SIRE LINES OF INTERNATIONAL  JUMPERS

THE *BLENHEIM II LINE
  P.H. Birdsall. DVM

  Seventh In A Series Of Eight Articles

*Blenheim II was bred in Ireland by His Highness the Aga Khan. His racing career included a win in the Epsom Derby.
He was a successful sire in France and England, and at 10 years of age *Blenheim II was exported to the United States, where he stood at Claiborne Farm in Kentucky. In North America he was among the top ten leading race sires on nine occasions.
*Blenheim II was by Blandford, whose nine foal crops included four Derby winners. *Blenheim II's dam, Malva, was out of a mare by Robert Le Diable. Robert Le Diable was not considered much of a sire, but he had a son, *Wrack. who won both on the flat and over hurdles in England. *Wrack came to America, where he was a very successful leading sire of race horses. *Wrack appears in the pedigrees of the North American international jumpers Radnor II, The Flying Nun, and Golden Gavel.
*Wrack's dam was by Isinglass, who also sired Louviers, one of the two Thoroughbred stallions contributing so much to the German Thoroughbred race and show horses (the other sire being Dark Ronald).
While in France, *Blenheim II sired Mumtaz Begum, the dam of "Nasrullah and granddam of *Royal Charger.
*Blenheim II also sired, in France, the great race horse and sire *Mahmoud, who was later brought to North America.
In Europe, the *Blenheim II line is not as common in the pedigrees of jumpers as it is in North America.
*Blenheim II sired Mirza II, a full brother to *Mahmoud and to Mumtaz Begum, who was the dam of *Nasrullah and granddam of "Royal Charger. Mirza II is the grandsire of the German Thoroughbred stallion Pik As, so
important in the Hanoverian breed. Pik As sired Porta Westfalica, an Olympic medalist under Hartwig Steenken and the European Jumping Champion, Pesgo.
Pik As is the maternal grandsire of the Hanoverian, Queensway, a leading international jumper ridden by David Broome of Great Britain. Perser, a full brother of Pik As, sired the jumper Patras.
Pik As is considered the most successful jumping sire of horses as determined by purse earnings.
Another descendant of 'Blenheim II is the Thoroughbred stallion Carnival Night, the sire of Mr. Ross, the international Grand Prix winner ridden by David Broome and the leading money winner on the European circuit in 1981. In 1981, Mr. Ross won the Grand Prix in Paris, Hickstead and Dublin.
In North America, the *Blenheim II line is very common. His descendants include those many excellent show jumpers which descend from *Nasrullah and *Royal Charger who were mentioned under their sire Nearco. *Blenheim II was the maternal grandsire of both *Nasrullah and the dam of *Royal Charger.
*Blenheim II's grey son, *Mahmoud, who descends from The Tetrarch, has been very common in the pedigrees of North American jumpers. *Mahmoud is the grandsire of the South American jumper Gran Geste, ridden to many international wins by Nelson Pessoa.
Descendants of *Mahmoud in North America include Coach Stop (a Grand Prix winning member of the USET); Damuji and Raffles IV (members of the Canadian Equestrian Team); Sandablaze (a winner of the Grand Prix of Dublin in 1974 and a member of the USET at the Montreal Olympics, Pan American Games, and a member of many Nations Cup winning teams): Rosie Report (winner of the Cleveland Grand Prix): Sloopy (a silver and bronze medal winner at the 1972 Olympics); Third Man and Trick Track (puissance and Nations Cup
winners on the USET): and Number One Spy (1975 Grand Prix jumper of the year and winner of the President's Cup in 1976). Number One Spy descends from *Blenheim II twice: once through *Mahmoud and once through *Blenheim II's famous race son, Whirlaway.
 The dam of Signal Point, 1982 winner of the West Palm Beach Masters Grand Prix descends twice from *Mahmoud. Signal Point also descends twice from *Sir Gallahad III, once from Pilate. five times from The Tetrarch, once from'Nasrullah and once from Man o' War. It is also interesting to note that the sire of Signal Point is out of a mare who was a half sister of the USET jumper San Lucas.
The USET star, Snowbound, was sired by a son of "Blenheim II named Hail Victory. Hail Victory was out of a daughter of *Sir Gallahad III. Through his son, Jet Pilot, who is out of a mare by *Sir Gallahad III, *Blenheim II appears in the pedigrees of the international jumper Caesar (a gold medal winner at the Par American Games in 1975), and Fleet Apple (a multiple class winner on the 1971 European Tour of the USET and former member of the silver medal team at the Munich Olympics).
Other descendants of *Blenheim II include Branch County (the individual silver medal winner at the Montreal
Olympics), Salem ( a grandson of *Blenheim II who was on many U.S Nations Cup winning teams), Singapore (winner of the American Jumping Derby) and Stoic (of the Canadian Equestrian Team).
*Blenheim II also appears in the pedigrees of numerous leading North American show hunters.

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