Even as we grieve Arthur Hancock, his many friends can at least be consoled by the certainty that his legacy has long been guaranteed-from his own backyard, to the other side of the world.It had certainly become clear, as Arthur increasingly took a back seat, that Stone Farm was in hands worthy of his patrimony. There could be no higher praise.But if the timing of his loss was difficult, in the middle of the farm's annual harvest, it also corroborated Arthur's conviction that some hidden coherence lurks in the mysteries of the world around us. For he always said that there is no such thing as a coincidence, and would surely have found it fitting that he left us on the very day a great-grandson of Sunday Silence reminded Arthur's compatriots of what they had missed.In naming his farm, Arthur might well have been evoking the psalm: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” His personal story gave him a particular affinity with Sunday Silence, as a fellow reject. And he felt corresponding fulfilment in the way his “dark horse” proceeded to transform the Japanese breed.Actually his GI Jockey Club Gold Cup success, falling when it did, prompts an overdue salute to the paternal line of Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}). It has always been his maternal family that demanded attention, on account of the astounding fact that he shares a granddam with Sierra Leone, one of few horses to show him comparable talent.In fairness, those genes may again need to be amplified when Forever Young seeks to replicate, in his second career, the global impact of his first. True, he belongs to only the second crop of Real Steel, who may yet consolidate his wider record. For now, however, for his sire Forever Young resembles an apex without a real pyramid.That said, anyone should feel comfortable with the blood for which Real Steel offers a conduit, however unevenly to date. For the class he showed on the racetrack was easy to explain in one of the most beautifully-bred animals on the planet.Real Steel is by Sunday Silence's principal heir Deep Impact (Jpn) out of a granddaughter of the great Miesque (Nureyev): Loves Only Me was by Storm Cat out of Miesque's daughter Monevassia (Mr. Prospector), herself full-sister to Kingmambo and dam of European champion juvenile filly Rumplestiltskin (Ire) (Danehill). And of course Real Steel's sister Loves Only You, a Classic winner in their homeland, has added international trophies to the page at the Breeders' Cup and in Hong Kong.Even the most insular of breeders, then, could embrace Forever Young as a stallion prospect. Don't forget that Study Of Man (Ire), opening exciting frontiers for Deep Impact in Europe, is out of Miesque's daughter by Storm Cat. (Storm Cat, incidentally, is also damsire of Deep Impact's son Kizuna (Jpn), Japan's champion sire.)The very best stallions surpass the prowess of their own sires, and that would be even less surprising in the son of a true aristocrat like Real Steel. After all, we never know which strands of a pedigree ultimately tell. Who can say, in Sunday Silence himself, how far his own family's mediocrity may have been redressed by the regal maternal blood of his sire Halo?Even Sunday Silence's premier son Deep Impact surely owed plenty to his dam, an elite performer from an elite family. It was Deep Impact's full-brother Black Tide (Jpn), remember, who gave us Kitasan Black (Jpn), sire of Equinox (Jpn).Kitasan Black and Real Steel belonged to the same crop, and in 2015 filled the places behind Duramente (Jpn) (King Kamehameha (Jpn) in the G1 Satsuki Sho. Duramente himself excelled during a tragically curtailed stud career, and he was out of a Sunday Silence mare.Not that breeders in America, or indeed Europe, would have had anything to do with these animals. Later that year Real Steel ran Kitasan Black to a neck in the G1 Kikuka Sho over 15 furlongs. Kitasan Black subsequently won the G1 Tenno Sho over two miles, twice. And previous winners of both races include….Deep Impact.The same breeders who wanted nothing to do with Sunday Silence–despite his Horse of the Year campaign on dirt–would have run away screaming had some deranged visionary brought Deep Impact on the reverse journey to stand in the Bluegrass.Like few others, Arthur Hancock both lived and learned. Yet how many of those meanwhile spending astonishing sums at Keeneland have learned anything from his greatest bequest? Boom Time for Bodacious PageQuite a weekend for Not This Time, in his quest to break Into Mischief's monopoly. First the champion's son Sovereignty missed a crack at a rusty Forever Young (Jpn), even as a son of the pretender banked second prize. And then Not This Time pulled a rabbit out of his hat in GI Cotillon Stakes winner Bodacious Bay. Rounding the turn, Not This Time has kicked again and is now $3.5 million in front. Into Mischief still has the Breeders' Cup to run him down, but as things stand Magnitude's desert plunder could yet prove decisive.In fairness, the pair have otherwise traded blows very evenly: 22 stakes winners apiece, 13 at graded level. Into Mischief has a sixth elite scorer, but then the younger horse has fielded a lesser cavalry (301/371).Bodacious Bay is a real bonus for Not This Time, as a lightly-raced barn switch off a Grade III second. As always, however, we must insist that even a sire as potent as this one welcomes help from a skilful breeder, blending him with good family.Breffni Farm acquired dam Bodacious Babe (Mineshaft) at the 2018 Keeneland November Sale for $350,000, with a maiden cover by Arrogate. She had won three of 17 starts, including a stakes/Grade III placing round one turn at Gulfstream, and had an illustrious half-sister: GI Spinaway Stakes winner Sippican Harbor, a rare feather in the cap of Orb.Bodacious Bay winning the Cotillion | Walter WlodarczykBodacious Babe's Arrogate foal ended up winning thrice in Japan, but it was her first cover for her new owners–by Violence–that really got her going. The resulting filly was retained to become millionaire Royal Spa, maturing to win the GIII Shawnee and GII Locust Grove Stakes at five last year.Royal Spa's full-brother struggled to capitalize on those updates at the yearling sales last year, eventually pinhooked to Europe, but only missed the podium by a neck at Royal Ascot, and put that right earlier this month when third in a Group 3.In the meantime, of course, Sippican Harbor has renewed her prestige as dam of GI Florida Derby winner Commandment (Into Mischief). Another of Bodacious Babe's siblings, Awesome Result (Justify), had already decorated the page with prolific success in Japan; and Crudo, another Justify, won the Sir Barton Stakes last year. Their unraced dam Blossomed must duly be added to the many wonderful producers by Deputy Minister.So this had become an ever more active page even before Bodacious Bay, a $350,000 yearling, began elevating her value. It has even taken off again since Bodacious Babe's latest yearling, a Curlin filly, was alertly snapped up for $375,000 at Keeneland last week, on the very eve of her Grade I update–by her half-sister's new trainer, Saffie Joseph! But the mare is still only 13, and her owners can hope to keep prospering through her subsequent assignations with Justify and Elite Power. Conceit Strengthens Her Branch of Noble FamilyFavouring Elite Power with Bodacious Babe looks a significant vote of confidence, as Breffni Farm is operated by Rhonda O'Rourke and her husband Garrett–general manager, of course, at the farm standing Elite Power.Juddmonte made a contribution of its own to Not This Time's coffers last weekend when the thriving Conceit made a successful graded stakes debut in the GIII Dogwood Stakes. As it happens, Conceit's dam Pachinko (Tapit) herself has a weanling filly by Elite Power. That's a nice compliment to the young stallion, tracing as she does to Juddmonte foundation mare Mofida (GB) (Right Tack {GB}).Pachinko, shipped Stateside from France to break her maiden, is half-sister to two Group scorers over the water, notably G1 Prix Jean Romanet winner Announce (GB) (Selkirk). That qualified their dam Hachita (Gone West), a minor winner in England, as the sturdiest branch of this noble family tree beneath Choice Spirit (Danzig)–otherwise a rather disappointing producer, given her credentials.For Choice Spirit was out of Zaizafon, who was acquired in utero with Mofida and produced the charismatic champion Zafonic (Gone West) and his brother Zamindar, not quite so fast but the better sire. Though Choice Spirit did win a Listed race, the fact is that she was by Danzig out of a mare by The Minstrel. Sometimes, I guess, you can have too much even of something as good as Northern Dancer!The post Breeding Digest: Forever a Foundation Stone appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.