Basic
Guide to Reading Pedigrees
This website offers complex pedigree reports and
knowing how to read them and understanding what
everything means in a pedigree can really help you
out. If you scroll to the bottom of this page, you'll
find the pedigree for Kentucky Derby winner REAL
QUIET. We'll be using this pedigree as an example
so you can follow along.
Inbreeding
Inbreeding occurs in a pedigree when the same horse
appears twice through different offspring. Real
Quiet's pedigree has a fair amount of inbreeding
in it. The Pedigree Database will show inbred horses
by placing a colored bar to the right of names inside
the pedigree. Notice in Real Quiet's pedigree below
that there are colored bars next to Dr. Fager, Raise
a Native, Cequillo, and Rough'n Tumble. The bars
are color coded so that you can quickly find matching
sets of horses. All of these horses appear more
than once in the pedigree through different offspring,
notice that Aspidistra also appears more than once
in the pedigree, yet she doesn't have a colored
bar next to her name. This is because she only appears
through her son Dr. Fager and no other horses.
<<
Click to see REAL QUIET'S pedigree as an example
Cross
Duplicates
Inbred horses that appear in both the dam and sire
side of the pedigree are referred to as cross duplicates.
In Real Quiet's pedigree, Raise a Native appears
twice, once in Quiet American's pedigree and once
in Really Blue's pedigree. Dr. Fager on the other
hand only appears in Quiet American's pedigree and
thus he isn't a cross duplicate.
<<
Click to see REAL QUIET'S pedigree as an example)
Siblings
In thoroughbreds, there are three types of siblings
that are generally noted. Full siblings (full brothers/sisters
that share the same sire & dam). 3/4 siblings (horses
that share 3 out of 4 grandparents). In Real Quiet's
pedigree, Dumure and Killaloe are 3/4 siblings sharing
Rough'n Tumble, Aspidistra, and Cequillo. Half siblings
are those that either share two grandparents or
have the same dam. In Real Quiet's pedigree, Quiet
Charm and Grand Splendor share the same dam and
are thus considered half siblings. Note that horses
that share the same sire are not generally considered
half siblings. In the pedigree database, the relationships
will be noted by color coded dotted, dashed, and
solid lines below a horse's name. A solid line will
highlight full siblings, a dashed line (like the
green one below Demure's name) shows 3/4 siblings.
Dotted lines like the one below Quiet Charm show
half siblings.
<<
Click to see REAL QUIET'S pedigree as an example)
Grade
I/Champion Horses
In the pedigree database, horses that have either
won a grade I race or the equivalent of a grade
I race (before the grading system came out) are
always noted in bold text. Generally speaking, the
more Grade I winners/champions in a pedigree, the
better bred a horse is, especially when they show
up in the dam's side of the pedigree. Note that
most sires today have had fairly succesful racing
careers and are often Grade I winners. It's not
uncommon to see a good sire in a pedigree, but it's
a lot less common to find mares who have done well.
Racing
Records/Earnings
Many
horses in the database will show up with a career
racing record and earnings next to their names.
For instance Really Blue has the following numbers
under her name. "21-3-5-1 $31,920". This means that
she raced 21 times in her career, won 3 races, finished
second 5 times and third 1 time. During her career,
she earned $31,920 in earnings. Horses that haven't
raced may show up with "Unraced" under their name.
Chefs
and Dosage Certain sires in a pedigree may show
up with letters in brackets after their year of
birth. Fappiano is an example below "[IC]". These
letters signify the Fappiano is a chef-de-race horse
and they are used to calculate the dosage numbers
above the pedigree "DP = 14-12-12-0-0 (38) DI =
5.33 CD = 1.05". Chef-de-race horses on this site
are designated by Steve Roman and more information
about dosage and how to use it as a breeding tool
can be found at http://www.chef-de-race.com/.
Genetic
Strength Values (GSV)
Genetic Strength Values are another system to evaluated
a horse's pedigree and try to quantify the pedigree.
Below Believe It's name, you'll see a number in
braces "(54.30)", this is Believe It's Grasp Rating.
Above the pedigree, you'll see the GSV number "GSV
= 71.10". GSV ratings and Grasp numbers were developed
by George William Smith and
you can find out more information about using these
numbers at his Understanding
the GSV page.
Reines
De Course
Ellen Parker is a pedigree researcher who has spent
lots of time studying famous mares. She's comes
out with a list of the 500 or so most influential
mares of the last century. These Reine De Course
(Queens of The Turf) mares are highlighted in the
pedigree with a green star. For instance Gay Hostess
is a Reine De Course mare. If you are serious about
pedigrees, check out her
site for some good articles and also some great
books about famous broodmares.
