Many handicappers find the concept of pedigree analysis foreign and daunting, but pedigree can often be a solid indicator of a horse’s potential when trying something new. Thankfully, pedigree handicapping isn’t nearly as difficult as it may seem. There’s plenty of information available for free on the internet, and knowing where to find that information is more than half the battle.
The two primary web sites I use for researching pedigrees are equibase.com and pedigreequery.com. The latter is an open source database, something like Wikipedia for Thoroughbred pedigrees, so it can’t be relied on exclusively, but it is an invaluable tool for anyone looking to research pedigrees.
As an example, I’ll take a look at the pedigree of the unraced 2-year-old colt Tolerant. He’s by Distorted Humor and out of the A.P. Indy mare Antipathy. Normally, the first thing I will do when searching a horse on Pedigree Query is right-click on the dam’s name and select “Progeny.” This will bring up a list of a mare’s progeny, and is useful for taking a quick glimpse at a horse’s siblings. I’m of the opinion that the most important thing to look at in a pedigree is a horse’s female family; since stallions have so many foals in a year, I think it’s a better gauge of what to expect from a foal. The stallion plays a major role too, of course, but I like to start with the female side because it’s more time-consuming than looking up stats for a stallion. I happen to know that Tolerant is the first foal out of Antipathy, so instead, I’ll take a look under the second dam, a mare by the name of Love Style.
Immediately, one name in particular jumps out from this list – Scat Daddy. However, there’s also a few other horses with over $100,000 in earnings, so this is when I switch over to Equibase to get a more in-depth look at the offspring of Love Style. To do this, I go to the horse search and select the option to search by year of birth and dam. Then, I simply type Love Style’s name into the search box (omitting a year of birth, so that all of her progeny are listed). This list doesn’t have as much information at a glance, which is why I prefer to search on Pedigree Query first to get a general idea of if there’s anything worth looking at in a horse’s pedigree.
I’m unfamiliar with Grand Daddy, so I’ll take a look at his Equibase profile. He was a sprinter who won a stakes race at Turfway Park. He also broke his maiden on debut at River Downs. Scat Daddy was successful in his debut as well, whereas Antipathy took a few tries to break her maiden. However, a look at the chart for her debut shows that not only was she vanned off after that race, but she was defeated by future graded stakes winners Cue the Moon and Emollient. She was on the bench for four months, then returned to run second in a maiden event at Gulfstream Park, and broke through for a victory in her third attempt.
For curiosity’s sake, I’m going to take a look at the progeny of Tolerant’s third dam, Likeable Style. I see that Love Style has a half-sister by A.P. Indy, the sire of Antipathy, named Grat. Looking her up on Equibase, I see that she won a stakes race going 1 1/16 on the turf at Turf Paradise. Since she’s similarly bred to the dam of Tolerant, I’ll take a look at her progeny.
One name pops out here as well – the venerable graded stakes winning gelding Old Time Hockey, who was also best on the turf. Additionally, though, there are two foals by Distorted Humor. Three-year-old filly Lady Byng has not raced, but the gelding Chelios is a useful horse who is actually still racing at age seven, albeit in claiming company. His three most recent races were all for a $12,500 tag at Parx. This is a good example of why checking Equibase instead of relying exclusively on Pedigree Query is a good idea – this horse has earned over $50,000 more than what is shown on Pedigree Query.
Worth noting is the fact that this horse ran second in his debut, a maiden special weight at Santa Anita, in December of his two-year-old year, then returned to break his maiden at the same level a month later. To me, there’s a pretty solid indication from Tolerant’s female family that he will be competitive when he debuts. While most of the family’s success has been on dirt, there’s also enough turf pedigree that I wouldn’t discount him if he were to try the turf one day.