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Ribot - was he planned or did he simply evolve?

One of the greatest racehorses of the 20th century, Ribot, was undefeated in sixteen racecourse starts. While it is beyond dispute that he was bred by the Italian master Tesio, it may well be that we should not attribute all of the dramatic improvement in the female line of Ribot to Tesio’s genius. In fact the breeding of Ribot is possibly the best example of the step by step emergence of a champion from a relatively obscure female line, in the last one hundred years.

106 years to previous Classic winners

Prior to Ribot' s momentous performances in winning two Prix de l'Arc de Triomphes, and the King George and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, we have to trace back no less than 106 years to encounter his female line's previous Classic winners, The Flea, winner of the 1849 English 1,000 Guineas, and the 1844 English 2,000 Guineas winner The Ugly Buck. From that pinnacle in the family history, it was no less than 80 years before Ribot' s direct branch of the family exhibited signs that it was undergoing a transformation.

Revival

Then in 1928 the colt Cyclonic won the Jockey Club Stakes, the Gordon Stakes, and the King Edward VII Stakes at Ascot, signalling that a revival that had started several generations earlier was firmly underway. In 1933 Cyclonic' s sister Typhonic won the Park Hill Stakes, while their less well performed sister Panic in 1930 produced Nassau Stakes winner Solfatara. In 1937, his brother Solfo further established the credentials of this emerging line in repeating Cyclonic' s victories in the Jockey Club Stakes and King Edward VII Stakes.

Newmarket sales 1937

It was against this background of clear-cut success that Tesio' s attention was drawn at the Newmarket sales in 1937 to a weanling filly by Papyrus from Bucolic, half sister to Cyclonic. It would seem to be overstating the case therefore to attribute the main upgrading of this line entirely to Tesio, for the bulk of this task had already been accomplished by breeders such as Sir James Robinson, the breeder of Bucolic' s dam of Volcanic, and Major J. S. Courtauld who bred the sisters Panic and Typhonic, and brother Cyclonic. Rather, Tesio's genius lay partly in his recognition of the bargain he was getting in paying only 350 guineas for a weanling of the quality of the filly he named Barbara Burrini, and partly in his subsequent choice of El Greco in planning the mating from which she produced Italian two year old champion Romanella.

Turning point

In breeding Romanella, Tesio had taken the revival of this line to a stage of excellence from which it would be possible to breed a champion. But the turning point that triggered the commencement of such a revival was a mating that took place over 40 years before Tesio's involvement with the line. This was the mating in 1894 between Little Emily, the undistinguished winner of just two minor races, and the classy stallion St Angelo. Little Emily' s dam was the unraced daughter of a mare that had raced ten times without any hint of even minor success. The mating with St Angelo produced Ribot' s sixth dam St Lucia, and it is significant to note that St Lucia was by far the best of Little Emily' s seven foals, winning four races and prize money of just over £ 1,000.

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