A champion racehorse and highly successful sire, Nijinsky II (ex Flaming Page, by Bull Page—Flaring Top), is now making a major impact in a linebreeding sense.

In basic linebreeding lore the aim is to duplicate key forebears in both parents, the idea being to transmit their desirable attributes to the new foal. To achieve this a sex balance is necessary to avoid plodding colts.

This means carrying the key horse through a son in one parent and through a daughter in the other. Likewise a notable male could be doubled with his sister or half sister. Fillies and mares often overcome this all-male jinx.

In the Northern Dancer deliberations a new principle known as the “Northern Dancer diversion” has become quite apparent. In this area certain Northern Dancer sons (such as Nijinsky II, Northfields, The Minstrel, Lyphard, Nureyev, Danzig and company) can defy the all-male jinx when they are present through their daughters.

The New Zealand super stallion Zabeel is a fine example. He carries the Northern Dancer son Nureyev through his daughter Lady Giselle. Very rarely does a Zabeel colt become disadvantaged in an all-male Northern Dancer presence.

Along comes Nijinsky II himself to add further distortions to all-male duplication pattern. He has been termed a “wild card” in the ever developing all-male Northern Dancer saga.

He is leaving his own particular stamp in Northern Dancer deliberations and is obviously not a typical Northern Dancer horse. When A Northern Dancer all-male duplication is being reviewed and one son is Nijinsky II ignore his presence.

He is not characteristic of the Northern Dancer variety in phenotype (that’s his physical being) nor in genotype (that involves pedigree).

It’s accepted that he resembles his dam Flaring Page and her Bull Page male line. Nijinsky II was a big, rangy horse, who stood over a lot of ground, and had tremendous bone. He also had sickle hocks, which were inherited through his dam sire Bull Page and his dad Bull Lea. So Nijinsky II’s physique isn’t typically Northern Dancer.

Pedigree researchers claim that the linebreeding in Nijinsky’s first six removes involves the half brothers Hyperion and Pharamond, Phalaris, Chaucer and Spearmint, and the half siblings Chickle and Dis Danc.

Further back Nijinsky II oozes with the great North American presences Domino and the famed Bend Or/Macaroni nick. Authoritative sources claim Nijinsky II is certainly different in his bloodline inheritance to many in the Northern Dancer flock.

He’s different; he doesn’t follow the regular Northern Dancer patterns and is the “wild card.”

During 2002 contributors to an email chat site found 53 stakeswinners linebred to Northern Dancer through an all-male duplication. In the process the linebreeding exponents in the Jack Glengarry mould were rigorously taken to task. In retaliation it was pointed out that when females among the prestige runners were deleted (remember that they buck the all-male jinx) and those with a Northern Dancer “diversion” removed there were only three runners remaining.

Guess what? In each instance one supposedly offending Northern Dancer son was Nijinsky II!

It’s been well chronicled that the wonderful New Zealand mare Sunline (Desert Sun-Songline, by Western Symphony) has several all-male duplications, which could disadvantage any Sunline full brother. However, the Northern Dancer sons in her pedigree are Danzig and Nijinsky II, so maybe the Sunline brothers may not be too badly threatened.