Iltis Female Line

Having recently posted on Intentionally, My Dear Girl, and In Reality, an examination of the Iltis female line is a logical next step. Iltis was the dam of My Dear Girl, and Intentionally and My Dear Girl combined to produce In Reality.

Listed below are all stakes winners among sales foals of 2003-2007 tracing to Iltis in the female line. I trust that the format is familiar to you by now. Discussion starts after the list.

Stakes Winners, Sales Foals of 2003-2007, Iltis in Tail Female

Name                                       Price                     RR           Generation

It’s True Love                  03W62,000              264          5th, Me Next

Yes It’s True–Lovin Spoonful, Dixieland Band

Stormin Irish                   03Y35,000                187          5th, My Dear Girl

Stormin Fever–Irish Dear, Irish River

Red Zipper                       05T40,000                604          5th, My Dear Girl

City Zip–Lady in Red, Red Attack

Mr. Windjammer             06Y5,000                  672          6th, Me Next

Regal Classic–Royal Relic, Colonial Affair

El Cugat                            07Y2,700                    230         6th, My Dear Girl

King Cugat–Awesome Frances, Awesome Again

Iltis was a 1947 filly by War Relic out of We Hail (who later produced stakes winner Is Proud, a 1950 filly by Hampden), by Balladier. Iltis posted a record on the track of 53-5-6-11 for earnings of $19,245. That may not sound very high class, but it works out to a respectable SSI of 1.82 (1.00 being average).

Iltis produced eight foals, six starters, all winners, and three stakes winners: My Dear Girl (1957 filly by Rough’n Tumble and 1959 champion two-year-old filly), My Old Flame (1958 filly by Count Flame), and Treasure Chest (1962 filly by Rough’n Tumble). My Dear Girl was by far the best of the three, with a career record of 20-8-4-1 for earnings of $209,739.

My Old Flame did not do much to “improve the breed.” Treasure Chest was another story. She produced 12 foals, 11 starters, eight winners, and three stakes winners: Diomedia (1971 filly by Sea-Bird), Gold Treasure (1977 filly by Northern Dancer), and Kanz (1981 filly by The Minstrel). Diomedia and Gold Treasure also produced stakes winners. Treasure Chest is also the granddam of champions Glint of Gold and Diamond Shoal.

The details of My Dear Girl’s produce record were given in my last post (on In Reality). To recapitulate, she produced seven stakes winners from 15 foals but was never rewarded with the title of Broodmare of the Year.

Three of the five stakes winners above trace directly to My Dear Girl: Stormin Irish, Red Zipper, and El Cugat. The other two (It’s True Love and Mr. Windjammer) trace to Me Next.

Me Next was an unraced 1960 full sister to My Dear Girl. Me Next produced 12 foals, nine starters, eight winners, and two stakes winners: Lucky Ole Me (1960 filly by Olden Times) and Midnight Pumpkin (1977 filly by Pretense). Midnight Pumpkin is best known as the dam of 1985 Preakness Stakes winner Tank’s Prospect (by Mr. Prospector).

So the family founded by Iltis was considerably better than chopped liver.

I found 157 foals tracing in the female line to Iltis among these sales foals of 2003-2007. They range from the fourth to the seventh generations (fourth through seventh dams). The five stakes winners were all fifth or sixth generation (fifth or sixth dams).

These 157 foals sold for a gross of $8,586,312, an average of $54,690 (just slightly above the overall average of $54,140), and a maverage of 167.42 (just slightly above the overall maverage of 163.11). So these 157 foals should have had racing results right around average or slightly above average.

In fact their racing results were considerably BELOW average. Five stakes winners from 157 foals is 3.18% (not horrible compared to the overall figure of 3.36%). Those five stakes winners were not very good though. They accumulated only 1,957 Performance Points, an average of 391 apiece, compared to the overall average of 606.

So taking both quantity and quality of stakes winners into account, these 157 foals had a PPI (result) of 0.62 (1.00 being average). That is well below their corresponding Price Index of 1.03.

Here is a thought for Santa to deliver as a stocking stuffer. Having a mare such as Iltis (or La Troienne or whoever) as a fifth or sixth dam in a pedigree (anything fourth dam or farther back) is pretty much par for the course. It is the mark of an AVERAGE pedigree. You should not expect to derive ABOVE-AVERAGE results from AVERAGE pedigrees.

If the female family in question produces one or more truly outstanding stakes winners, its results may very well be above average. If the female family in question does not produce one or more truly outstanding stakes winners (as is the case here with Iltis and sales foals of 2003-2007), its results are going to be BELOW average.

Advertisement