Miss Finland Reigns Supreme

Star 3 year old filly, Miss Finland capped off a great spring with a dominating victory in the Group 1 VRC Oaks at Flemington on Thursday 9th November, 2006.

The superstar filly has had a marvellous season and can now boast winning at almost all distances, including a victory in the Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes as a 2 year old. Miss Finland has now won prizemoney in excess of AUD3.25 Million and has won from 1,000m to 2,500m. She will now be spelled while her future is mapped out, with managing owner John Messara [Arrowfield Pastoral Pty Ltd Syndicate] suggesting an overseas racing campaign is likely for her to fly the flag internationally for her sire Redoute's Choice.

A $450,000 Sydney Easter Yearling Sale purchase, it would have been easy in hindsight to mark this filly down as being a future star, being a daughter of the all conquering Redoute's Choice, however, there is much more to her pedigree gene pool than simply being a daughter of the mighty stallion. Some people would even suggest that some endurance has been passed on through her grand-dam Moonshell who won an English Oaks (2400m) and is a sister to Doyen, a King George and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2400m) winner.

Superior Genetic Makeup

Let's take a look at her gene pool in depth, and we will see what makes Miss Finland stand head and shoulders above even the average Redoute's Choice progeny.

If we examine Miss Finland's pedigree to 15 generations we find 164 instances of the mighty matriarch Pilgrimage, who has been responsible for shaping the gene pool of many of our past champions. Miss Finland's count of 164 within 15 generations is well above average and would be one of the controlling factors in her ability. She also boasts above average counts of Brown Bess [137], Scapa Flow [33], Gondolette [32] and in particular the provider of the large heart gene, Pocahontas [801]. Combine this with other potent pools of Flying Duchess [665] and St Angela [590] and we have a tightly knit gene pool concentrated with huge amounts of the great foundation mares Old Morocco Mare and Sister To Mixbury. Of course this is significant for the fact that all of these mighty mares all carry similar genetic makeups within themselves and is the only proven formula for breeding top racehorses.

Most people make the mistake of only looking at nicks close up in the pedigree whilst completely ignoring the most important part of a horses heritage - the gene pool that makes up the back end of the pedigree.