Flower Alley is the first Grade 1-winning son of the top sire Distorted Humor to go to stud, and considering Distorted Humor's fee was upped to $225,000 for 2007, there have been a lot of breeders looking for the next best thing.
Flower Alley's pedigree is remarkable for its intensity, being inbred 3x3 to Mr. Prospector and 4x5x4 to Northern Dancer. Inbreeding to Mr. Prospector raises warning signs, particularly where leg and foot unsoundness is concerned, but good horses inbred to this stallion icon include, besides Flower Alley, the champions/highweights Declan's Moon, Elusive City, and Halfbridled; and young sires El Corredor, Roman Ruler, Limehouse, Tapit, and Whywhywhy.
The first thing the breeder needs to know is that with inbred individuals like Flower Alley, it is not wise to continue close inbreeding a second generation. There are two main reasons for this. First, while the first generation (F1) cross of inbreeding can produce exceptional individuals like Flower Alley himself, a second generation (F2) cross back to the same source not only has diminishing returns, but may even have a negative affect.
Secondly, close and especially continued inbreeding increases the risk of health and soundness issues in the resulting foal. These animals tend to be high maintenance, high strung, and less vigorous overall, with lower fertility. They also have a high probability of getting not only the best genes from Mr. Prospector, but the worst as well, including his tendency to offset knees, small feet, and contracted heels. This is why, for Flower Alley's book, we will be discriminating against mares carrying additional Mr. Prospector in their pedigrees, especially mares by sons of Mr. Prospector.
The solution to an inbred horse can be one of two things. The first is to outcross away from the inbred strain, in this case away from Mr. Prospector. The second is to return to strains behind the inbreeding, which in this case would be Raise a Native and Gold Digger and the Myrtlewood family to reinforce behind Mr. Prospector. This could include Raise a Native sources like Alydar, Exclusive Native, and Native Royalty, for instance, and in particular, Mr. Prospector's full brothers Search For Gold, Red Ryder, and Kentucky Gold; his half brothers Yukon and Vaal Reef, and alternate sources of Gold Digger such as Katowice, Slew Gin Fizz, Explosive Bid, and Chief Bearhart; and Seattle Slew, Forestry and Bold Native (dam's sire of Forest Wildcat) from the Myrtlewood family.
Distorted Humor has already been successful with Alydar line mares and Seattle Slew mares. Forestry mares could be a good nick for Flower Alley, too. He should also do well with mares carrying Roberto, since Roberto's dam is bred very similarly to Mr. Prospector's dam (both with Nashua, Bull Dog and Blue Larkspur), so there's more reinforcing behind that inbreeding.
Flower Alley's inbreeding to Northern Dancer is 4x5x4 through Danzig, Lyphard, and Sadler's Wells. While this is a lot of Northern Dancer, it's not so close to be a major concern, and Northern Dancer is such a superior strain that it holds up well under linebreeding conditions. Just avoid extremely close crosses, such as mares by direct sons of Northern Dancer. Going behind the Northern Dancer linebreeding, he should do especially well with Halo, Cannonade, Arctic Tern, Maribeau, L'Emigrant, Machiavellian, Jules, Danehill and others from the same female line as Northern Dancer. Flower Alley may also nick well with other sources of Northern Dancer's sire Nearctic, such as Icecapade (Wild Again, Clever Trick), Explodent, Briartic and Nonoalco.
Danzig and Lyphard are both bred on a similar cross of Northern Dancer/Fair Trial, so if adding more Northern Dancer is the plan, look for it through the likes of Nureyev and Vice Regent, with similar crosses of Northern Dancer/Fairway. Nureyev works doubly well, since he's a close relative of Sadler's Wells, the sire of Flower Alley's second dam, Dance Image. Sadler's Wells is bred on a very similar pattern as Distorted Humor's dam, Danzig Beauty. Sadler's Wells is by Northern Dancer out of a mare by Bold Reason (who was by Hail to Reason out of Lalun by Djeddah). Danzig Beauty was by Danzig (by Northern Dancer) out of a mare by Mr. Leader, who was also by Hail to Reason out of a mare by Djeddah. Sadler's Wells' full brother Fairy King could work well here for the same reason.
Flower Alley might also do well with mares carrying strains of Danehill. Danehill was by Danzig, so some inbreeding there (which makes mares by sons of Danehill more inviting, pushing it back a generation). Danehill is also inbred to Northern Dancer's dam, Natalma, so good reinforcement there. And Danehill also did well with additional Fair Trial in his mates.
Flower Alley is in the happy position of being a son of a very successful sire, but at the same time, with a pedigree that makes him still available to many of Distorted Humor's best nicks. Distorted Humor's most famous runner is the Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide, out of a mare by Slewacide, a son of Seattle Slew. Seattle Slew also appears in the dam's sire of Distorted Humor's G2 winner Gaudeamus (dam by Seattle Slew), stakes winners Upturn (dam by Slew o' Gold) and Humor Me Molly (dam by Slewpy). Seattle Slew-line mares would be welcome additions to Flower Alley's book.
Distorted Humor has also had a pair of G2 winners out of two different mares by Personal Flag, who is by Private Account and which, along with Slewacide, Slew o' Gold, Woodman, and Believe It who appear in the dams of several other Distorted Humor graded stakes winners, suggests that Buckpasser the dam's sire of all of those sires is a key strain for him.
Distorted Humor has had repeated success with mares carrying Relaunch, Valid Appeal, and another In Reality son in Believe It. The Relaunch cross could also reflect a nick with his dam's sire The Axe II, since Awesome Humor is out of a mare by Pass The Tab, a grandson of The Axe II. Distorted Humor has also sired a pair of good ones out of the same mare by Home At Last, who also is a tail-male line descendant of The Axe II's sire Mahmoud, so that may be significant. Flower Alley may do well with the same, including mares by Holy Bull, Devil's Bag, Saint Ballado and other Halo sources with concentrations of Mahmoud.
In general, Flower Alley will probably do best with a more outcrossed mare, that is, one that does not have close strains of Mr. Prospector or Northern Dancer (³close² meaning within two or three generations). That leaves a wide range of bloodlines for him, including Seattle Slew, In Reality, Halo, Roberto, and Buckpasser, and Damascus. Given a healthy outcross or good reinforcement behind the inbreedings, Flower Alley should be an excellent heir to his outstanding sire Distorted Humor.
By Anne Peters