Hawkeye is a stallion I rate highly. A five times Group 1 placed horse by one of our planet’s great sires from a mare which has also produced two other Group 1 performers by the same stallion must have serious appeal on this qualification alone. This cross works!
However, what New Zealand breeders are particularly concerned with is whether this successful cross is going to nick with some of our most common bloodlines. In my opinion, this may well happen.
To begin with, most Danehill horses do well with mares with strong Sir Tristram and Star Kingdom lines. Moreover, although the Danehill – Vaguely Noble cross has done particularly well north of the equator, there seems no reason why this shouldn’t happen down here as well. Mr Prospector is now quite common in our boodmare population as are Northern Dancer lines other than Danehill. There are certainly enough mares with complementary bloodlines to give Hawkeye a real chance to succeed.
The potency of these genetic combinations is well known to most breeders, as is the fact the Hawkeye comes from a successful sire-producing family. What particularly interests me is that his female family offers us a chance to reinforce some of the bloodlines that have contributed significantly to the success of the New Zealand thoroughbred. I refer to the Hurry On – Son In Law cross, the cornerstone of many of our most effective staying families. Sires such as Beau Pere, Foxbridge, Summertime and Agricola are justly
respected names in our pedigrees.
Hawkeye’s race record indicates that he has inherited the toughness typical of these bloodlines. How many 3YOs have we seen which have competed successfully in four countries during their classic year – and come back to be competitive at Group 1 level in the following season?
Correctly mated, Hawkeye could be one of the most successful stallions of his generation.
