I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about things that don’t really matter, and last Friday night was one of those times. A friend of mine was at Border’s and asked me if I saw the Secretariat movie. I told him that sadly I did, and that it was the type of movie that I would have loved if I were 10 years old and didn’t think of Unfaithful every time I saw Diane Lane.

Then that’s when it happened, I started to think about what it would be like to be a breeder. It doesn’t seem like the most interesting profession. I definitely wouldn’t call it glamorous as I can’t remember the last time there was a celebrity breeder. Who is the Bob Baffert of breeding anyway? Of course, my mind continued to wander, and I thought about how one would go about breeding the next Secretariat.

Now when I say the next Secretariat, am I talking about a horse that is genetically similar to, or similar in racing ability. Well, I happen to think that those are one in the same. I think that if you were to breed a horse similar to the way that Secretariat was bred, you would get a horse that could run similar to the way “Big Red” ran.

So, how was Secretariat bred?

I am no Sid Fernando, so please excuse me if I don’t explain his breeding as well as it can be explained. Secretariat was a complete outcross with a miler for a father and a mother who never ran, but if she had, she would probably have been most comfortable at a mile and a half. It should also be noted that many believe she passed down her “large heart” gene; and thus, was the sole stamina influence in Secretariat’s pedigree. So let’s get on with it. Let’s try to breed the new Secretariat!

First we’ll start by picking a broodmare sire rather than a particular broodmare since that obviously gives us a better shot at completing this monumental task. The broodmare sire has to be a horse who’s daughters can pass down a great deal of stamina. Remember, Secretariat got his stamina from his mother, rather than his father.

Sadler’s Wells would be my pick. He is consistently atop the broodmare sire lists, which is considerably impressive since he sires a decent amount of ten furlong horses. This also gives us the chance to go with an American sire since Sadler’s Wells’ broodmares (daughters) will be an outcross for most American sires, and we’re going to produce outcrosses since that is what Secretariat was. Another reason why I like this choice is because the two best horses of recent memory-Big Brown and Invasor both have foreign broodmare sires.

So, now that we know who the broodmare sire will be, we need to figure out who the sire will be.

This is where my head and heart start to do battle. My head is telling me to go with a high profile sire, but my heart knows that these broodmares would probably do better with a lower profile sire. These broodmares would be best suited to a sire who had the speed of a miler, but could carry that speed through classic distances. It is also best if this horse has little to no inbreeding to the broodmares in question considering once again that Secretariat was a complete outcross. Throughout my research of how Secretariat was bred, one potential sire kept coming to mind again and again, and his name is Bodemeister.

Now, I know that Bodemeister/Sadler’s Wells is a cross that has been used before through Empire Maker and has not produced horses that are sprouting wings and winning everything in sight. The point of this article is to suggest the BEST cross. The cross that if used repeatedly would give us the best chance of producing the next Secretariat. Of course, horse racing is equal parts art and science – that’s why we love it. This cross isn’t going to yield 100% stakes winners and revolutionize racing as we know it. What this cross will do is produce many horses who have the turn of foot and stamina necessary to win at the classic distance of a mile and a quarter. If you look at the best horses of the past twenty years, you will see three common factors amongst them.

One, they are the product of a miler and a true distance horse. This has proven to be the ultimate feast or famine breeding strategy. It usually produces horses who can’t do much of anything, but also produces horses that truly possess greatness. Big Brown was the perfect example; he seemed to inherit Boundary’s effortless speed with the staying power of Nureyev and Northern Dancer. In other words, when it comes to breeding you can have the best of both worlds.

Two, they have low dosage indexes. Though the dosage index isn’t the greatest tool in the world, it does provide some insight into whether or not a horse will be able to get the distance. The dosage index of most horses who go on to win at a mile and a quarter is usually somewhat low, which shows that though it may not be the best tool, it certainly has some use.

Three, the inbreeding occurs in the fifth generation or there is none at all. One of the biggest accomplishments of pedigree research in the last 25 years has been putting to bed the myth that heavy inbreeding is healthy. If you have the time and the patience, I challenge you to put together a list of the ten horses you truly think are the greatest of the last fifty years. I can almost guarantee you that no more than one of them will have inbreeding within his first four generations. What is most remarkable about this is that most Kentucky breds (basically the horses that sell the most at auctions) are heavily inbred. Thus proving that inbreeding heavily within the first four generations may actually be a detriment to the horse. Many broodmares who have been deemed to be terrible producers when inbred have seemed to come alive when outcrossed and vice versa.

Bodemeister would also give the horse the speed to compete as a two-year old should prospective owners not have the patience to let the horse mature, and with second place finishes in the Derby and Preakness, combined with his headstrong nature, he reminds me of a young Bold Ruler.

If America is to see another Triple Crown winner, U.S. Breeders are going to have to breed with a lot of character and creativity, being motivated by auction sales isn’t going to get us anywhere. I am not naive to think that a Bodemeister/Sadler’s Wells cross will fetch very much at auction, but I am naive enough to think that there are enough breeders out there who are passionate enough about our sport to try out the types of crosses that have the most potential to give us that Triple Crown champion that we’ve been looking for.