Decidedly Dear

[gufman4]

Any thoughts on this gal?? I know she is stakes placed and showed some promise early but is she half to anything or has she thrown anything??

[pedigreeann]

Decidedly Dear won 4 of 26 starts and and ran second in the Rainbow Miss S at Oaklawn Park; her year-younger half-brother Schaumburg was a SW at Houston, a winner of 9 of 25 starts. Their dam, Bold Tiffany was an old-fashioned 100% producer - 5 foals, 5 winners. Bold Tiffany herself was no slouch on the track, either, as she won 9 of 57 races, but her half-sister Oriental Game did even better, with 17 wins in 62 starts.

The second dam, Hill Play, comes from one of the best studs in California in the middle years of the 20th Century, that of George Pope at El Peco Ranch. Hill Play was a 3-year-old when she sold in the dispersal of Pope's stock in 1979 following his death. I have the catalogue (she was hip #54) but not what she went for. Her sire was Pope's pride and joy, the stallion Hillary, which he bred and stood; a son of Khaled, Hillary was a far better stallion than racehorse and is best known as the sire of Hill Run, who pushed Northern Dancer to his Kentucky Derby record and was a champion in both North America and Britain at 4.

Hill Play was out of a full sister to Kentucky Derby winner Decidedly, also bred and owned by Pope. Named Excitedly, she raced in Britain where she placed in the New Gwyn S, an important classic trial. A half-sister named Glory Hill, who was by Hillary, placed in the Santa Barbara H and produced Domineering, winner of the Royal Lodge S at Ascot in Britain.

Decidedly Dear's 4th dam Gloire Fille won 10 of 69 races and was a full sister to a 6-time SW out West. And HER dam was a 3-time winner by Beau Pere (everything in California breeding seems to go back to L. B. Mayer and his stallions). Moreover, the tail-female family is the very strong one of imported La Flambee; the sixth dam was a half-sister to classic winner Johnstown. This was a family dear to Mr. Pope's heart, because Hillary descended from the same female line.

Mr. Pope's philosopher was to breed from inexpensive but solid stock and use clever inbreeding to bring out the best in the bloodline. He bred J. O. Tobin, the first horse to beat Seattle Slew, and Wishing Well, the G2 SW who foaled Sunday Silence. He used his own stallions when developing his damlines and didn't care if nobody else wanted to use them, just like Fred Hooper and Verne Winchell did.

Whoever bought Hill Play was wise enough to double up the Khaled in her daughter by breeding her to a sire out of a Swaps mare. Decidedly Dear's sire brought in a few more crosses of Hyperion, but I would have looked for a few crosses of Nashua (out of Johnstown mare) or some other La Flambee descendents as well, to back up the female strains of Hillary and Excitedly. Not hard to find Nashua these days....,
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There is no such thing as too much Teddy.

[diomed]

If this is the Ann that I think it is, if I were you I would take her advise with serious thought. Great pedigree advise. BTW, how is the Penny painting doing?

[pedigreeann]

This is not an Anne, but an Ann. As in Ferland. I apprenticed at the CTBA facility in Arcadia while in college and Pope-breds were the topics of my first two published articles. I hate to see the products of generations of careful breeding frittered away by the ignorant who pick up the last generation in a dispersal sale, hence my suggestion of trying to use some of the Pope techniques (accumulation inbreeding to superior female families) to keep the spark alive.
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There is no such thing as too much Teddy.

[DDT]

pedigreeann

I think you meant to say Hill Rise instead of Hill Run running in Northern Dancer's record Derby performance.

DDT

[zinn21]

DDT, you beat me to the punch. It was Hill Rise. Hill Run was a pretty nice horse on his own. I believe he was sent to Europe to do the crux of his racing..

[Barcaldine]

Hello Ann,

Your comments about George Pope stirred a lot of memories for me. Decidedly was the first Kentucky Derby winner I saw as a kid, and Hill Rise was my third favorite California horse in the '60's (behind Native Diver and Candy Spots). They were extremes in conformation, too, with DECIDEDLY closely resembling his diminutive sire, DETERMINE, while HILL RISE towered over his rivals at 17 hands.

You may know that both of them ended their lives at El Peco Ranch in Madera. Neither had much success at stud, given their accomplishments and opportunities, and after stints at Claiborne and other farms, Pope brought them home to live long lives. El Peco is located in probably the most fertile location in California and, as you say, Pope raised some terriffic horses there. Great soil and water. The last I heard the farm is still there but has been unused as a horse facility for many years.

[Bettina]

Hello from Germany,
maybe it's a it off topic.

A daughter of J.O.Tobin was expertord to Germany. Her name is "Fraulein Tobin" (Am St. B. Vol. 29)rms Inc., 1982, sent to my homecountry 1994 via Ireland.

She turned out a good broodmare, with her offspring Fbriano (Sire in Slovc Republic, died 2008), Germane, Four Sins, Four Roses, Lucky Chappy etc.

Regards, Bettina

[pedigreeann]

Mea Culpa. I did type Hill Run instead of Hill Rise. They were full brothers, after all. Hill Run won the Prix Jean Prat in France, which became a G1 when Group racing was introduced, so yeah, he was pretty good in his day.

I started to do the research for writing a book about Pope and his breeding operation, which was always a side-line at the family cattle ranch, but real life has continually intruded. One thing I did learn is that the soil in the area of the ranch is the name-sake for a particular type of 'soil series', the El Peco series, located as follows:

"SETTING: The El Peco soils occur on nearly level to slightly depressed areas of old alluvial fans lying in the basin rim zone of large valley troughs. The microrelief is irregular low hummocky. The soils are developed in alluvium from granitic rock. They occur at elevations of 100 to 300 feet in a subhumid, mesothermal climate with mean annual rainfall of 8 to 9 inches, with hot, dry summers and cool, moist winters. Mean annual temperature is about 63 degrees F., average January temperature about 45 degrees F., and average July temperature about 82 degrees F. "

Cited as a similar type is that occurring near Chino, CA, which just happened to be another good horse-producing area in the past. (I believe it has been developed over the last 30 years and is no longer a horse-breeding area.)
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There is no such thing as too much Teddy.