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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.
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.
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.
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.
Photos & Information
We have photos and extra information
for a great number of horses in the
database. These will be noted in the
pedigree with small icons. The
pedigree below isn't a working
pedigree, but on the site, you can run
your mouse over these icons to get
photos or additional information for
the horse in question. Tail Female and
Family Numbers The Tail Female
pedigree is one that goes from dam to
dam. So Real Quiet's Tail female
pedigree includes Really Blue, Meadow
Blue, Gay Hostess, Your Hostess,
Boudoir,... etc. On the right side of
the pedigree, you'll notice a column
of numbers and letters that looks
something like 5-f, 8-f, etc. These
are female family numbers and trace
the tail female pedigrees back to
certain taproot mares. For more
information on female family numbers,
we suggest you take a look at
Elizabeth Ross's Bloodlines site
and also
Thoroughbred Heritage.
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