Point Given's oldest foals are now 5-year-olds, which gives us a fair idea of what kind of bloodlines he's crossed with most successfully. He has 12 stakes winners from his first 3 crops to race, including the millionaires Sealy Hill and Go Between, and 3 other graded stakes winners - Point Ashley, Air Commander, and Point Determined. His average earnings index (as of August 12, 2008) is 2.15, so his runners are picking up good purse money on a regular basis.
Point Given's runners are popping up on every surface, making him one of the most versatile sires out there. Besides his Sealy Hill being a champion on turf in Canada, he is one of the leading sires among runners on the various synthetic surfaces across the country, as well as successful runners on good old fashioned dirt.
They also run at all ages, with 3 juvenile stakes winners including Point Ashley's win in the Del Mar Debutante [G1], to Air Commander's San Fernando Stakes [G2] win this year at 4, and Go Between's Sunshine Classic win this year at 5.
Bring on Seattle Slew
Sealy Hill was the Horse of the Year in Canada as a 3-year-old in 2007, when she was also Champion 3-Year-Old Filly and Champion Turf Female. She represents Point Given's best nick so far, with mares from the Seattle Slew male line, with which he has teamed up to get 3 stakes winners. Sealy Hill's dam is by Boston Harbor (by Capote, by Seattle Slew). The others from this cross are G1 winner Point Ashley (dam by Slew o'Gold, by Seattle Slew) and Naseem (out of a daughter of Seattle Slew).
This cross becomes even more important when we look at 2 other stakes winners by Point Given, Point Determined (G3) and Lawrence The Roman, whose second dams are also Seattle Slew-line mares, one by Sentimental Slew, and the other by Seattle Slew himself. So 5 of Point Given's 9 stakes winners have Seattle Slew in their dam's sire or second dam's sire.
Seattle Slew descends in male line from Bold Ruler, who appears in the pedigrees of several other good Point Given runners. Go Between's second dam is by General Assembly (by Secretariat, by Bold Ruler). His 2008 stakes winning filly Fareena, has Irish Castle (by Bold Ruler) as the sire of her second dam. Canadian stakes winner The Max's second dam is by Foolish Pleasure (by What a Pleasure by Bold Ruler).
By interesting coincidence, Point Given's Borderland Derby winner Takedown descends in female line from a half-sister to Foolish Pleasure. Maybe more Foolish Pleasure would be a good thing here.
Broad Brush and Ack Ack
There's another distinct pattern at work in the dams of Point Determined and Lawrence The Roman. Not only do they feature Seattle Slew, but both of their dams are daughters of Broad Brush, and bred on the same Broad Brush/Seattle Slew cross. Since Broad Brush is notably inbred 3x3 to Turn-to, and Seattle Slew carries an additional cross of Turn-to through Hail to Reason, Turn-to appears to be a key strain for Point Given. Broad Brush and Seattle Slew both carry lines of Princequillo as well. Broad Brush's sire Ack Ack appears close up in the dam of a third Point Given stakes winner, as the dam's sire of Lost Code (dam's sire of The Max).
Another interesting commonality is that 9 of the 12 Point Given stakes winners with the exception of 2 (Takedown and Fareena) have a cross of Round Table in their dams. The 5 mares with Seattle Slew carry the strain through Seattle Slew's dam, My Charmer, a daughter of Round Table's son Poker. Go Between's dam is by Caerleon (dam by Round Table), Air Commander's third dam is by Knightly Manner (by Round Table), and The Max's third dam is by Advocator (by Round Table). 2008 stakes winner Willsboro Point has a cross of Sportin Life in his second dam, and Sportin' Life was out of a Round Table mare.
His stakes winners lacking Round Table are Takedown, Fareena, and She's Sensational. As if to compensate, She's Sensational's dam is inbred 4x4 to Round Table's sire Princequillo.
This might be pertinent since Point Given also has a distant cross of Round Table through his dam, who is a daughter of Turkoman, whose dam Taba was a daughter of Table Play (a son of Round Table - Leallah by Nasrullah). Table Play was bred on the same Round Table/Nasrullah cross as Seattle Slew's dam's sire Poker, and the reverse Nasrullah/Round Table cross found in Seattle Slew himself.
Nearly all of Point Given's stakes winners are out of mares with some combination of both Nasrullah (sire of Bold Ruler) and Princequillo (sire of Round Table), suggesting he's throwing back to this part of his pedigree, through Turkoman, which, if his great size and stamina is any indication, may indicate which of his genes are "switched on."
So far, Point Given's 12 stakes winners come with 11 different broodmare sires. We've already noted the 2 out of Broad Brush mares. Seattle Slew, his son Slew o'Gold and grandson Boston Harbor account for another 3. The others include Nijinsky II's son Caerleon; Naskra's son Star de Naskra; In Reality's son Valid Appeal, Codex's son Lost Code; Gallant Romeo's son Elocutionist; Blushing Groom's son Blushing John; and Roberto's son Red Ransom.
Outcrosses
It's worth noting that Point Given's best efforts have been from matings that do not have close inbreeding, within 4 generations. Even the matings with Round Table duplications have them no closer than 6x4 (in Go Between). Takedown, out of a mare by Valid Appeal, has Valid Appeal's sire In Reality duplicated 5x3, since Point Given's second dam is out of a mare by another good son of In Reality, Relaunch. Relaunch's dam was by The Axe II, and Point Given's Naseem is 6x4 to The Axe II. Go Between and Sealy Hill are both 5x4 to Northern Dancer.
So, considering the number of Mr. Prospector-line mares that he's been bred to, while the results have included a few good maiden and allowance winners, and the grade 3-placed Great Point, Point Given has not had a record of siring stakes winners when doubled up to Mr. Prospector. (Great Point was out of a mare by Crafty Prospector, who also had a cross of In Reality in his dam.)
This outcross benefit may be because Point Given is himself inbred 4x4 to Mr. Prospector's sire Raise a Native, and adding more of the same just isn't producing the high quality results, while outcrossing seems to be doing just that.
It's likely that Point Given's conformation plays an important role, since he is a bit of an extreme physical type. He's an exceptionally large horse, fully 17 hands, and long bodied, and the temptation is to breed him to small mares to compensate, but keep in mind, his sire Thunder Gulch is a small horse, and he can throw back to that smaller size with a smaller mare.
Point Given is built like a battleship and will probably do best with mares that also have some size - average to above average - and length, as well as good bone. This may be why mares with Seattle Slew work well with him, since the Slew type tends to be big and lengthy, with good bone.
Point Given might do well with mares by Tiznow (with a cross of Seattle Slew), Unbridled, Unbridled's Song or Pleasant Colony, if these mares aren't too extremely large or heavy topped. These strains all have the size and length of body that could work well with Point Given's frame.
It would be interesting to see what he can do with mares carrying Storm Cat or Summer Squall, both sons of Storm Bird, since Point Given's sire Thunder Gulch was produced from a daughter of Storm Bird. Storm Cat has done well with Point Given's strains of Alydar and In Reality.
Both Storm Cat and Summer Squall are out of mares by Secretariat, which should work well with Point Given, carrying Nasrullah/Princequillo crosses that he works well with. Seattle Slew's son A.P. Indy is also out of a Secretariat mare besides being inbred to Bold Ruler, and A.P. Indy's daughters would be very high class additions to his book.
We look forward to seeing what the next crops of Point Given's progeny produce, now that he has established himself as a proven sire of classy, versatile runners.
By Anne Peters