Nothing is more welcome to us at Pedlines than news of a subscriber’s success and that news is twice as nice when the horse in question happens to trace to a Reine-de-Course once owned by that subscriber.  In this case, we are discussing Reine-de-Course Treasure Chest, owned by long-time Pedlines subscriber Peggy Augustus of Keswick Stable in Virginia.

Treasure Chest was purchased by her late mother, Elizabeth Augustus Knight.  Earlier, her father had purchased Reine-de-Course Almahmoud from her breeder, C. V. Whitney.  Mrs. Knight was co-breeder with Danny Van Clief of Almahmoud’s most famous foal, Natalma, dam of Northern Dancer.  So one might say the family certainly knows how to pick outstanding broodmares!                                               

Tracing to taproot Reine-de-Course *Clonaslee, Treasure Chest was a full sister to the champion and great producer My Dear Girl, dam of In Reality.   Treasure Chest’s sub-branch of  this superb family did some of its best work in Europe, particularly via the Graustark mare Crown Treasure, dam of Group 1-winning full brothers Glint Of Gold and Diamond Shoal, both by Mill Reef.

Other branches of the family produced Preakness winner Tank’s Prospect, promising juvenile sire Indian Charlie, Hollywood Gold Cup winner Prince Blessed, superior sprinter Decathlon and Preakness winner Deputed Testamony.  It’s a versatile and classy clan, to say the least.

The current headline maker from Keswick’s Treasure Chest branch is the good turf sprinter Bop, a son of Rahy that has now won $365,766 and several stakes, including three editions of Colonial Downs’ Punch Line Stakes.  Now a six-year-old, Bop is a tough little fellow like his sire, Rahy.

 Bop has a most intriguing pedigree.  As one might expect, he is inbred to Almahmoud via Cosmah and Natalma on a 4 x 4 cross.  He also picks up a sex-balanced double of both Rough’n Tumble (Dr. Fager/Treasure Chest) and Native Dancer (Raise A Native/Natalma) via his dam, and two *La Troienne lines via Belle of Troy and Bimelech.

His pedigree is loaded with Lady Josephine blood, almost entirely via Mumtaz Mahal:  Mumtaz Begum x3/*Mahmoud x3/Mirza II/Tudor Minstrel and he picks up Pharos’ three-quarter sister Pladda to go with two lines of that sire.  He has lots of *Bull Dog, which Tartan (Treasure Chest and Fappiano) love - four lines in all, plus Fappiano of course adds *Marguerite de Valois, the pivotal full sister to *Bull Dog and a Reine-de-Course in her own right.

Everything we’ve seen on this fellow says he’s still an entire horse.*  We hope so, because sons of Rahy at stud are few and far between, and Bop has such a superior bloodline, we’d hate to see it lost.  Treasure Chest will do nothing but help him in the sire department - *Clonaslee has given us several good stallions, with In Reality at the top of the pecking order of course.  We’d like to see this little fellow added to the list.

*This was subsequently confirmed by Ms. Augustus.