Peak

With Peak being European bred he will predominantly be an outcross for the trotting broodmare population of New Zealand and Australia.

That said, his sire Ganymede (the two-time champion sire of France) is a grandson of the top American bred trotting sire Royal Prestige – so a great-grandson of the immortal Speedy Crown.

Peak’s dam is by the outstanding American bred sire Sugarcane Hanover, a son of Florida Pro who in turn is a son of Arnie Almahurst.

Peak’s dam-line and the dam-line of his sire are very much European.

We feel that with this pedigree of the European outcross blood tempered with several outstanding North American sires and sire-lines, Peak presents a number of wide-ranging and exciting options for breeders.

In our opinion, the sound options for Peak are many and varied – but there are still opportunities to take advantage of proven crosses with the North American elements of his pedigree and also with what is proven to be successful for his own sire (Ganymede).

Such has been the dominance of Sundon in this part of the world, it’s virtually a prerequisite for trotting sires in New Zealand and Australia to be able to cross with his daughters.

We feel Peak is a sound option for daughters of Sundon and for mares with Sundon close up in their pedigree. Peak’s dam is by the outstanding sire Sugarcane Hanover. He is a grandson of Arnie Almahurst – as is Sundon. This double-up is appealing – Stent is a current superstar that carries a double-up of Arnie Almahurst.

What’s more Peak is from the Speedy Crown sire-line via Royal Prestige. Sundon has crossed very well with the Speedy Crown sire-line in general and also specifically via Royal Prestige (eg the former top trotter Last Sunset is by Sundon from a daughter of Royal Prestige).

Also, Ganymede’s best performer in Norway is from a daughter of Pine Chip (a son of Arndon as is Sundon).

The same logic should apply for daughters of Keystone Salute (a son of Florida Pro) and also mares by Pine Chip and his son Dream Vacation etc

One thing that certainly stands out when looking through the progeny of Ganymede in Europe is that many of his best performers are out of mares from the Speedy Crown line. For this reason, we feel Peak (a son of Ganymede) should cross well with Speedy Crown line mares – eg daughters of Armbro Invasion, Gee Whiz, Straphanger, Pernod Eden etc

Notably, a number of these top performers out of mares from the Speedy Crown line are via Speedy Somolli. As such mares from the Valley Victory line should also be sound options – eg Muscles Yankee, Dr Ronerail (out of a mare by Royal Prestige), Great Success, Simon Roydon etc

In Australia, the $195,000 winning trotter Vincennes is by Ganymede from a daughter of Lindy Lane (a son of Valley Victory).

Ganymede has also sired several top horses from mares by Royal Troubadour. This would indicate Peak should cross well with mares by a son of Royal Troubadour (eg C R Commando) or other Super Bowl line mares (eg daughters of Britewell, Malabar Maple and Continentalman)

There is no reason why mares representing complete outcrosses will not be good options for Peak. These mares include those by sires from the Balanced Image line (eg Earl, Monarchy, Yankee Paco and Brylin Boyz), mares by Angus Hall and his son Majestic Son, mares by S J’s Photo and his son Pegasus Spur and also mares by Chiola Hanover. It should be remembered that most of these sires have Speedy Crown close up in their pedigrees or the mares themselves will have Sundon, Gee Whiz etc as the sire of their second or third dam – so the successful crosses mentioned above most likely will apply to them as well.
As we say, lots of attractive options.