Tribute to Nearco - high worthy watch

[mysaladdays]

If this doesn't make all the hairs on your arm stand up.....wow.  

Tesio, in all his genius, knew who to sell this one to.  And, he made a provision that a bunker/bomb shelter be provided to ensure his survival if where he went (Newmarket) should experience an air raid. 

Think about that for a minute.  Tesio (rightly so, in retrospect!!!!)  gave this horse, Nearco, all the protections that would only be afforded to human Kings or Presidents of nations.   

These Euros had superior breeders and horseman.  Nearco, grandfather of the great Northern Dance, and  true "father" of many of the most potent sirelines in thoroughbred history.....right up til today.   

 What if things had been different? I can't  even imagine.

One of the reasons I use my thoroughbred query subscription which has helped me find a lot of  champions, tracing %'s of St Simon, etc. in a pedigree.  People say going back more than 2 generations is bunk....I will beg to differ and will leave it at that because its a book-length discussion. 


It looked like the jock never used his whip on Nearco?  

Feeling faint after watching this, short but sweet:


  

[shoes]

Love, love, love this!

[docd]

Very nice,thanks for sharing.
One from my generation I followed as close as I could from the other side of the pond.He looks to be quite the stallion too.

[mysaladdays]

Aug 29, 2023 15:09:15 GMT -5 shoes said:

Love, love, love this!

Yes, I thought it was very well done, and not too long, you could see what was important to see.  


It really is amazing that they built a bomb shelter for this horse.  That when Italy had announced an alliance with Nazi Germany, Tesio wanted a safer home for Nearco, and found it in Newmarket, England.

Tesio knew what he had bred.  What he didn't know is that Nearco would become the "Godfather of Thorughbreds".    I mean try to even imagine the breed w/out him, w/out St. Simon (Nearco was inbred 5 x 4 x 4 x 5 to St. Simon)....then, w/out Northern Dancer, without Nasrullah, without Neartic, Ballymoss, Dante, etc.  Heck, where would we even be without Bold Ruler?

A horse who would have generations and generations of influence in linebreeding and the Thoroughbred breed itself.   When you follow it so many of the "greats" of today are because of him. 

I think some who bet on horses every day may not realize the significance of Nearco, so  I wanted to highlight him.


He was quite a handful.  Went thru 10 grooms, Nearco was very haughty and disdainful of just about everything, and that included most all humans.  So new owner got Ernie Lee who was known to be good with difficult stallions ......and it took Lee many weeks but he worked wonders.  (I was imagining a guy like Ernie Lee, known for working with so many stallions who would just as soon kill you, easily kill you.  That man was a true horse person, and very brave.  Imagine a day in the life of Ernie Lee.    )   Anyway, he trained Nearco to walk into his air raid shelter whenever the sirens blared, and to be calm in there until it was safe to emerge.   They say that Nearco was NEVER calm around any other human except Lee.   

I think of all the training titles of all the years, and I'm sure Ernie Lee,  a groom,  would surpass every super trainer on the planet....He HAD A gift, just like the horse he took care of.  Maybe they *recognized* something in each other?  Perhaps they were kindred souls. 

Ernie Lee, upon Nearco's death, was so filled with sorrow that he never worked with another horse again.  


(Secretariat, a great-grandson of Nearco!)