Extreme experimentation of yesteryear gets another blast through Baffert's Bast

Inbreeding back to a major name has long been a weapon in the armoury of some of the bigger breeders.

Several over the course of history were more daring than others. The great French breeder Marcel Boussac, for instance, thought nothing of intensely inbreeding back to his foundation stock and their ancestors.

It was key to the evolution of his breeding empire, which at its height provided the textile tycoon with his 1949 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe heroine Coronation, a daughter of his Tourbillon stallion Djebel who was out of the Tourbillon mare Esmeralda, and the Eclipse and Champion Stakes winner Djeddah, another by Djebel who was inbred to the stallions Durbar and Teddy as well as the key Boussac mare Banshee, all within four generations.