BH 100: Leading Sires: Part I

This feature originally appeared in the December 10, 2016 issue of BloodHorse.

Over the last 100 years the print edition of The Blood-Horse has recorded the Thoroughbred industry through its in-depth news and race reports and has profiled the titans of the sport and their farms. However, it is the sire list that succinctly wraps up the whole story each week on one page.

In its rawest form, the sire list measures a stallion’s success by his progeny earnings. That information has evolved over the years to include earnings from the “major” racing jurisdictions in Europe, and adding money from Japan and the Middle East. Today’s sire lists on BloodHorse.com come in many different varieties and are sortable to create custom lists, but it is the meat-and-potato “general sires list” that remains the definitive list.

With the birth of BloodHorse it was Star Shoot who led the list three times in four years (1916-17 and 1919). He was followed by the success of Sir Gallahad III, who lead the list four times in an 11-year span (1930, 1933-34, and 1940). 

The success of Calumet Farm lies clearly on the shoulders of Bull Lea. By Bull Dog, the leading sire of 1943, Bull Lea lead the list five times and sired six Calumet runners that are now in the Hall of Fame.

A key shift in the breed came in the fall of 1949 when Claiborne Farm’s A.B. “Bull” Hancock Jr. led a syndicate in the purchase of Nasrullah for a reported $370,000. After shipping to Kentucky from Ireland, the son of Nearco—Mumtaz Begum covered his first mares in 1951 and his first crop hit the races in 1954. By 1955 he was the leading sire by progeny earnings.

His stallion career was cut short, as he died in May 1959. The Blood-Horse reported his death in the issue dated May 30:

“About 10 o’clock on the morning of May 26 Col. Floyd Sager received an emergency call from a farm employee who, attracted by a horse’s nickering, had found *Nasrullah staggering in his paddock at Claiborne Farm, Paris, Ky. The resident veterinarian hurried to the scene, saw the stallion stumble for the last time and fall. Within a matter of minutes the horse was dead.

“Representatives of agencies which had insured various shares in the 19-year-old horse requested an autopsy, and at midday he was taken to the University of Kentucky, where the cause of death was attributed to a ruptured anterior vena cava.

“*Nasrullah had been idle that morning, and had been turned out in his paddock for about 3 hours before his death. Of the 37 mares booked to him for the 1959 season, all but one had been covered, and, according to office records, 10 resident mares and ‘several others away from here’ had been pronounced in foal.

“*Nasrullah was the one sire whose lifetime record appeared likely to surpass that of Bull Lea in the modern history of American racing.”

Nasrullah matched Bull Lea’s mark of five sire titles (1955-56, 1959-60, and 1962). His son Bold Ruler would lead the sire list seven times in a row from 1963-69, and again in 1973 based on the strength of his best son, Secretariat. 

In an age when the top-end book was 40 mares, Nasrullah had 420 foals. Of those he sired 99 stakes winners for a remarkable 23.6%.

Bold Ruler, bred and raced by Mrs. Henry Carnegie Phipps’ Wheatley Stable, would sire 82 stakes winners from 356 foals (23%).

Bold Ruler’s life was cut short by cancer, after a year-long struggle at Claiborne Farm. Treated at Auburn University in 1970, he was bred to 37 mares during the 1971 breeding season. In June of 1971 Bold Ruler began losing weight despite continuing to empty his feed tub.

The Blood-Horse reported: “By the end of the month, with his weight still dropping, he was showing a loss of vigor, a steadily increasing drop in activity. On July 2, biopsy of tissue taken from his neck confirmed the suspicion that the malignancy had surfaced again, a new and relentless onslaught producing tumors and lesions inside the head, neck, and chest.”

He was put down July 12, 1971.

In a companion piece to Bold Ruler’s obituary in the July 19, 1971, edition of The Blood-Horse, editor Kent Hollingsworth put the champion and leading sire’s career in perspective. “Success as a stallion is counted in dollars. Bold Ruler’s progeny got the money.

“His seven-year premiership, on sire lists compiled by progeny earnings, is unequaled in this century. Three other stallions have topped the American lists five times: Star Shoot, during the years 1911-19, Bull Lea during the years 1947-53, and Bold Ruler’s sire, Nasrullah, during the years 1955-62 (after leading in England in 1951).

“A century ago, mighty Lexington led America’s sire lists 16 times during 1861-78, 14 years in succession. This was a different era, of course.”

As it is today as well.

Hollingsworth also noted, prematurely, that “Because Bold Ruler never sired a winner of a Triple Crown race, there was a thought that his progeny lacked stamina.”

But countered:

“Greatness in a stallion wants ratification. None of Lexington’s great racing sons became noted sires. Star Shoot never sired a good stallion, although Uncle was moderately successful. Bull Lea’s sons were disappointing at stud.

“So far, Bold Ruler has 15 sons which have sired stakes winners: Bold Commander, Bold Bidder, Boldnesian, Jacinto, Chieftain, Bold Lad, Cornish Prince, Staunchness, Envoy, Bold Combatant, Bold Sultan, Kerry Chief, Manifesto, Neke, and Atomic.

“Bold Ruler’s success is undisputed. Ratification of greatness appears imminent.”

At the time, Secretariat was a yearling and Boldnesian’s son Bold Reasoning was 3. Bold Reasoning only sired 61 foals, but one of those was Seattle Slew, the great-grandsire of Tapit.

Tapit appears on his way to reaching similar heights as he nears his third consecutive sire title Dec. 31. 

Part II, which will focus on the Stallion Register with a look at successful branches of particular sirelines today, will appear in the issue dated Dec. 17.

Read more BloodHorse 100 features here.