I've always liked Sound Reason in a pedigree.
Like dad, his stock always tended to be strongly made, tough and durable racehorses. A strong wither, deep girth and a decent hindquarter were the most obvious physical traits of his best stock.
Maybe Sound Reason whose own racing career was characterised by consistency and durability inherited those attributes from his grandsire Hail To Reason who had eighteen starts as a two year old in the US.
He may have been dead seventeen years but Sound Reason's influence on the thoroughbred breeding and racing industry in these parts is still being felt as results today at Trentham show.
Vonusti who took the Telegraph is by Ustinov from the Sound Reason mare Reasonably while Group Two Wakefield Challenge Stakes runner up Cellarmaster, already a group three winner this year, is by Dubawi from the Sound Reason mare Oneology.
Although his record of six individual group one winners will never rank him as an outstanding sire, Sound Reason still carved out an enviable record as a sire from Ollie Goodwin's Riddlesworth Stud on the outskirts of Masterton, where he stood from 1980 until his death in 1993. The 16.2 and a half hand son of Bold Reason left everything from stakeswinning juveniles Validity and Eurudite; Oaks winners Candide, Sounds Like Fun, Sound Gold and Cologne; classy WFA performers Sound Horizon and Lacka Reason through to tough handicappers such as Tour Blade, Soundoration and the mercurial St James.
Remarkably though it's been as a broodmare sire where Sound Reason will be better remembered with Vonusti today becoming his twelfth individual group one winner.
Comparing his record as a broodmare sire with some other great influences from the same era makes interesting reading. Centaine has sixteen group one winners from his daughters and a few more to come yet, Pompeii Court, Star Way and Crested Wave 9 each and Grosvenor, steadily increasing his tally, on 7.
I don't know if such statistics exist but the sires of grand dams of group one winners would make fascinating reading. Sound Reason seems to have had a affinity down the years to figure significantly in this role particularly in conjunction with Centaine mares, many from Waikato Stud families, and not forgetting his daughter Sellou is the dam of the current NZ Broodmare of the Year Gussy Godiva.
Sadly there are no direct male line son's of Sound Reason to carry the line on and although the bred lost a wonderful opportunity to carry the female tail line on when St Covet, who had got off to such a promising start at stud, met with an early demise, maybe it's a mantle that the young group one winning Redoutes Choice stallion Nadeem can inherit, being a son of group one winning mare (It's) Candide.
While it's starting to get a little further back these days, the presence of Sound Reason blood in any pedigree is a big positive.
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Hi was doing some research and your profile popped up about sound reason. I actually got to work with him when he was at Riddlesworth stud in Masterton. Was a lovley horse but had a really bad temper. He would attack you if you tried to clean out his stable. Only the men were allowed to handle him. I was lucky enough to witness several batches of his off spring being born too. My favourite mare (was a grey) had a beautiful little filly by him....for the life of me i can't remember her racing name but i know she got sold to hong kong after doing well in n.z. It is such a shame to see that no male lines will continue. Any way enjoyed reading your blog
ReplyDeleteStacey
Thanks Stacey.
ReplyDeleteI wondered about his temperament - the Hail To Reason sire-line do have a bit of a reputation for it.
A grey mare eh. I wonder if she was by Gary Chitticks stallion Khairpour - he was a grey and a popular stallion in his early days around the district.
Believe it or not but his female line son Nadeem may just keep Sound Reason's name going for a while yet. A long-way to go but the wraps on his rising two-year-olds are good.
Hi John, i finally remembered the fillies name....it was snow reason by Byeela if my aging memory serves me right.
ReplyDeleteI find tracing bloodlines so interesting as sometimes even the ugly, bad conformation horses turn out to be a cracker with good, strong bloodlines coming through.
cheers stace
Small world Stace but a friend bought Snow Reasons's first foal, a Senor Pete filly. A gorgeous thing, she showed a deal of early promise, may have even won a trial, then sadly dropped dead. I ve seen a few more of Snow Reason's progeny go through the sale ring - all lovely types.
ReplyDeleteI think the saying blood is thicker than water is oh so true with horses. As you say, good bloodlines always come through. Sometimes it maybe 5 or 6 generations back and all it takes is a well thought out mating to reignite a sound family.
Are you still involved with horses or the industry in any way?
Wow it is a small world lol i was so lucky to witness her birth as i said her mum was my fav mare so quite, with a lovely nature it happened to be my night for foal watch.
ReplyDeleteI was still involved in the industry up until 5 years ago my partner is an ex jumps jockey and i had a cafe in Otaki and he rode track work there. He rode Kenny Star fighter (amongst others) AWESOME horse at the time.... b4 he left Malcolm Wallaces stables.
We moved to perth for the mining industry but are coming home in dec because we miss n.z lifestlye so when we come back we plan on buying land and training ourselves and a few mares.
looking forward to it.
Nice. It's good to see some horse people returning to these shores. I hope it works out for you.
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