When a stallion from a powerful family retires to stud, a look at strong affinities possessed by the female line can sometimes provide hints to potential crosses. A good example is Smart Strike. He is a Mr. Prospector son, free of Northern Dancer, and a quick glance at his catalog- style pedigree reveals that he is a half-brother to the exceptional filly Dance Smartly, a daughter of Danzig (by Northern Dancer). This suggests that Smart Strike might cross well with mares by Danzig, and in fact he has. Smart Strike has sired Canadian Horse of the Year Soaring Free and graded-stakes winner High Strike Zone out of mares by Danzig, and Grade I winner Shadow Cast and Grade II winner Bel Air Beauty out of mares by sons of Danzig.

A dig back into Smart Strike's family reveals another good potential cross with another branch of the Northern Dancer line. Smart Strike's dam is a half-sister to two stakes winners by Northern Dancer son Vice Regent, one of which was Canadian champion two-year-old Regal Classic, and also half-sister to Grade I winner Always A Classic, who was by Vice Regent's most important son, Deputy Minister.

It is a horse bred on the cross of Smart Strike with a Deputy Minister mare which is particularly in the news this week in the shape of the sensational Curlin. A $57,000 Keeneland September yearling, Curlin debuted in a seven-furlong maiden race at Gulfstream Park, and led throughout to score by nearly 13 lengths. Purchased after that race for a reported $3,500,000 by a partnership headed by Stonestreet Stables and Padua Stables, he was transferred from the barn of Helen Pitts to Steve Asmussen. Curlin reappeared in the GIII Rebel S. at Oaklawn Park, and this time ran fourth or fifth in the early stages, before sweeping past his rivals for a 5 1/4-length score. In last Saturday's GII Arkansas Derby, Curlin stalked the pace, then burst clear for an impressive 10 1/2- length tally, a record margin of victory for the race.

As has been widely reported elsewhere, Curlin will now head for the GI Kentucky Derby, where one of his stiffest opponents is history. He will bid to be the first horse to win the Classic without a juvenile start since Apollo in 1882 and the first to score with just three lifetime previous starts since Regret in 1915. While Curlin has to overcome history to win the Derby, another potential stumbling block, the distance, should prove to be no problem. He completed his last furlong in the Arkansas Derby in :11.91 seconds, and his pedigree doesn't seem to pose too many problems on the score of stamina.

Smart Strike was best at around a mile, but several of his best offspring have won good races at 10 furlongs or more, among them Grade I scorers English Channel, Shadow Cast and Fleetstreet Dancer, and graded winners Tenpins, Shoal Water and Tungsten Strike. Curlin's broodmare sire Deputy Minister was a graded winner at nine furlongs, and second in a photo-finish for the 10-furlong GI Meadowlands Cup. Curlin's granddam Barbarika--who took the GII Johnnie Walker Black Classic H. and GIII Turfway Park Breeders' Cup H. both at 8 1/2 furlongs-- is a daughter of Bates Motel, a horse whose most prestigious victory came in the 10-furlong GI Santa Anita H. Barbarika was the only stakes winner in the first twodams of this pedigree prior to the appearance of Curlin, but her dam, Conniver H. winner War Exchange, was asuccessful producer and foundation mare. War Exchange' s best runner was the Carnivalay filly LuckyLady Lauren, winner of the GIII Arlington Matron H. Another daughter, the stakes-placed Count On Cathy,was a more important producer, being the dam of two stakes winners, and granddam of champion two-year-old filly Countess Diana and the ill-fated GI Beldame S. and GI Gazelle H. heroine Exogenous.

We mentioned in our introduction that a perusal of Smart Strike's family would have encouraged crossing him with mares by Deputy Minister and his sire Vice Regent. A look at the results he has achieved with Deputy Minister mares paints a particularly striking picture. Smart Strike is the sire of 17 foals out of 15 different Deputy Minister mares, 13 of which have started. Of those 13, four are stakes winners, with Curlin being joined by millionaire Tenpins; 2007 GIII Providencia S. victress Super Freaky; and listed winner and graded stakes-placed Deputy Strike. This comes out to 24 percent stakes winners, compared with 9 percent stakes winners to foals sired by Smart Strike overall; the four stakes winners to emerge from the 51 foals out of this group of mares when bred to all other stallions. In closing, we can also note that Smart Strike has sired Canadian champion Eye of the Sphynx out of a Vice Regent mare, and two stakes winners, including graded scorer Smart n Classy, out of mares by Vice Regent's son Regal Classic. Contact Alan Porter at portrpedigree@msn.com.

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