enjoyed this piece, thought I'd share:


Bellamy Road, by Michael Ventura, copyright May 4th, 2005



Bellamy Road was bred by Diane Cotter of Ocala , Florida by breeding her winning homebred mare Hurry Home Hilary to Concerto, a stallion standing for only $3,500 at the time. Diane Cotter was repaid for her efforts by selling him as a 2yo in training for $87,000 to George Steinbrenner at OBS and he has been repaid in turn by possessing a racehorse who has won 5 of 6 career starts, with the most impressive thus far being his surreally easy looking stakes record breaking and Track Record equaling score in the $1 Million Wood Memorial (GI).



An interesting thing about Bellamy Road is that he comes from a very young sequence of dams (his 1st was 7 when she foaled him, his 2nd was 5 when she foaled his dam, his 3rd was 4 when she foaled his 2nd, etc); and this may very well help explain why there are no big ones save him under his first 3 dams yet.



Once we reach the 4th dam however, you get to a Cynthia Phipps bred filly named Arabian Dancer, a Matron (GI) placed daughter of Damascus and the dam of both the Clark Handicap (G3) Winner and nice sire Out Of Place and the Athenia Handicap (G3) winning filly Lead Kindly Light (ped). Lead Kindly Light is in turn the dam of Cynthia's very nice Sprinter-Miler Gold Fever, a winner of the NYRA Mile (GI). Jackpot, a winner of Gulfstream Park Handicap (G2) out of Out Of Places' full sister Frolic, is the other Graded Stakes Winner under Arabian Dancer.



Arabian Dancer's dam was Ten Cents A Dance, a daughter of Buckpasser and the dam of the Cynthia Phipps homebred mare Versailles Treaty, an excellent daughter of Danzig who won the Alabama (GI), the Test (GI), the Ruffian (GI), and the Gazelle (GI). Versailles Treaty of course became the dam of Saarland .



Ten Cents A Dance was out of a daughter of Native Dancer named Exclusive Dancer, who was a half sister to none other than Affirmed's sire Exclusive Native and the dam of both Travers (GI) Stakes winner and record holder General Assembly and a Multiple G3W daughter of Riva Ridge named Expressive Dancer, who was in turn the dam of Bertram Firestone's Jim Dandy (G2) and Brooklyn Handicap (GI) Winner Chief Honcho and the Seattle Slew broodmare American Dance, who is the dam of the good sire American Chance, who won the Jersey Derby (G2) and Forego (G2) Handicap. Expressive Dancer was also the dam of Chief Honcho's full sister Bright Tiara, the dam of Nanbu Hai (JAP-GI) Winner Gold Tiara.



This is the female line of 1906's champion 2YO Filly and 1907's Co-champion 3YO Filly Court Dress, a Spinaway and Gazelle Winning James R. Keene bred daughter of Disguise who is also the ancestress of an important Canadian sire named Ladder (who died all too young in a barn fire shortly after covering Mintwina to conceive the King's Plate winner Bunty Lawless) and the significant Canadian bred sire Deputy Minister (who was 3x5 to none other than Ladder's son Bunty Lawless and thus linebred 5x6x7 to his 6th dam).



A profoundly important thing about Court Dress is that she's bred on a powerful Formula One Pattern to the Great Matriarch Queen Mary (10-A) through the female lines of her sire Disguise, damsire Hampton, 2nd damsire Breadalbane, and dam Hampton Belle (this making her 4x5x5x6 to her). It should also be noted that both Court Dress and her sire Disguise (who famously conquered the 1900 English Triple Crown Winner Diamond Jubilee in the Jockey Club Stakes) successfully integrated quite possibly the strongest English damline founded in the 19th Century (Queen Mary) with quite possibly the strongest American damline founded in the 19th Century (the Gallopade family of Disguise's sire Domino). This integration was reinforced when Court Dress was bred to Voter, a stallion who effected 4x4 inbreeding to Queen Mary's Prince of Wales Stakes Winning grandson Breadalbane, to create Inaugural. And this integration was reinforced yet further when Inaugural was in turn bred to Peter Pan, a stallion who effected 3x4 inbreeding to Gallopade's legendary descendant Domino, to produce Panoply.



Then Fairy Gold (9-e) got into the act as Panoply was bred to her son Fair Play's son Display to produce the nice filly Parade Girl and Parade Girl was in turn bred to Pilate, a son of Fair Play's half-brother Friar Rock, to produce Good Example. Good Example was thus 3x4 to the great broodmare Fairy Gold.



It is also very important to understand the closely related point that Good Example was bred on a reverse cross of the maternal half-brothers Fair Play and Friar Rock to none other than War Relic, the preserver of the Man O' War male line and the sire of Relic. Also, War Relic has a 2nd dam in Problem who was bred on the exact same Commando/Voter cross as Good Example's 2nd dam Panoply.



A powerful little example of cluster breeding at its finest is what you get when you cross War Relic and Good Example, and I should note here that Good Example's female line descendant Deputy Minister has powerful nicks with War Relic's two strongest sources: His son Relic and his double great-grandson In Reality (who was of course inbred 3x3 to War Relic).



I say this as Deputy Minister and Relic have combined in the first 5 Generations of the Hopeful (GI) and Vosburgh (G2) winner Salt Lake; Salt Lake's Mazarine Breeder's Cup (CAN-GI) Winning Daughter Salty You; the Man O' War (GI) Winner Magistretti; the Champagne (GI) and Hollywood Futurity (GI) Winner Toccet; and the Whitney (GI), Queen's Plate (GI), and BC Classic (GI) Winner Awesome Again.



In the same vein, Deputy Minister also forms a powerful nick with In Reality, who has combined with him in the GIWs Ghostzapper, Halfbridled, Take Charge Lady, House Party, Ten Most Wanted, Midas Eyes and Request For Parole.



This is of especial relevance to the greatness of Bellamy Road as that one traces in the female line to Good Example and is 6x6x8 to War Relic through Concerto's cross of In Reality and Caro's cross of Relic (note also that Bellamy Road's 4th damsire Damascus brings in War Relic's full sister Speed Boat through the female line of his sire Sword Dancer). (Inbreeding to War Relic through In Reality and Relic in the context of a long Good Example female line is a pattern also found in Ghostzapper.)