Chef-de-Race: Bold Ruckus
dkb/br.h., 1976 (Boldnesian-Raise a Ruckus, by Raise a Native)
(December 5, 2008)

A strong argument can be made that no stallion whose entire stud career was spent in Canada has had a greater impact on Canadian racing than Florida-bred Bold Ruckus, a Bold Ruler-line son of Boldnesian, he the paternal grandsire of the great Seattle Slew.  In a breeding career that began after his retirement from the racetrack in 1980 until his death in 1996 at the age of 20, Bold Ruckus was the leading sire in Canada three times.  Along the way he got champions, track record setters, million dollar earners, stakes-producing daughters and sons which themselves became successful sires.

A $36,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky summer yearling, Bold Ruckus displayed brilliant speed as a two-year-old, establishing the five furlong turf course record at Woodbine.  That same year he placed in the Display Stakes at Greenwood and in the Nashua Stakes at Aqueduct.  For his efforts as a juvenile Bold Ruckus was assigned 112 pounds on the 1978 Experimental Free Handicap, 14 pounds below champion Spectacular Bid and one pound below future Belmont Stakes winner Coastal.  He won two six-furlong stakes races at three, the Chief Pennekeck at the Meadowlands and the Select Handicap at Monmouth, and finished second to Smarten in the nine furlong Ohio Derby (G2).  At year end, Bold Ruckus was assigned 108 pounds on the Blood-Horse Free Handicap for three-year-old colts of 1979, also led by the immortal Spectacular Bid at 135 pounds.  He retired the following year with eight wins, five seconds and two thirds from 24 starts and earnings of $201,913.  The sprinting speed of Bold Ruckus is reflected in his Dosage figures of DP 21-12-5-2-0, DI 7.89 and CD 1.30.

Syndicated to stand at Park Stud in Ontario, Bold Ruckus was immediately successful as he became North America's second leading freshman sire of 1984 behind the legendary Danzig.  During his breeding career he sired at least 65 stakes winners and achieved an exceptional Average Earnings Index (AEI) of 2.38, a figure that today would place him eighth among active North American sires and above such prominent stallions as Dynaformer, Pulpit, Tiznow, Elusive Quality and Unbridled's Song.  Among his best performers are Canadian champions Bold Ruritania (turf and older female), King Ruckus (sprinter and older male) and King Corrie (sprinter, twice); and Grade 1 winners Beau Genius ($1,055,600), Kiridashi ($1,201,980), King Ruckus and Gal in a Ruckus.  Among his numerous other graded stakes winners are Krz Ruckus ($1,115,496), Highland Ruckus and Demaloot Demashoot.  Bold Ruckus' track record setters include Bold Revenue, Bold Ruritana, Demaloot Demashoot, Double Shift, Fina Dur, Go Scotty, Katahaula County, Keen Runner, Ketchem, Kiridashi and Petite Duchess.  Despite the fact that Bold Ruckus stood exclusively in Canada, close to half of his progeny's major stakes wins were earned on tracks in the United States.

Over the years, Bold Ruckus also has emerged as a formidable sire of sires.  His sons among the leading sires in Canada in 2008 through December 4 are Bold Executive (1st, and previously the leading Canadian sire three times), Bold n' Flashy (9th), Katahaula County (19th), Kiridashi (22nd) and Highland Ruckus (54th).

Daughters of Bold Ruckus have been very successful as well, producing at least 79 stakes winners through November 2008.  Bold Ruckus led the Canadian broodmare sire list in 2003 and although dead for almost 13 years, he still ranked 89th among the leading North American broodmare sires into December 2008.  In fact, between 2000 and 2007 he finished among the top 60 North American broodmare sires every year, ranking as high as 15th in both 2003 and 2004.  His daughters' top runners include Grade 1 winners Set Play, Bolulight and Patriot Love.  Here again, almost half of the major stakes wins by runners out of Bold Ruckus daughters were achieved on tracks in the United States.

Clearly, then, Bold Ruckus had a stellar career as a sire of runners, a sire of sires and a sire of producing daughters.  However, followers of Dosage methodology understand that statistical success at stud alone is insufficient for chef-de-race consideration.  First and foremost there must be an observable prepotence for type, and this is where Bold Ruckus truly stands out.  We can demonstrate Bold Ruckus' prepotence using statistics that compare the Dosage figures for his descendants with those of the general population having similar performance characteristics.

The average winning distance (AWD) of major open stakes races won by Bold Ruckus' runners is a relatively short 7.08 furlongs.  21.7% of these races were on the turf, 10.1% were juvenile stakes, 60.9% were at sprint distances and just 1.4% were at a classic distance.  The averages for leading sires in our database are 8.10 furlongs, 30.8%, 13.1%, 31.4% and 11.1%, respectively.  Thus, one could characterize Bold Ruckus runners as average to later maturing and with a preference for shorter races on dirt.

Using a metric first applied in the assignment of Unbridled as a chef-de-race, we determine the percent distribution of stakes in our database at sprint (30.7%), middle (38.0%) and route (31.3%) distances.  Next we compare the percent distribution for winners by Bold Ruckus to the standard and note the difference at each distance range.  For Bold Ruckus the figures are 60.9% in sprints (seven furlongs or less), 21.7% in middle distance races (7 1/2 to 8 1/2 furlongs) and 17.4% in routes (nine furlongs or more).  The differences between his profile and the standard are, respectively, 30.2%, 16.3% and 13.9%.  The average difference is 20.8%.  If a sire's stakes winning progeny expressed the same distance profile as the standard, it would suggest that prepotence for type is not a factor.  For example, as noted in the article about Unbridled, the average difference between the profile for leading sire Gulch and the standard is only 0.7%.  Similarly, the average for Storm Cat, despite the obvious quality of his runners, is only 5.9%.  This result demonstrates that Bold Ruckus' distance profile is clearly skewed from an opportunistic pattern and that he is displaying measurable aptitudinal prepotence for type, the primary criterion for chef-de-race selection.  The following graphic clearly shows the difference in the distance distribution of stakes winners by Bold Ruckus with the distance distribution of stakes winners by all sires in the database. 

In the next step, we try to discover previously overlooked evidence of an aptitudinal influence in pedigrees in which Bold Ruckus is the common ancestor.  Therefore, we analyzed the data from 147 open North American stakes races in which Bold Ruckus or any of several of his leading sons is the sire or broodmare sire of the race winner.  The average winning distance (AWD) of these races is 7.10 furlongs with an average winner's Dosage Profile (DP) of 9.01-4.40-3.83-0.53-0.23, average Dosage Index (DI) of 8.78 and average Center of Distribution (CD) of 1.19.

From our database, the predicted DI and CD values at an average winning distance of 7.10 furlongs are 4.31 and 0.93, respectively.  Despite the sprint orientation of this population, there appears to be more stamina transmitted through Bold Ruckus than is currently expressed by his Dosage contribution of 10-5-1-0-0 (equivalent to a very high DI 31.00 and an equally high CD 1.56).  He seems to be attenuating the abundance of speed in his pedigree inherited from Brilliant/Intermediate chef-de-race Bold Ruler, Brilliant chefs-de-race Raise a Native, Nasrullah and Double Jay, and Intermediate chef-de-race Polynesian.

By assigning Bold Ruckus as a split Intermediate/Classic chef-de-race the revised figures for the test population of his descendants are DP 9.01-10.13-9.56-0.53-0.23, DI 4.46 and CD 0.91.  This is an almost ideal fit with the general Throroughbred population having the same AWD.  His revised Dosage contribution as a sire becomes DP 10-13-9-0-0 (equivalent to DI 6.11 and CD 1.03) which is still highly shifted toward speed and consistent with his general aptitudinal influence.  Here we have a striking example demonstrating how the aptitudinal assignment of a chef-de-race must be considered in the context of his total aptitudinal contribution to successive generations which includes chef-de-race influences close up in his own pedigree.  In other words, Bold Ruckus is not simply a sire of Intermediate/Classic type runners even though that is his chef-de-race designation.  The type he gets is the sum total of his own contribution plus those of chefs-de-race in the three generations behind him.

A summary of the changes in the Dosage figures for stakes winners by Bold Ruckus or out of Bold Ruckus mares is presented in the following table:

A few examples that support the new assignment are shown below where we have included the AWD of several major first-, second- and third-generation stakes winners descended from Bold Ruckus along with their original and revised DI and CD numbers.

Bold Ruckus meets every criterion for chef-de-race selection.  He was a major sire of runners.  Numerous successful sons and daughters are extending his influence through future generations and, most important, his prepotence for aptitudinal type can be confirmed by statistical analysis.  Accordingly, Bold Ruckus is now the 210th chef-de-race, assigned an I/C classification.