was right when he predicted that specific inbreeding to Lady Juror “may be the way in which the Sundridge/Melton/Ayrshire cross is going to project itself into the 21st Century”. Lady Juror is a daughter of Lady Josephine, by Sundridge. And Lady Josephine is also the dam of Mumtaz Mahal, who through Mahmoud, Nasrullah and Royal Charger can be found in abundance in Pepenador and Palace Music.

On top of this, Palace Line is inbred to Count Fleet, whose grandsire is a son of Sundridge. In fact, a full count reveals that Palace Line has no less than 29 lines of Sundridge. His sire Palace Music has 13 (8 through sons, 5 through daughters), his dam Mamarracha has 16 (6 through sons, 10 through daughters). Palace Line does not have an easy pedigree to read, and its explanation seems to rely heavily on elements much further back in the make-up than usual. The point to be made is that you have to be aware of a sire’s specific affinities to find the right mating. And by the way, Cigar’s dam had 19 lines of Sundridge (13 from sons, 6 from daughters), giving Cigar a total of 32 Sundridge lines. If only we’d known! (Back to top)