"Breeding Racehorses by the Figure System"

An interesting prediction by Bruce Lowe on an ancestor appearing three times in the pedigree of Three Bars.

An excerpt from the book by Bruce Lowe, published in 1895, concerning DOMINO

"It may sound somewhat premature to bracket Domino, the sensational two-year-old of America in 1893, amongst phenomenal horses, yet his two-year-old running under heavy weights, and the suspicion of "a leg", will mark 1893 as "Domino's year" for all time. His pedigree is very similar to the great cracks of the world, and deserves recording.

Edith, from a Glencoe mare, was put to her cousin Lecompte, also from a Glencoe mare, Reel. The result, a daughter, was then mated with another of Reel's sons, War Dance, and produced Lizzie G., her sire War Dance being a son of Lexington as well. Lizzie G., the result of this incestuous union, was mated with Enquirer, a son of Leamington and Lida by Lexington, (above). This double cross of Lexington and a strain of Leamington acted as a judicious outcross to the previous intense inbreeding to Glencoe, and the outcome of this union, Mannie Gray, should have had a fine turn of speed herself. For such an inbred mare the correct thing was to mate her with an outbred horse, leaving only a dash of her strongest and best blood to act as a connecting link.

It would be difficult to find a more outbred horse than Himyar, and in consequence he will always do best with a strong return to his stout Blacklock, Birdcatcher, and Glencoe blood, as in this case.

If I have not made this clear before, it cannot be too strongly impressed upon stud masters that an outbred sire should always be mated with mares inbred closely to his best strains, and vice versa."

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