Pedigree Analysis by Thoroughbred Solutions Ltd.

Elusive City descends from the no. 16 family back to the mare Miss Agnes.

This is a most influential family which has produced the famous matrons Plucky Liege, Friar’s Daughter and Maid of the mist.

Plucky Liege includes among her progeny the full brothers Bull Dog, Sir Gallahad and Quatre Bras. Their full sisters Noor Jahan and Marguerite De Valois, plus the half brothers Admiral Drake and Bois Roussel.

Firar’s Daughter is dam of Bahram, Dastur, Fille De Salut and Fille De Soleil.

Maid Of The Mist is dam of the brother and sister Craig An Eran and Sunny Jane, plus their half sister Hamoaze and the half brother Glenabatrick.

All of the above horses are extremely influential names in today’s pedigrees and Elusive City has made much use of the sons of Plucky Liege, Friar’s Daughter and Maid Of The Mist in his own line breeding.

I fell that he really is a product of his own wider tail female family.

He has a duplication of Hail To Reason through daughters at 6f x 6f and this horse has a close up duplication of both Plucky Liege and Maid Of The Mist.

Hail To Reason has the mare Baton Rouge as his fourth dam. She is also the fourth dam of Admiral’s Voyage, Danzig’s dam sire.

Hail To Reason’s dam Nothirdchance also works well with Better Self, dam sire of Dr. Fager, by utilising a Black Servant-North Star-Man O’War-Sir Gallahad-Bull Dog pattern.

It can be see therefore that Elusive City should be able to make good use of additional Hail To Reason blood.

The other particularly important aspect to the pedigree make up of Elusive City is the relationship between Searching and Better Self.

Searching is third dam of Hero’s Honor, dam sire of Elusive Quality.

Better Self is dam sire of Dr. Fager, sire of Elusive City’s third dam Cult.

Searching is by War Admiral out of Big Hurry by Black Toney out of La Troienne….

Better Sefl is by Bimelech which is by Black Toney out of La Troienne and is out of the mare Bee Mac by War Admiral.

It would be highly desirable for mares covered by Elusive City to carry similar patters in their blood lines.

Last Tycoon is fairly ideal in this reagard as his sire Try My Best is not unlike Hero’s Honor in pedigree makeup.

They are both by Northern Dancer and the respective dams offer a duplication of Alibhai but more importantly, Try My Best has the ? sister and borther Busanda and MR. Busher.

Busanda is by War Admiral out of Businesslist out of La Troienne, while Mr Busher is also by War Admiral out of Baby League out of La Troienne.

This ties in beautifully with the stallions own line breeding and further re-inforces connecitons to La Troienne.

Last Tycoon’s dam sire Mill Reef is also useful as he adds to the Nasrullah – Princequillo pattern which is present in Elusive City’s own line breeding.

Mill Reef also adds a further line of Bimelech through his daughter Be Faithfull, which adds additional La Troienne.

Obviously mares by Bigstone and Marju could be considered.

Mares with Roberto blood would be advantageous as this would work well with the duplication of Mr. Prospector.

Mares by At Talaq would be particularly beneficial, while Casual Lies and Prized mares will also have much to recommend, depending on the bottom of half of their pedigrees.

Certain Tights mares could be considered due to the relationship between Liturgism, grand dam of Elusive City and Music Please, grand of Tights.

Honor Grades has much to recommend. He adds additional Dunzig and Secretariat blood, which should be helpful but in particular his grand dam Lassie Dear works beautifully with Hero’s Honor’s grand dam Admiring.

They are, roughly speaking bred on a Turn-To – War Admiral – La Troienne pattern which will work.

Halo will be a welcome addition for a number of reasons, but in particular for his Hail To Reason and the compatibility with Sir Ivor.

Talking about Sir Ivor, obviously Sir Tristram mares would be due consideration, introducing balanced duplications of Sir Ivor and Round Table plus additional Turn To.

Zabeel mares will be interesting being that Zabeel is actually from the same no. 16 family as Elusive City. Valderna also carries a duplication of Sunny Boy and hi is a son of Fille De Soleil, daughter of Friar’s Daughter.

I also favour Kaapstad mares as Pieces Of Eight contributes some useful material including horses such as Relic and Buchan.

Sound Reason mares will be most beneficial as he has a host of useful material.

Carnegie mares will be a good chance due to the fact that he carries the blood of Sound Reason’s sire Bold Reason and particularly as this in combination with Riverman.

Duplicating Danzig would have more impact than just more Northern Dancer as Danzig’s dam Pas De Norm is the one with the background which is meaningful to Elusive City.

Possibly the most desirable matches may be those which add lines of Fappiano as he is a decendant of Marguerite De Valois. She will balance the large quantity Plucky Liege sons being that she is not only a daughter Plucky Liege but also a full sister to Bull Dog etc.

While Fappiano adds a third line of Mr. Prospector, he also adds balanced line breeding to Dr. Fager as well balancing the blood of Plucky Liege.

Defensive Play is therefore a highly desirable broodmare sire of Elusive City as in addition to the Fappiano, he adds line breeding to Bold Ruler and Tudor Minstrel. His background generally is full excellent material plus he does not add additional male Northern Dancer.

Ogygian is Damascus stallion which also descends from Marguerite De Valois, so many mares with his blood will be welcome additions.

With regard to some more international broodmares which are now available, the following sire lines are suggested;

Sunday Silence – free of Northern Dancer and Mr. Prospector, however adds Halo by Hail To Reason, his dam sire Understanding is from tail female family as Dayjur. This is helpful, particualarly as Dayjur is the dam of sire of Elusive City. I also see an excellent relationship involving the siblings Jacopo and ?clair which is meaningful for this stallion.

Fuji Kiseki – this is even better than his sire Sunday Silence as his grand dam Marston’s Mill has much to add. She works extremely well with Liturgism, grand dam of Elusive City.

Encosta De Lago – a mare by this sire would be a most welcome addition. Rolls works so well with Elusive Quality balancing the male Mr. Prospector, while adding additional Sir Ivor plus an all important female line of Northern Dancer. Star Way in the middle of things is real bonus also. Fairy King is out a Blood Reason mare so we have all that is required. A must have!

Unbridled’s Song – excellent match this one. Unbridled is from the same family as Dr. Fager, son of Aspidistra. Star Of Paris and Unbridled are a wonderful combination of Mr. Prospector, Intentionally. Dr Fager and his dam Aspidistra. Undbridled also has his share of La Troienne blood.

Hector Protector – quite a bit to like here with balancing Northern Dancer blood, more Mr Prospector plus Riverman and Damascus and Buckpasser to round things out.

Celtic Swing – I like the way Celtic Swing really strengthens the Mr. Prospector line breeding through his sire Damister. Damister is little like Elusive Quality with his line breeding strength in the no. 13 family. I also like the way his dam Celtic Ring adds to the Tudor Minstrel, Owen Tudor part of the mating.

Honour And Glory – this would be a nice mare as Honour And Glory as a direct descendant of Marguerite De Valois. He also has balanced line breeding to Big Event, daughter of La Troienne which is important. Honour And Glory is by Relaunch and that horse works wonderfully well with Elusive City’s dam Star Of Paris.

Spectrum – offers balanced line breeding to Raise A Native, is free of both Northern Dancer and Mr. Prospector blood. Works in with line breeding to the mares La Troienne and Black Ray. Blushing Groom adds his touch with Red God and Tudor Minstrel. Worth trying.

Success Express – while not quite as stand alone as some of the above mentioned sires, does add some important genetic material which just might work.

We hope the above information is helpful to you in deciding which mares are suitable for Elusive City.