Goody Two Shoes may not be an unfamiliar name to some, but her many descendants are present in some of the world’s most successful modern day Thoroughbreds.
Her name is often back in the 8th, 9th and 10th generations these days, but her taproot female and sire male descendants are commonplace in a six generation pedigree.
The headline horses produced from this maternal line include Sadler’s Wells and Nureyev, two world class sires (and three-quarter brothers) who have gone on to establish sire line dynasties themselves. The influence of these two alone in Australia and New Zealand is well documented, with sons and grandsons such as High Chaparral (sire of So You Think), Medaglia D’Oro, Artie Schiller, Scenic, Galileo, Carnegie – all from the Sadler’s Wells line – and Spinning World (sire of Thorn Park), Peintre Celebre, Good Journey, Soviet Star (sire of Ashkalani and Starcraft), Stravinsky and Fasliyev among the representatives of Nureyev.
Sadler’s Wells’ brother Fairy King, while not as widely prolific as his close relations, is the sire of Encosta De Lago, a very successful sire who has gradually emerged as a successful sire of sires.
Line breeding to this female family is becoming increasingly common and identified in many of the top racehorses. Australia and New Zealand have been host to many breeding representatives of this line over the past 75 years and those that would like to create line breeding to Goody Two Shoes without necessarily doubling up on Sadler’s Wells, Fairy King and Nureyev will find that there are plenty of other not-so-obvious representatives present in modern day pedigrees.
An Irish born mare foaled in 1899, Goody Two Shoes was by Isinglass (GB) out of Sandal (GB). She was inbred to the mare Mineral 4m x 3m through Mineral’s sons Wenlock and Kisber. Mineral’s sire Rataplan was a son of the famous ancestress Pocahontas, said to be responsible for the so-called ‘large heart gene’. Rataplan meets with half brother Stockwell in her pedigree, while Pocahontas’ half sister The Boardingschool Miss is also present. Like nearly all pedigrees of that time, hers is intensely inbred and line bred, with several other instances of half brothers and sisters coming together in her pedigree.
A winner at three and runner-up in the Irish Oaks Stakes, Goody Two Shoes was the dam of Ascot Gold Vase winning stayer Charles O’Malley, who went on to be a useful sire. Charles O’Malley is best known as the sire of Malva, dam of class racehorse and leading sire Blenheim (sire of Donatello II, Mahmoud etc), King Salmon and His Grace.
Goody Two Shoes’ best achievement as a contributor to the development of the Thoroughbred is via Simon’s Shoes, an unplaced mare who went on to represent her dam with the family’s best influences.
While there are several world famous stallions emanating from this female line, there are also some ‘lesser lights’ which nevertheless have had an influence in Australian and New Zealand pedigrees right up to current day racing.
Simon’s Shoes is the dam of Carpet Slipper, dam of smart colt Windsor Slipper, an unbeaten winner of six races at two and three years. Sent to stud, his son Lucky Bag was a modest winner before being exported to Australia for stud duties. While he had little serious influence as a sire, Lucky Bag occasionally bobs up in Colonial pedigrees.
Carpet Slipper is the third dam of Val De Loir (Fr), a leading sire and broodmare sire in France, who gets another mention further on in this article. She is also the fifth dam of Group 1 Champion Stakes winner Reform (Ire) and the fifth dam of Open Day (Ire), who stood in New Zealand.
Simon’s Shoes is also the dam of Yorkshire Oaks winner Dalmary, at which point the influence of this family really starts to hot up. Of Dalmary’s nine foals, eight were fillies, which certainly helped the family proliferate.
Her daughter Rough Shod produced Lt Stevens (USA) the damsire of Lear Fan, whose son Casual Lies (USA) stood at Windsor Park Stud in New Zealand. Lear Fan appears in the pedigrees of Myboycharlie (Ire) and Bobby’s Kitten (USA). Myboycharlie also carries Goody Two Shoes family members Thatch and Thatching and has worked very well with mares carrying more of the Goody Two Shoes line via Fairy King, Nureyev and Sadler’s Wells.
Rough Shod’s daughter Moccasin produced Champion English 2yo Colt Apalachee (USA) by Round Table. His Group 2 winning son Motavato (bred by Swettenham Stud) stood in South Australia in the 1980’s, his best runner being Group 3 winner Speeding Fine. Motavato is second damsire of dual Group 1 winner, Sacred Choice.
Another son of Moccasin and Round Table is Brahms (USA), who was imported to Australia where he proved only a moderate sire.
Rough Shod also produced Ridan (USA), sire of Aythorpe (Ire), a New Zealand-based sire in the early 80’s, producing many daughters who still appear in modern pedigrees.
Rough Shod’s great granddaughter Drumtop is the dam of Drums Of Time (USA) who stood in New Zealand and of Topsider (USA), best known in Australia as the sire of Fraar (USA), bred by Shadwell Farm. A Caulfield Cup winner for David Hayes, he retired to Lindsay Park Stud where he produced Nina Haraka and another six stakes winners. His daughters include Monte Rosa, dam of Group 1 winner Snitzerland and Group 3 winner Sooboog.
Rough Shod’s daughter Thong is a much more recognisable name to modern breeders. She is dam of the quality stallion Geiger Counter (USA) who was one of the first shuttle sires, also standing in Ontario, Canada. Worldwide he produced Group 1 winners Gold Guru, Minegold, Nuclear Debate, Rarotonga Treaty and Reactive. He is the second damsire of young Northern Meteor stallion, Fighting Sun. Geiger Counter’s brother Dusty Boots (USA) stood in Victoria for a couple of seasons before dying prematurely.
Thong’s daughter Special is where things get more familiar. She is dam of Northern Dancer’s son Nureyev (USA), a brilliant juvenile who was disqualified after his win in the 2000 Guineas for interference. He was retired to stud early, becoming a champion sire. Some of his progeny to stand in Australia include Spinning World (sire of Thorn Park), Peintre Celebre, Good Journey, Soviet Star (sire of Ashkalani, Starcraft and grandsire of Star Witness), Stravinsky (sire of Oratorio Ire) and Fasliyev.
Nureyev is also damsire of New Zealand’s champion sire and broodmare sire, Zabeel. Zabeel’s second damsire Val De Loir (Fr) is also a Goody Two Shoes family member via Simon’s Shoes, making his dam line bred to this influential family. Top class racehorses such as Dundeel therefore carry three lines to Goody Two Shoes, as his grandsire is Sadler’s Wells and damsire is Zabeel.
Special is also the dam of Fairy Bridge, in turn dam of world champion sire, Sadler’s Wells and his brothers Fairy King and Tate Gallery, and half brother Perugino. While Sadler’s Wells’ influence has been worldwide via the success of not only himself but his sire sons and grandsons, Fairy King and Tate Gallery, who both stood in Australia, have been less penetrating. Fairy King was a successful sire in the Northern Hemisphere, producing ten Group 1 winners there including Falbrav, Helissio, Revoque, Victory Note, Second Empire and Beckett, all of which stood in Australia with varying success and have daughters and granddaughters at stud.
Fairy King’s best achievement at stud in Australia was to produce Encosta De Lago, who has not only been a champion sire here, but is also a successful sire of sires (the ill-fated Northern Meteor, Manhattan Rain etc) and top broodmare sire.
As is often seen with full relations, Tate Gallery did little at stud to warrant having any sire sons here.
Perugino’s son Testa Rossa is another individual that has responded well to reinforcement of the Goody Two Shoes family, with stakes winners out of mares by carrying Nureyev via Zabeel, Peintre Celebre and Spinning World; Fairy King via Encosta De Lago; and fellow family member, Yeats.
Special’s daughter Kilavea has moderate Australian-based sires Elusive Quest (Ire) and Middle Kingdom (USA) as her descendants. Her daughter Number produced Jade Robbery (USA) who shuttled from Japan to Australia for a couple of seasons, his best issue here being Group 3 winner Valkyrie Diva.
Special is also the taproot for Wrote (Ire), a Breeder’s Cup Turf winner and now standing at Highview Stud in NZ.
Another daughter of Thong is Handsewn the dam of Festival Hall (Ire), who stood in Australia in the 2000’s but failed to make an impact. Festival Hall’s half sister Faith In Dreams produced talented sprinter Dreamscape (Aus), who stood at stud for a number of seasons before dying at the age of 12 years earlier in 2017.
Another of Thong’s many daughters is Lisadell, the second dam of Yeats (USA), sire of multiple Group 1 winners Poetic King and Poetic Prince and a further 14 stakes winners. Lisadell is also second dam of Campo Catino (Ire) who failed to live up to the success of his immediate family.
Thong’s son Thatch (USA) was a superior racehorse, winning seven of nine starts including three races as a juvenile in Ireland. At stud, Thatch was not as impressive, his best issue being champion sprinter Thatching (Ire), who is line bred to Dalmary, being out of her great-great granddaughter, Abella. Thatch is accessible via mares carrying Archway, Puissance, Rustic Amber, Sequalo, Shalford and Tirol. He also appears in the pedigrees of current stallions including Myboycharlie (Ire), Sir Prancealot (Ire) and Spirit Of Boom.
Dalmary is also the taproot for Lorenzaccio (Ire), who served moderate books in Australia from 1979 to 1982. While he is best known for producing the English Group 1 winner Ahonoora (GB) who also stood briefly in Australia – he did produce Group 1 VRC Derby and SA Derby winner Brewery Boy here. As a broodmare sire, Lorenzaccio produced Group 1 Sydney Cup winner Marooned (GB), a leading sire in Western Australia.
Lorenzaccio’s son Ahonoora appears in the pedigrees of 2017 stallions Animal Kingdom (USA), Cable Bay (Ire), Dawn Approach (Ire), Dream Ahead (USA), London Bridge (USA) and Spill The Beans.
There are also several modern-day tail female representatives of the Goody Two Shoes family currently at stud.
Fiorente is an interesting addition to the family. His second dam is a half sister to five stakes winners, two of them Group 1 winners and two of them Group 3 winners by Sadler’s Wells. This mating therefore created line breeding to Goody Two Shoes. Fiorente himself is by Monsun (Ger). On delving deep in his pedigree, it is interesting to see that Monsun is inbred to the full brother and sister Kaiseradler and Kaiserkrone, who trace to Shepherdess (1809), 8th dam of Goody Two Shoes.
The now-deceased Northern Meteor was also line bred to Goody Two Shoes. His dam Explosive is a granddaughter of Moccasin, a sister to Thong, third dam of his grandsire Fairy King. He is also responding well to further lines to this family. Northern Meteor’s Group 1 winner Speak Fondly carries Lorenzaccio via her dam; Group 3 winner The Voice carries Sadler’s Wells on his dam’s sire line; while Canonbury Stakes winner Fighting Sun carries another line via Geiger Counter, his second damsire.
Top sprinter Headwater is another descendant of Goody Two Shoes, in fact his fifth dam Sliprullah is inbred to Carpet Slipper via son Windsor Slipper and daughter Nova Puppis.
As you can see, the opportunity to replicate the huge success of line breeding to this prolific family is there in front of us. Broodmare owners – have a good look through your mares’ pedigrees and you are likely to find at least one of the abovementioned representatives and by locating current sires which offer members of this treasure trove of great genetics tracing to Goody Two Shoes, you too could breed something extra ‘Special’!
Written June 2017
Looks like we need to breed back to breed forward