How to Write Pedigree Notes

By Daralyn Wallace

When doing the pedigree notes for a runner in MTRA, you don’t have to write a book. They don’t have to be more than a few lines for the sire or dam of the runner. I’ve listed a guide below. This is just an example and yours may vary, but if you follow a format similar to this, then everyone will be able to read your pedigree notes easily.

Notes:
1) -m means the horse is not real and is either a model horse or a paper horse for racing. -r means the horse is real. You do NOT have to use the –m; if you don’t use it, stewards will assume that the horse in question is not a real horse. HOWEVER, you should always note which horses in the pedigree are real. Some people use ®, which is OK, but the –r is preferred.
2) Using ALL CAPS indicates that the horse was a stakes winner. (In real life, they use BOLD ALL CAPS for stakes winners and bold regular case for stakes-placed, but because e-mail does not always come through with all the formatting, you may not see bold used. It is OK to use it, but it may not show up if you send your race cards inside the email. It should show up if you send your race cards as attachments.

For example: (fake horse, shown as the sire of the runner whose race card you are creating)

Sire: GONE SOUTH -m (GONE WEST –r X Wanderer -m, Danzig –r)
[LINE 1] NAMTOBA MGSW of $1,250,000, sire of 1 MGSW/CH (SOUTHERN THING), 6 MSWs (including MR JOHNSON), as well as several other winners.
[LINE 2] ~~ Sired by MGSW & top sire GONE WEST, s/o CHs CONQUSTADOR CIELO, GULCH, ALDEBARAN, QUEENA, TERSA, DISTANT VIEW, etc.
[LINE 3] ~~ Out of an UR broodmare, dam of 6 foals, 3 runners, incl. MGSW/millionaire GONE SOUTH (subj), SW MADE YOU LOOK, and UR producer Meandering, dam of SW COUNTRY DANCE. BMS Danzig (undefeated winner of 3 races before being retired due to knee problems) was the sire of 107 graded stakes winners and 10 champions (incl. DAYJUR, DANCE SMARTLY, CHIEF’S CROWN, DANEHILL, etc.)

OK, let’s analyze this pedigree note.
On LINE 1, you see listed the name of the sire of the runner that you are doing the race card for, GONE SOUTH. The -m denotes that this is not a real horse and using all caps means he was a stakes winner. NAMTOBA is the name of another simulated racing club that MTRA will accept race points from; any time the horse was raced in another club, you must give the name of the club. The amount of points that stewards award may be affected by whether or not the horse raced in MTRA. MGSW means he was a multi graded stakes winner. A few of his offspring are also listed. Sometimes people will tell how many races a horse won, and even list a few of the famous stakes races it won, but that is not necessary – remember, we are trying to give as much USEFUL information as we can, but at the same time, keep it SHORT.

LINE 2 is started with a ~ (or some other mark) which is used to mean that you are no longer discussing the sire, but have moved on to discuss one of his parents. The sire is always listed first. You can say something like “his sire,” “sired by,” or you can list the name of the sire if you wish. Following that is a brief list of his accomplishments, and a list of a few of his best foals.

LINE 3 is the dam’s information. Here, the UR means she was unraced. It is not uncommon for broodmares never to be raced. A race record will help, but it isn’t necessary. What the broodmare produced is the most important. “Producer” means that she has given birth to foals, stated here as 3 starters. She may have other foals, too, but 3 of them have been raced. A short list of her foals is given, along with their highest race status. Right after her information, we list HER sire – the BMS – and give a little information about him and his foals.

You will write pedigree notes for the runner’s dam in the same way that the notes for the sire shown above were written.

You will note that I didn’t give any information about ancestors BEYOND the Broodmare Sire. Why? Because the further back in the pedigree you go, the less influence there is on the current RUNNER.
We really don’t need to analyze the entire pedigree to see if a horse is bred to run. If the horse had parents/grandparents that raced well, it has the potential to race, too.
Also, there simply is not room for a long analysis on the race cards. When you are getting ready to raise babies from a mare or stand a stallion at stud, then the rest of his pedigree becomes more important so that you can see what bloodlines have historically nicked well together to produce winning offspring. But that isn’t needed for the race card.

Common abbreviations that show up in pedigree notes and elsewhere on the race card:

Unpl = unplaced
Plcd or Plc = placed
Mdn Wnr – maiden winner
Wnr – winner (of any race)
Sp = Stakes Placed
SW – Stakes Winner
MSW = Multi Stakes Winner
G or Gr = Graded Stakes, as in G1SW, meaning a Grade 1 Stakes Winner.
CH = Champion, using meaning it was named as an overall champion in its age group or surface specialty
TCH = track champion, named a champion at a specific track
HOTY = Horse of the Year, voted the best of the best

Country Codes – You will often see abbreviations after a horse’s name, such as JPN (Japan) or UAE (United Arab Emirates). This is the country in which the horse was FOALED and originally registered. Horses often race in multiple countries now that they can be flown on planes all over the world. Some stallions will even stand one breeding season in a northern hemisphere country, such as the United States, and then be “shuttled” to a country in the southern hemisphere (such as Australia) to stand for their breeding season, which is the opposite of those in the northern hemisphere. There isn’t anything significant about WHERE a horse was foaled, but it is a good thing to include that information in your pedigree notes as it is traditionally included.

Feel free to email me with any questions you might have. My email address is RaunFalcon@aol.com