Astern

Pedigree notes

Astern is the sire of 8% Stakes performers to runners including G1 winners Golden Mile and Affaire A Suivre, G1-placed Aft Cabin and crack filly Parisal.

Stallions capable of siring milers and Classic winners are often underrated and undervalued in the marketplace and Astern offers a great opportunity to breed just such a performer at an affordable fee.

G1 Statistics
Astern’s G1 winners and performers are bred along the following lines:

• G1 winner Golden Mile – dam by Lonhro (Zabeel/Sir Tristram line), second dam by Oratorio (Nureyev line).
• G1 winner Affaire A Suivre – dam by Highest Honor (Kenmare/Grey Sovereign line), second dam by Sadler’s Wells.
• Multiple G1 fourth Aft Cabin – dam by Lonhro (Zabeel/Sir Tristram line), second dam by Danehill (Danzig line).

At this early stage, 16.66 % of Astern’s Stakes winners are G1 winners which is well above the commercial average of 12.5% and indicates a very high rate of elite performer production. Two of his three G1 performers, Golden Mile and Aft Cabin, are out of Lonhro mares while the outstanding mare Parisal has a second dam by Lonhro’s sire Octagonal.

Best Nicks
Astern is following the nicking patterns of his sire Medaglia d’Oro who has excellent results with Mr Prospector-line mares. Medaglia d’Oro also has exceptional stats with Lonhro mares and both these trends are now also evident with his son.

Astern already has favourable nicking stats with the commercially abundant Danehill, Sir Tristram and Mr Prospector broodmare sire lines. His biggest numbers of runners to date are out of mares by Lonhro and Street Cry (Mr Prospector line). These two crosses have both produced two individual Stakes winners and a very healthy 20% winners to runners. The G2-winning mare Seradess is out of a Danehill-line mare.

Inbreeding / Linebreeding
Whenever we see a Sadler’s Wells-line sire the two most obvious candidates for inbreeding and linebreeding are his dam Fairy Bridge and second dam Special. Sadler’s Wells’ dam Fairy Bridge is by Bold Reason whose dam Lalun also foaled Never Bend and inbreeding to Lalun via her two distinguished sons has been responsible for some of the finest gallopers of the past three decades.
Similarly, inbreeding to Special via her grandson Sadler’s Wells and her son Nureyev (three-quarter brother to Sadler’s Wells as both are by Northern Dancer) is equally successful.

Both these patterns are very effective for Astern already.

Inbreeding to Sadler’s Wells in Astern’s sire line has been notably successful with TWO Stakes winners and TWO Stakes-placings from 22 runners, including G1 winner Affaire A Suivre and G2 winner Sail By. That’s close to 10% Stakes winners to runners and 20% Stakes performers to runners.
With a return of Never Bend in the mare (inbreeding to Lalun) Astern has 73 runners, 48 winners, FIVE Stakes winners (6.84% SW/R) and TWO G1 winners (40% G1 winners to Stakes winners). These are exceptional stats from a reasonable data set and with FOUR Stakes placegetters as well Astern has 12.3% Stakes performers with a return of Never Bend in the mare.
With a return of Nureyev in the mare (inbreeding to Special) Astern has 52 runners, 25 winners, THREE Stakes winners (5.8% Stakes winners to runners) including G1 winner Golden Mile.

Another notable feature of Astern’s pedigree is that his fifth dam is a daughter of Sir Tristram and he has consistently great stats when mated with mares carrying a son of Sir Tristram. Mares carrying Sir Tristram or his male descendants such as Octagonal, Zabeel or Lonhro all have exceptional Stakes winners to runners percentages.

The standouts are the Astern/Zabeel cross and the Astern/Lonhro cross with 9.1% Stakes winners to runners and 12.5% Stakes winners to runners respectively. In both cases the progeny have two of the favourable inbreeding patterns that favour Astern, namely a male ancestor of Sir Tristram and inbreeding to Special via Nureyev who is the sire of Zabeel’s dam. Lonhro has the best stats, and he has the golden trifecta as his dam is by Straight Strike whose broodmare sire Never Bend is out of Lalun, supplying the third very favourable influence for Astern.

Strategy One
Astern is ideally suited to mares by Sir Tristram-line sires such as Octagonal, Zabeel, Lonhro, Pierro Pierata or Savabeel. Mares with a second or third dam by those sires would also suit. The Lonhro branch of this sire line provides all three of the most favourable elements found in Astern’s best runners to date. A match made in heaven.

Strategy Two
Inbreeding to Lalun via Never Bend. His sons Mill Reef and Riverman have numerous descendants in Australia with Champion sires Redoute’s Choice, Street Cry and Written Tycoon all providing quality sources. Astern already has G3 winner Parisal, G3 fourth Va Via and Stakes placed Grael from just 11 runners out of Street Cry mares.

Strategy Three
Inbreeding to Special via Nureyev or Sadler’s Wells’ other close relatives descended from Special such as Fairy King (or his son Encosta de Lago) and Perugino (or his son Testa Rossa). Returning another strain of Sadler’s Wells has clearly suited Astern too.

Strategy Four
Astern is siring over 4% Stakes winners to runners with returns of Danehill or Mr Prospector in the mare so quality sources of these two bloodlines are favourable options for him, particularly if they include any of the other ancestors which suit him.

Behind the analysis! These pedigree notes were meticulously composed by Andrew Reichard (Bluebloods), a pedigree analyst who orchestrated the matings of Zoustar's grandam, Zouzou, and Jameka's dam, Mine Game.