Banner was the best foal of a nice crop for me which also included Rain Dancer's daughter Canyon (winner of the CCA Oaks), Jet-Ski's dam Kayak, and the millionaires Loki Charm and The Rocket (also out of Rain Dancer...don't ask, there are a number of accidental twins out there). She came from the first crop of Loki Flame, one of the famous Sahara Gold offspring, who had won the Kentucky Derby and finished a game second to Elusive Pegasus in the Breeders' Cup Classic.
Her dam, War Song, was an early New River homebred daughter of A.P. Indy. She had a successful career on both dirt and turf, winning the CCA Oaks and finishing 2nd in the French Derby and 3rd in the Arc. Her dam, Glorious Song, was a Canadian Horse of the Year and in addition to producing Rahy, also produced in the SIM the mare Chalice Well, dam of turf star Tulloch.
The pedigree cross is a fairly unusual one at New River Farm, free of inbreeding within the first four generations. However, it is a very good cross when looking at the racing abilities of the horses involved; all were best at longer distances and many excelled on both dirt and turf. Loki Flame and War Song are good matches physically.
Banner won the English and Irish Oaks as a three year old and the next year won all four starts including the Arc and the Hong Kong Vase. While she raced only on turf, her parents' dirt abilities indicate that she would also have done well on that surface. Banner was voted European Horse of the Year, a rare feat for a filly.
Emily was a particular fan of the mare and I had promised her first foal as a present. Who better to sire the foal than Triple Crown winner Priceless Forever? He was another good distance horse who had never run on turf but who showed no indication he could not sire a turf horse. I trained Pennant for Emily to a Breeders' Cup win and a Turf Championship.
For her second foal, the first I was to keep, the choice was obvious. My great runner Conduit, Horse of the Year and winner of the Canadian Triple Crown, was set to retire. Again, he was a good distance horse who ran mostly on dirt but did have a turf win. The two matched up physically, ability-wise, and had inbreeding to Secretariat to boot. What more could I ask for?
Well, I could ask for ATLAS, since he was certainly more than even I had been hoping for. I elected to run him over the newly-opened Australian racecourses. And run he did, 18 wins in 18 starts, undefeated like his sire. After much pleading I was eventually convinced to run him in Dubai. I don't normally like sending horses to Dubai (a result of Cigar's downhill turn after his race there and the plane crash that nearly killed Elusive Pegasus) but to run him on dirt against Jet-Ski was a temptation impossible to exist. Naturally, he won and then won four additional races on dirt after moving to the US for his final campaign. He was twice Australian Horse of the Year, once North American Horse of the Year, and earned five additional championships. He is to date the only SIM Horse of the Year to be produced from two SIM Horses of the Year.
The breeding for the next foal was not difficult to decide upon and so Atlas's full sister Map was born. While not the equal of her brother, Map was still an excellent racehorse in her own right, with 7 wins and 2 seconds in 9 starts. She is to visit Lokite Magic for her first foal to produce inbreeding to Sahara Gold, Storm Cat, and (more distantly) Seattle Slew.
Banner's next foal, Siren, was sired by the Sports Jersey son Chesapeake Bay. While her career was a bit neglected due to the impending closing of the SIM, she still managed a stakes win and some stakes placings on both dirt and turf. If anyone here buys her, she would be a nice cross with Jet-Ski, both repeating the proven Conduit x Banner cross and bringing in inbreeding to Sports Jersey.
Banner's final foal in the old SIM was a Jet-Ski son named Chart. He reinforces the Conduit x Banner cross (or rather, the Rain Dancer x Banner cross). His career was also woefully neglected, but he does have two wins in his two starts, one of which was a stakes win.
Banner has no two year old as I was so distraught about the closing of the SIM that I didn't breed her. Or maybe I did and the foal got lost in the computer somewhere. It's possible; until a couple of days ago Map wasn't even in the SIM anymore.
So who to breed Banner to this time? I want to try something outside my usual narrow sphere of breeding. However, my own bloodlines are the only ones I really know and I'm afraid to go out into uncharted waters (although it should be pointed out that when I bred Rain Dancer to Symbol, I didn't even know who he was...that suggestion was all Emily!). Three of Crowns is a good fusion of the two ideas. He is by Storm Cat, who crosses well with Banner since Conduit is out of a Storm Cat daughter. He is out of a Tulloch mare, and as pointed out above, Tulloch is out of a half sister to Banner's dam. And again, here is inbreeding to Secretariat through Terlingua and Weekend Surprise. Three of Crowns won the Breeders' Cup Turf and the French Derby and although he was only raced on turf, yet again he is by Storm Cat which means he could produce a decent dirt horse, especially with this female family backing him up (and since he's a Tulloch grandson, this family backs up the foal on both sides!)
And here ends my epic tale of Banner and her offspring. This one was worthy of a Nalbone post, ne c'est pas?
