More Speedy Crown than Super Bowl
By looking at the winners of the four most prestigious stakes for young horses in the USA, we analyze the pedigrees of 40 horses. It is striking to see how much more Speedy Crown there is in these pedigrees in contrast to Super Bowl.

The 20 2-year-olds have a combined occurance of Speedy Crown 43 times in total in their pedigrees and Super Bowl 17 times. This means more than 2,5 times the amount than Super Bowl. For the 20 3-year-olds there is also more than twice as many occurances of Speedy Crown than Super Bowl, as Speedy Crown can be found 33 times and Super Bowl 16 times.

Export of Super Bowl blood to Europe
There are also other reasons that Speedy Crown is taking over the American trotter. One of them is that several av the best Super Bowl sons haven't been able to fulfill the expectations of American breeders, and have then been exported to Europe. Some of these stallions have proven their greatness in the USA after their export (for example Supergill). It is important for a stallion's future in coming generations that there are sons in his sire line that carries the blood forwards. A good stallion will of course get a significant larger number of foals per year than a good mare who represents the genes of the same stallion.

Super Bowl's greatness
Speedy Crown stands for earliness and speed, but to potentiate these properties, Speedy Crown has to a high degree been depending on for example Super Bowl blood on the maternal line. Through the development of today's trotter, remarkably few blood lines have dominated the sire lines, but the rich selection of maternal lines has given the basis for the development of the sire lines. The stallions who have the blood for the optimal cross with the best mares, will have the best opportunity to bloom. In this context this tells us that Super Bowl, via his own ability to pass good genes on and to get the best out of the Speedy Crown line, generally is not less worth than Speedy Crown. However, when comparing line breeding on the two individual the different properties emerges, and Speedy Crown will dominate this if one puts early speed on the top of the list.

The champion stallions in the USA the past few years
On top of the sire statistics in the US from 2000 and up till today, sires without any Super Bowl blood dominate. In 2000 Balanced Image held the throne in front of Garland Lobell, Donerail and King Conch. Balanced Image was also champion in 2001, Garland Lobell was number two and Donerail fourth. The last two years Muscles Yankee has been sire champion in North America. In 2003 var Balanced Image was number two and Donerail number four, and in 2004 Yankee Glide was second.

None of the above mentioned stallions have any Super Bowl blood in them, and their offspring often, but not always, have Super Bowl maternally. If we study the 40 horses who have won the four stakes mentioned earlier, we will find that only four of these horses have Super Bowl more than once in their pedigree. As most mares in the USA today have Super Bowl blood, it might seem like an advantage for an upcoming stallion not to have any Super Bowl in his own pedigree.

Thoughts on 2004
Horses with more Speedy Crown than Super Bowl in their pedigrees dominated North-American trotting in 2004. The two richest 2-year-olds Ken Warkentin and Solveig, are both sired by Yankee Glide. Yankee Glide is, as you know from the information above, completely without Super Bowl blood. Both Ken Warkentin and Solveig have Super Bowl once maternally. The Swedish bred sire Mr Lavec, with the Super Bowl son Allen Hanover as sire of dam, has three foals amongst the richest 2-year-olds in North America in 2004, and neither of these three have Super Bowl maternally. Only two out of the ten richest 2-year-olds have Super Bowl more than once in their pedigrees.

Windsong's Legacy was the best of the American 3-year-olds. His sire Conway Hall has the Super Bowl-son Texas as sire of second dam. The dam of Windsong's Legacy has no Super Bowl in her pedigree. Cantab Hall is second and Tom Ridge third after Windsong's Legacy on the list of richest 3-year-olds in 2004. Cantab Hall's dam is full sister to Conway Hall and she has thereby one occurrance of Super Bowl in her bloodlines. The sire of Cantab Hall is Self Possessed who has no Super Bowl in his lines. The Muscles Yankee son Tom Ridge also has a dam with one occurrance of Super Bowl. The richest 3-year-old filly, Housethatruthbuilt, is a daughter of Muscles Yankee and also has a dam who has no Super Bowl in her pedigree. Peaceful Way, the best foal by the young top stallion Angus Hall (full brother to Conway Hall and thereby Super Bowl once), is free from Super Bowl maternally.

It is also worth noticing that amongst the seven richest aged trotters in North America in 2004, Mr Muscleman, H P Paque, Stroke Play, Fool's Goal, Revenue, Windylane Hanover and JM VanGogh, there is no horse with more than one occurrance of Super Bowl in their lines.

Coktail Jet
In this connection it can be well worth mentioning that the great European stallion Coktail Jet, sires horses accoring to the same pattern in Finland, Norway and Sweden (these are the countries examined). There have here been crosses of this stallion with various variations of American bloodlines, and Coktail Jet himself is a result of a French sire and an American dam by Super Bowl. Among all the 11 horses by Coktail Jet in these countries that have made over 500.000 NOK (appr. USD 80,000) none of these horses have as much as a trace of Super Bowl maternally.

Here at worldoftrotters.com there are lists over the richest horses in the most important trotting nations. Many of these also have links to our library where you can find photos and four generation pedigrees, and you can yourself make your observations over what crosses seem to be successful.