By Anne Peters
apeters@threechimneys.com

It's a serious test for any good racehorse to prove himself as a successful stallion, but even more is demanded of a superhorse like Point Given. Fortunately, this son of champion Thunder Gulch and stakes winner Turko's Turn has a superior pedigree to back up his performance, which has translated into early success for Point Given as a sire.

Although he was an exceptional 2-year-old, few presumed Point Given would get a lot of precocious juveniles, and he didn't in his first crop, with only a pair hitting the winner's circle at 2. But as those first foals have matured at 3, they have grown into something special.

Point Given got his first stakes winner and graded stakes winner in the same race, when 3-year-old GO BETWEEN won the Palm Beach Stakes-G3 at Gulfstream Park on March 12, 2006, going 9 furlongs on the turf. Go Between, who ran third in the Pilgrim Stakes at 2, has since won the Virginia Derby-G2 and placed in several additional stakes, including second in the Crown Royal American Turf-G3 at Churchill in May. Being a turf star, he came as a bit of a surprise for Point Given fans, but Go Between's dam, Mediation (IRE), by French Derby winner Caerleon, was a classy stakes filly in Ireland and the U.S. on the grass.

Point Given's son POINT DETERMIND (out of Merengue by Broad Brush) performed admirably all winter, and broke his maiden at Santa Anita in January on the same day his owner, Bob Lewis, died. After placing in the San Felipe Stakes-G2 and Santa Anita Derby-G1, he became his sire's first stakes winner on dirt after a memorable stretch duel with A.P. Warrior in the Affirmed Handicap-G3 on June 17. He has since placed second in the Swaps Stakes-G2. It's with home team pride that we note Three Chimneys' owner Robert Clay as co-breeder of Point Determined, along with Bowman and Higgins Stable of Maryland.

Point Given's third stakes winner is the Canadian-based colt THE MAX (out of Lost Love by Lost Code), who won the Derby Trial Stakes at Assiniboia Downs the same day as Go Between's Virginia Derby-G2 win. He followed up with a second in the $100,000 Manitoba Lotteries Derby.

Point Given's good colt Great Point (out of Crafty Queen by Crafty Prospector) broke his maiden last fall at Belmont. He came back strongly this spring, looking like a serious stakes horse when breaking his maiden at Santa Anita in February, and running a very impressive second to Barbaro in the Holy Bull Stakes-G3.

Point Given's filly Claremont (out of Charlotte Augusta by Chief's Crown) was the first of his offspring to win at 2 last year, when she broke her maiden at Arlington Park on July 23, 2005. As a 2-year-old, she also ran second in the Anna M. Fisher Debutante Stakes at Ellis Park in August.

Point Given has also been represented by winners Three Points, C K Given, Nonsensical, Daring Temper, Opimiam, Special One, Point of Impact, Taken Not Given, Point Spread, Request Given, Point Missed, and That's A Given, among his first-crop winners to date (8/19/06).

His current crop of 2-year-olds has already had 3 winners, which puts him ahead of his first crop scores at this early stage. These include the fancy filly Point Ashley (at Del Mar), the filly Tremendous One (at Saratoga), and the colt Primary Notice (at Philadelphia).

Pedigree highlights

With these highlights so far, we can get a handle on some of the things Point Given appears to be working with.

Because of his unusual pedigree, being inbred to Raise a Native 4x4 through sons Mr. Prospector and Alydar, it was questionable if Point Given would do well with mares carrying additional Raise a Native. Usually, horses that are inbred to an intense degree do better when bred to mares who don't carry the same inbred strain up close. Apparently Nature doesn't consider 4x4 Raise a Native "too close," since one of Point Given's best runners, the G3-placed Great Point, is out of a mare by Crafty Prospector (by Mr. Prospector). So Great Point is not only getting a third strain of Raise a Native through his dam's sire, but is inbred 4x3 to Mr. Prospector, to boot.

One of Point Given's recent filly winners, Point Spread, maiden special weight winner at Belmont on June 11, is out of a mare by Conquistador Cielo, so also inbred 4x3 to Mr. Prospector . Point of Impact's second dam is by Bold Ruckus (by Boldnesian out of a daughter of Raise a Native) so Point of Impact is actually 5x5x5 to Raise a Native. Having noted that, of Point Given's 3 stakes winners to date, none of them have inbreeding to Mr. Prospector or Raise a Native, so the outcross might remain the best option and it may be best to err on the side of caution here.

Note that Crafty Prospector is out of a mare by In Reality, so Great Point is also carrying a double cross of In Reality, although not very close. In Reality is 5x4 through his son Relaunch (the sire of Point Given's second dam), and Crafty Prospector's dam, Real Crafty Lady.

In Reality

Individual linebreeding aside, It could be that the combination of Mr. Prospector on In Reality found in Crafty Prospector is more important because it's very similar to the Alydar on Relaunch cross found in Point Given's dam, Turko's Turn, both Raise a Native on In Reality crosses, so both are closely related individuals.

Another recent winner by Point Given, Request Given, who broke his maiden on June 11, is out of a mare who also has Relaunch in her pedigree. He's 4x3 to Relaunch. Since his granddam Deep Discount is inbred 2x3 to In Reality, returning the strain through doubling up on Relaunch might be doing some very positive reinforcement here. 2006 juvenile winner Primary Notice also has a cross of In Reality in his second dam via Garthorn, and is 5x5 to In Reality.

Outcrosses

Then there's the other or "outcross" side of the coin. Avoiding close doubling up to Raise a Native and In Reality, both strains known for unsoundness, would be less risky overall, reducing the chances of putting a big bodied horse on "iffy" legs. This is probably going to be more beneficial to Point Given because of his large size and muscle mass.

At the same time, being a concentrated source of Raise a Native, Point Given would be very likely to do best with strains that have worked well with Raise a Native, particularly with Mr. Prospector and Alydar. These would include Northern Dancer sources like Danzig, Storm Bird/Storm Cat and Vice Regent/Deputy Minister; also Seattle Slew and other Bold Ruler strains such as Secretariat; plus Buckpasser and Halo among the best nicks.

Point Given's G3 winner Point Determined's pedigree is an example of an outcross. Out of the mare Merengue by Broad Brush, the closest duplications between his parents' pedigrees are 3 strains of Native Dancer, all in the sixth generation (the pair of Raise a Native crosses in Point Given, and Merengue's fourth dam, a daughter of Native Dancer). This makes him an outcross for 4 generations.

While Point Given is inbred to Raise a Native, Merengue is herself an inbred mare, with four strains of Turn-to, twice through Broad Brush (who is 3x3 to Turn-to via daughters Fast Turn and Turn to Talent) and more distant crosses through Turn-to's sons Hail to Reason and Cyane. This is an example of how inbred horses from different strains can be crossed, creating an outcross, or "hybrid vigor" sort of situation.

Point Determined's dam, Merengue is by Broad Brush out of a mare by Sentimental Slew (by Seattle Slew). This was very similar to the dam of another Point Given winner, Dastard Lee (a winner at Laurel in February), whose dam, Carly Lee, is by Broad Brush out of a daughter of Seattle Slew. That 2 mares bred on the same unusual cross would produce a pair of first-crop Point Given winners seems noteworthy. Again, Dastard Lee's dam has multiple strains of Turn-to, 2 through Broad Brush and 1 through Seattle Slew.

Which leads us to another pattern. Three of Point Given's latest winners are out of mares from the Seattle Slew male line. Tremendous One is out of a mare by Seattle Slew while Point Ashley and Darling Temper are both out of mares by Slew o' Gold (by Seattle Slew out of a Buckpasser mare, so ideal Point Given material). Another Point Given winner, Three Points, has Slew o' Gold as the sire of his second dam. The promising Point of Impact has a cross of Seattle Slew's grandsire Boldnesian through Bold Ruckus in his second dam.

Why would Point Given have an affinity for Seattle Slew and/or Boldnesian? It's worth remembering that the exceptional runners Officer and Tiznow are by Relaunch-line sires out of Seattle Slew-line mares. And Breeders' Cup Classic-G1 winner Skywalker was by Relaunch out of a mare by Boldnesian; and Relaunch's G3 winner Slew Gin Fizz is out of a mare by Seattle Slew. That's not to forget the In Reality/Boldnesian nick that produced Sprint champion Smile (dam's sire of Smarty Jones), or the In Reality/Bold Ruler nick which is even more widespread in influence.

Bold Ruler is actually a recurring theme in the pedigrees of Point Given's best runners so far. Besides those already noted, Bold Ruler's best son Secretariat appears in the pedigrees of the dams of both Go Between and Claremont. Go Between, although out of a mare by Caerleon (by Nijinsky II by Northern Dancer), has Secretariat's son General Assembly in his second dam. Claremont is out of a mare by Chief's Crown, who was by Danzig (by Northern Dancer) out of a mare by Secretariat. In fact, Go Between's dam is bred on a similar Northern Dancer/Secretariat cross as Chief's Crown, as is Storm Cat, the sire of the dam of Point Given's winner Reposado. (Reposado is actually inbred 4x3 to Storm Cat's sire Storm Bird, dam's sire of Thunder Gulch.)

By raw count, Northern Dancer-line mares right now make up the majority of dams of Point Given winners, including as they do, the dam of black-type Go Between, Claremont, and winners Thankuborgata, Opimiam, Point of Impact, Point Missed, Three Points, and Reposado. All of these are from mares from different Northern Dancer strains. All of these also have some level of linebreeding to Northern Dancer, who appears in Point Given's pedigree through Thunder Gulch, out of a mare by Northern Dancer's son Storm Bird. In Go Between and Claremont, the linebreeding is 5x4 Northern Dancer.

Another significant pattern of linebreeding involves Round Table, appearing in Point Given's pedigree through his dam's sire Turkoman, out of a mare by Table Play (by Round Table – Leallah by Nasrullah). Table Play was bred on the famed Round Table/Nasrullah nick, an extension of the Princequillo/Nasrullah nick, which worked equally well in reverse.

Another example of the Round Table/Nasrullah nick was the stakes winner Poker, who happens to be the dam's sire of Seattle Slew. This may be why Seattle Slew is crossing with Point Given, although admittedly, it's a pretty distant thread. Round Table also appears as the dam's sire of Caerleon (in Go Between), and Round Table also sired Advocator, the sire of the third dam of The Max. Other sources of this Round Table/Nasrullah nick include Apalachee, King Pellinore, Baldric, Drumtop (dam of Topsider), Wolf Power, and Without Fear.

Summary

So let's summarize the bloodlines that are popping up in Point Given's early success stories. His best nick so far is with Northern Dancer-line mares, represented by his leading earner Go Between, a stakes-placed horse in Claremont, and in the sirelines of the dams of 6 other winners. Their dams are sired by Caerleon, Chief's Crown, Northjet, Apollo, Regal Classic, The Minstrel, Citidancer, and Storm Cat.

Point Given has also had 3 winners out of Seattle Slew-line mares and 3 others with Slew in the second dam's sire. The majority of these involve his son Slew o'Gold, whose dam was by Buckpasser. Point Given has had 2 winners, including the G3 winner Point Determined, out of mares by Broad Brush, and both of those, unusually enough, are bred on the Broad Brush/Seattle Slew cross.

He's had 2 winners out of mares by sons of Mr. Prospector, specifically Crafty Prospector and Conquistador Cielo. Some other sons of Mr. Prospector that might make successful broodmare sires here could include Miswaki (out of a mare by Buckpasser, second dam bred on the Princequillo/Nasrullah cross), Woodman (dam by Buckpasser and descending from a half-sister to Poker, in Seattle Slew's pedigree), Seeking The Gold (dam by Buckpasser), and Gone West (dam by Secretariat). He may also do well with strains of Fappiano, who worked well with In Reality, but this may add too much leg into the equation for a horse the size of Point Given.

Point Given has 3 winners, including G3-placed Great Point, as the result of double crosses of In Reality, including Request Given, who is inbred 4x2 to In Reality's son Relaunch. Look for other sources of In Reality such as Smile (out of a mare by Boldnesian), Skywalker (by Relaunch/Boldnesian), Valid Appeal, Believe It, Proper Reality, Garthorn, Bertrando, Cee's Tizzy, and in the future, daughters of Tiznow and Officer, both Relaunch/Seattle Slew crosses.

Point Given has also had 4 winners out of mares from various branches of the Turn-to male line, including Saint Ballado (Halo), Cox's Ridge (Best Turn), Lord Gaylord (Sir Gaylord), and Repriced (Roberto). Add to that the Hail to Reason found in Seattle Slew, (a bloodline that hits on many chords here), also in Caerleon. Consider that Broad Brush is inbred to Turn-to, the conclusion is that there's a serious Turn-to/Hail to Reason element at work in the background of his winners so far.

Several of these target strains – Raise a Native, In Reality, Relaunch, Round Table/Nasrullah, appear in the pedigree of Point Given's dam Turko's Turn. Since Point Given bears a strong resemblence to his dam, it suggests that concentrating on linebreeding to elements in his dam's side of the pedigree might be the soundest way to proceed with Point Given. But don't forget his good record with Northern Dancer and Seattle Slew-line mares, too.