A pedigree wish list came up in a forum discussion the other day and someone said how useful a photograph book of all the famous

FASTHORSES

THE WINNING PEDIGREE

THE IMPORTANCE OF PHOTOGRAPHS

Pedigree Corner, The Winning Post 30 October 2000

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A pedigree wish list came up in a forum discussion the other day and someone said how useful a photograph book of all the famous ancestors would be. Not an attractive a coffee table type of book but one made up of pictures taken throughout various horses careers.

This suggestion was met with unanimous agreement by the breeders on the forum many of whom had had computer programs but little if any accurate information about the ancestors as individuals.

What sort of information about these ancestors would be the most useful for breeders? Historically the first-hand account written by the great horses judges of the time has been the mainstay of breeders everywhere. The rendering of an accurate and revealing pen-picture which has enabled those who weren't there to see the horse first hand, to have a workable understanding of the horse, their race career and what characteristics might be peculiar to their line.

The invention of the camera has revolutionized this process, but in a parallel with the tabulated pedigree, the availability of the information doesn't always mean that people are equally skilled at assessing what they see. A description of Sunline for instance written by George Smith is likely to be more useful and reliable than one written by Sally Fluff who saw a photo of the mare in the Gymkhana Express.

Surfing the web the other day I came across a lovely picture of Nureyev on the American site Del Mar. Aside from his pedigree and a comment about him being a "breedshaper", the photograph depicted a magnificent stallion, who it was easy to imagine, might have always impressed people with his superb good looks.

The picture was in contrast to accounts written of him over the years. Although sold at Keeneland for an astonishing $1.3 million in 1978,

David Powell remembers him - "He looked very much like a May foal - and really did see the light of day on 2nd May - and was less highly developed than many... Smallish, narrow, backward and with one white eye, he was nobody's idea of a record yearling". (quote taken from Peerage of Racehorses)

Tony Morris in his book Thoroughbred stallions describes him, "Nureyev is really nothing to look at - very small, long, with poor joints, altogether a moderate individual."

Rated as the second top juvenile in France after winning the Prix Thomas Byron G3 by a huge margin, Nureyev won the Prix Djebel equally impressively at three but was demoted in the English 2000 Guineas after having bulldozed Posse in his dash to the post. Along with his size he inherited many marvelous qualities from his sire; a devastating turn of foot, a defiant nature and heartbreaking tenacity.

It is easy to see what a mistaken impression one might have had of Nurevev by seeing this single flattering picture, and not having had any other material to go by. In the ideal world pictures would be bound together with a chronicle of the horse written by a recognized authority of the time. Armed with this information breeders would have an intimate understanding of the forces at work in their mare's pedigrees.