The Doomben 10,000 is a race that has historically been won by horses that are bred on real speed lines. When looking at Undue, we see that his dosage profile reads [0.81/3.24] [10-9-17-0-0] for four generations. As a student of dosages, it always interests me to see a Group winner that lacks stamina ratings in their profile. There has been a trend in the US to breed away from stamina factors, and sometimes the lack of these ratings can reflect a similar trend in Australia that can cause concern as to the long term health of the breed.
First impressions though can be misleading. Undue was only living up to a very high quality heritage. He was a cast off of the strong Woodland’s establishment and hails from a family that has had wide ranging success. Undue is by Commands, the Group winning son of Danehill who is a full brother to the underrated Danewin. Both are from the dominant Eight Carat family.
It is Undue’s female line though that really sets him apart. He is from the Bletchingly mare, Influence. Influence raced thirty times for three wins including two in Sydney. The mare is a three quarter sister to stakes performers Sanction and Shaybisc. Shaybisc is the dam of Asarka, Bradshaw and Sashed who produced Freemason and Santissima. Shaybisc is also the grandam of Tarzi and Debrief. Influence is also a half sister to Neensie who in turn produced the Goodwood winner, Ready As, Solar Circle and is also the grandam of La Vie En Rose.
If we look a little deeper into the family we see that it is also the family of Le Zagaletta, the good Brisbane galloper, Spot The Rock, as well as the good current 2yo, Pulsator.
In terms of dosage we see that the family is one that is predisposed to speed. Many of the stakes winners from the family lack any stamina ratings, and those that do largely have only relatively minor influences in general. Even if we look at a horse like Freemason, who was considered by many as a staying type, we see that his dosage profile fitted a very versatile pattern at [0.53/2.24]. It is easy to forget that Freemason was placed in the Australian Guineas, a race that is seen as a stepping stone for many of our speedy stallion prospects. Overall most of the quality performers in the family race well up to around 1400m, with many winning over 1000m.
The lesson that we need to learn from Undue is that different families have varying strengths. This quality family needs speed, and seemingly the more the better. In spite of Undue dropping significantly in weight for the Stradbroke, this penchant for speed though would seem to raise some doubts over this tougher test.