Chef-de-Race: Broad Brush
b.h., 1983 (Ack Ack-Hay Patcher, by Hoist the Flag)
(July 5, 2000)

Broad Brush, b., 1983 (Ack Ack-Hay Patcher, by Hoist the Flag) is unusual for a world-class stallion.  His pedigree is free of Northern Dancer, Raise a Native and Bold Ruler blood, and he is intensely inbred to Turn-to 3x3.  Despite the absence of more “commercial” bloodlines and in spite of the aversion of many breeders to intense inbreeding, Broad Brush has emerged as one of the half dozen or so most successful sires currently standing in North America.

He represents the sire line of Domino, once preeminent in North American racing but now perhaps in its final stages.  Only Broad Brush and his sire Ack Ack have stood between survival of the line and virtual extinction, at least at the graded stakes level.  This is the line through Commando with branches to such immortals as Colin, Alsab, Youth, Peter Pan, Black Toney, Balladier, Double Jay, Spy Song, Crimson Satan, Bimelech, Blue Larkspur, Equipoise, Stymie, Carry Back and Sarazen.  Only time will tell us whether Broad Brush will carry on the tradition through his sons.

By the end of 1999, Broad Brush had sired nine crops of racing age and close to 400 foals.  Of these, 80% had started, 66% had won and 21% had won as juveniles, figures that easily exceed the average for all sires.  Fifteen per cent of his foals were stakes winners, placing him fourth among active North American sires behind Danzig, Nureyev and Storm Cat.  His racing progeny averaged over $95,000 in earnings per starter, surpassed only by the active North American sires A.P. Indy, Storm Cat, Danzig, Deputy Minister and Skip Trial.  Annual total progeny earnings were greater than $3 million each year between 1994 and 1999, three times exceeding $5 million.  He led the general sire list in 1994 and ranked 14^th in 1996, 12^th in 1997, 7^th in 1998 and 3^rd in 1999.  With a lifetime Average Earnings Index of 3.03 and a Comparable Index of 2.43, it is clear that he significantly upgrades the mares to which he is bred relative to the stallions bred to the same mares.  His success can be measured by an increase in his stud fee from a low of $12,500 as late as 1993 to his current fee of $100,000.

Broad Brush's best performers include Best of Luck (G2), Broad Dynamite (G2), Broad Smile (G3), Brush With Pride (G3), Brushed Halory (G3), Brushing Gloom (G3), Brushing Up (G3), Concern (G1), Gail's Brush (G3), Glory In Motion (G3), Hot Brush (G3), J. F. Williams (G3), Magic Broad (G3), Merengue (G3), Road Rush (G3), Schossberg (G1), Special Broad (G3), Star of Broadway (G2), Stellar Brush (G2), Tennis Lady (G3), Timely Broad (G3), Tookin Down (G3) and With Flair (Can-3).

At least part of Broad Brush’s accomplishments at stud must be attributed to his exceptional athletic ability.  He raced for three seasons during which time he started 27 times, won 14 races, placed second five times and third an additional five times with earnings of over $2.6 million.  Twelve of his 14 victories came in stakes races including four Grade 1s (Wood Memorial Invitational, Suburban Handicap, Santa Anita Handicap and Meadowlands Cup), three of which were contested at a mile and a quarter.  He won or placed in a total of 22 stakes (15 graded) from coast to coast and over the widest assortment of tracks imaginable including at least Aqueduct, Belmont, Saratoga, Churchill Downs, Pimlico, Garden State Park, Santa Anita, Canterbury Park, The Meadowlands, Suffolk Downs, Philadelphia Park, Thistledown and Turfway Park.  Certainly one is unlikely today to find as well-traveled a runner at Broad Brush’s level.  What a marvelous example he was of class, durability and soundness!

These attributes seem to appeal to breeders, and for good reason; they are much the same attributes that Broad Brush passes along to his progeny.  Although the Broad Brushes may not be “fashionable” from a pedigree standpoint, and even though they aren’t as “pretty” as some others, one thing is sure; they are stone-cold runners that are competitive at every level, and they last.  The average starter by Broad Brush races just under three years with over seven starts per year.

Open stakes winners by Broad Brush have an average winning distance (AWD) of 8.39 furlongs, which is somewhat longer than the database average of 8.10 furlongs.  It is worth noting that the standard deviation, which measures how far the numbers in a data set tend to be from the average, is just 11% of the AWD.  This is the smallest standard deviation next to Nodouble’s 10% of any sire over the last two decades with at least 50 progeny open stakes wins.  The significance of this small standard deviation is that Broad Brush’s runners tend to perform within a relatively narrow distance range, suggesting that he prepotently dominates the aptitudinal influences of his mares.  Aptitudinal prepotence remains the single most important factor in the identification of a chef-de-race.

Further evidence of aptitudinal prepotence is the disparity between the Dosage figures (Dosage Profile (DP), Dosage Index (DI) and Center of Distribution (CD)) of Broad Brush’s open stakes winners and those for the breed at large displaying similar distance capability.  The current figures for Broad Brush’s runners are average DP 7.18-9.73-8.81-0.38-1.32, average DI 3.71 and average CD 0.77 based on 79 races.  The predicted figures at an average distance of 8.39 furlongs are DI 3.33 and CD 0.68.  It appears as though Broad Brush is contributing a moderate degree of stamina beyond that which is found close up in his own pedigree.

An Intermediate/Classic (I/C) chef-de-race designation for Broad Brush modifies his progeny figures to average DP 7.18-17.73-16.81-0.38-1.32, average DI 3.37 and average CD 0.67.  These revisions create an almost perfect alignment between the Broad Brush stakes winners and those in the general population displaying similar distance characteristics.  A direct result of the assignment is a change in the contribution Broad Brush makes to the DP of his offspring: from DP 4-8-5-0-1 (equivalent to DI 4.14 and CD 0.78) to DP 4-16-13-0-1 (equivalent to DI 3.53 and CD 0.65).  The closeness of the overall fit is powerful evidence for both the justification and accuracy of an I/C chef-de-race designation for this exceptional stallion.

Broad Brush is now the 197th chef-de-race.