There is an old adage that says if you want to breed a son as good as his father breed from a son that looks and has the characteristics of his paternal grandfather.
It would be interesting to know how close Frankel resembles his grandsire Saddlers Wells because if he can carry on winning and he is now rated 139 one higher than the brilliant See The Stars winner of six group one races including the Derby and the Arc then he may turn out as good as his sire Galileo, now that would be something, as Galileo is now champion sire for the third time and reported to be insured for £100 million dollars.
Pedigree always keeps its promise and that goes for a poor one as well as a good one , one trainer who knew how to look at a pedigree was the legendary Captain Ryan Price who had the knack of buying good young jumpers from France and winning with them. He bought What a Myth for a song and sold it to Lady Lucy Weir for good money who in turn promptly gave half the horse to Sir Archibald James who had tangled with Von Richthofen over the western front and later helped form the RAF. The captain rewarded her though by winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Paul Kelleway up. He told her always to look at the ‘tail females’ first, the direct line at the bottom of the page, look for performance at every generation and be suspicious when gaps appear or when the mare was kept for breeding only. If an exceptional mare also appears in the top half of the pedigree that is really good, he also liked the coming together of two quite distinct families but mainly as racers.
Lady Lucy was a memorable ‘Margaret Rutherford’ type character happiest with stock indeed she successfully owned one of the finest pedigree dairy herds in the South of England always accompanied by her faithful Shetland Sheep dog Sally. When Sir Archie returned from an ‘Out of Africa’ life in Southern Rhodesia Lady James as she became known look after him until she realised that he needed more help than she could give so she rang up the local Royal Air Force Association Home and asked if they could accommodate him but if they would could he have a ground floor room as neither he or she could make the stairs. She was politely asked if Sir Archie had ever been in the RAF to which she honestly said “Actually no”.
“Well I’m ‘afraid it will not be possible….. ” Came the reply
No even if he was shot down by that bloody Red Baron chap. She answered.
Wing Commander Sir Archibald James Royal Flying Corp ended his day in a comfortable room overlooking the English countryside and on the ground floor so Lady Lucy could visit him.