Will The Star's Pride Line Survive?

Over the last two weeks, I have looked at the Super Bowl male line from the standpoint of the production leading to the development of a trotter like Malabar Man, and then last week to an analysis of the entire Super Bowl legacy.

I plan to close this loop this week with an analysis of the entire Star's Pride male line, and whether it has the depth and quality to survive the next millenium.

Star's Pride is, without doubt, the greatest modern trotting sire in history. There are those who wish to attribute that badge to Valley Victory, but as great a young sire as he is, he still has a ways to go to have a career the equal of Star's Pride. Valley Victory is a great horse and well on his way to being an historic sire, but he has produced two Hambletonian winners and trails Star's Pride by six. He also trails Star's Pride by nine in his number of Kentucky Futurity winners.

Star's Pride was a foal of 1947, and would be, like most of our most successful stallions, an unlikely choice as history's greatest modern trotting stallion. He was a good, but not dominant trotter, and he had his detractors. Certainly his racing career did not have the kind of exciting and unfulfilled potential that beset Valley Victory in later years. Star's Pride was by Worthy Boy, one of the best-bred horses of his era, and out of a mare by the world champion Mr. McElwyn. If you examine Worthy Boy's career in detail, you don't really find a clue that he could produce such an exceptional horse.

Worthy Boy was a son of Volomite and out of a mare, Warwell Worthy, who was a half-sister to the legendary 1930's wonder mare Rosalind. And although the Volomite male line has produced such exceptional trotters as Mack Lobell and Balanced Image, we do not think of it in the same breath with the more powerful Peter The Great lines that come down through Star's Pride and Speedy Crown.

Star's Pride was a bad-footed race horse who hit his shins pretty badly. But as a sire, he had no equals. He produced during his career some of the most legendary trotters of our time, including the likes of Nevele Pride, Super Bowl, Savoir, Lindy's Pride, Ayres, Emily's Pride, Kerry Way, Diller Hanover, Matastar, Hickory Pride, and, well, the list is too long to belabor at this point. He also produced the international stars Nike Hanover, winner of the Prix d'Amerique, and the Elitlopp winner Spartan Hanover.

From this group, however, only Super Bowl and Nevele Pride emerged with stallion careers that could beg any parallels with their own great sire. Nevele Pride, a world champion at two, three and four, could not muster the magic of his own sire, and never sired a sub-1:56 trotter. His lone Hambletonian winner Bonefish has clearly had a lot to offer, particularly as a broodmare sire, but Nevele Pride's legacy is now sadly of a prominent broodmare sire.

Super Bowl has more than done his part in perpetuating Star's Pride's genes, and his littany of champions also includes a number of prominent trotters, including Supergill, Napoletano, American Winner, Worthy Bowl, Brisco Hanover, Cumin, Final Score, Joie De Vie, Super Pleasure, Royal Troubador, Speed Bowl, Texas and more recent champions like Take Chances and Bowlin For Dollars.

Just a scant few years ago, it appeared that the Star's Pride line was in serious trouble. Before Supergill's emergence on the world scene, and the late development of American Winner, the Super Bowl line appeared to have the same fate as that of Star's Pride himself. The prospects for saving the line looked dim. Most of Super Bowl's early champions with stallion opportunities did not have the siring power of their sire or grandsire, or simply lacked major opportunities. The emergence of talented horses like Supergill, American Winner and Napoletano gave everyone hope that the Star's Pride line was safe for another generation. Another son of Super Bowl, the Breeders Crown-winning Royal Troubador, sired the miraculously fast filly champion CR Kay Suzie, and now has a better opportunity to produce based on his early successes. Royal Troubador not only produced "Suzie" but currently has a gifted two year old in the undefeated CR Commando.

One of the leading young sires in Europe is the Swedish horse Super Arnie, currently the leading sire of sophomore trotters in that country. Super Arnie was a big, handsome, fast son of Super Bowl from the Arnie Almahurst mare Arnie's Likeness. I am not surprised that he has become a successful sire as he was a very appealing racehorse in North America at two and three for Berndt Lindstedt. The cross of an Arnie Almahurst mare to Super Bowl was a good one, as that combination also produced the millionaire performer Express Ride.

One of the most interesting young stallions on the horizon in North America is SJ's Photo, a son of Photo Maker, and a grandson of Yankee Bambino, one of the best sons of Star's Pride's son, Hickory Pride. A multiple world champion who won 46 races and nearly $1.5 million, SJ's Photo allows us access to the Star's Pride line but in a way that is unique. He is four generations removed from Star's Pride in his male line, and his dam is by Kawartha Mon Ami, a son of Super Bowl. This means that SJ's Photo is linebred to Star's Pride, but has no Speedy Crown influences. With the backing of some major breeders, SJ's Photo is getting an opportunity here that is very interesting. His first crop are yearlings of 1998.

Male lines have a way of narrowing over time. This is the history of the breed since the time of Hambletonian. And we know certainly that several prominent lines have died out along the way. At least for the foreseeable future, the Star's Pride line appears to be safe from extinction.