What a chef-de-race is
The Dosage system reads a horse's first four generations and scores the influence of a fixed list of important stallions, the chefs-de-race ("leaders of the breed"). A sire earns the label only after years of passing on a clear aptitude, whether pure speed, pure stamina, or something between, to enough good runners that the pattern is unmistakable. The roster grows slowly and on purpose as more recent stallions prove themselves.
Each chef-de-race lands in one or two of five aptitudinal groups, running from pure speed to pure stamina:
- Brilliant: pure, precocious speed.
- Intermediate: speed that carries a little further.
- Classic: a balance of speed and stamina.
- Solid: stamina with a useful turn of foot.
- Professional: pure stamina and staying power.
A sire can sit in two groups at once, up to two positions apart. Nearco is Brilliant / Classic, Princequillo is Intermediate / Solid, Ribot is Classic / Professional. That's why a number of names below turn up under more than one heading.
How the list feeds our Dosage figures
To compute Dosage for a horse, we walk its four-generation pedigree, match each ancestor against this list, and add up the group memberships, weighting ancestors in closer generations more heavily. Those totals become the Dosage Profile, and from the profile we derive the Dosage Index and Center of Distribution. The list is the raw material: no chef-de-race in a pedigree means no contribution to the figures. For what those numbers mean and how to read them, see the Dosage & inbreeding guide.
The list, by aptitude group
The classifications below follow Dr. Steven Roman's roster, the authoritative source for Dosage. Where a sire is shared between two groups, it appears under both; each group here lists every chef-de-race that belongs to it.
Brilliant (B)
Pure, precocious speed: sprinters and fast two-year-olds.
Abernant · Apalachee · Baldski · Black Toney · Blushing Groom · Bold Ruler · Bolt d'Oro · British Empire · Buckaroo · Bull Dog · Candy Ride · Carson City · Cicero · Constitution · Court Martial · Double Jay · El Prado · Elusive Quality · Fair Trial · Fairway · Fasliyev · Forestry · Gallant Man · Great Above · Grey Dawn II · Grey Sovereign · Gun Runner · Habitat · Halo · Heliopolis · Hoist The Flag · Hyperion · Icecapade · In Excess · In Reality · Intentionally · Into Mischief · Kantharos · Key To The Mint · King's Bishop · Lost Code · Maclean's Music · More Than Ready · Mr. Prospector · Munnings · My Babu · Nasrullah · Nearco · Never Bend · Noholme II · Northern Dancer · Not This Time · Olympia · Orby · Panorama · Peter Pan · Phalaris · Pharis II · Pompey · Practical Joke · Raise A Native · Reviewer · Roman · Rough'n Tumble · Royal Academy · Royal Charger · Rubiano · Seattle Slew · Sharpen Up · Sir Cosmo · Slewpy · Speak John · Speightstown · Spy Song · Street Sense · Tudor Minstrel · Turn-to · Twirling Candy · Ultimus · Unbridled · Unbridled's Song · Violence · What A Pleasure
Intermediate (I)
Speed that carries a touch further: milers and classic-type speed.
Ack Ack · A.P. Indy · Awesome Again · Baldski · Ben Brush · Big Game · Black Toney · Bold Bidder · Bold Ruckus · Bold Ruler · Broad Brush · Broomstick · Buckaroo · Caro · Carson City · Chief's Crown · Codex · Colorado · Congreve · Damascus · Danzig · Distorted Humor · Djebel · Dr. Fager · Dubawi · Eight Thirty · El Prado · Equipoise · Fappiano · Forestry · Full Sail · Gallant Man · Gone West · Grey Dawn II · Havresac II · Hoist The Flag · Holy Bull · In Excess · Indian Ridge · Intentionally · Kantharos · Khaled · King Salmon · King's Bishop · Lost Code · Mahmoud · Munnings · Nashua · Native Dancer · Never Bend · Petition · Pharos · Pleasant Colony · Polynesian · Practical Joke · Princequillo · Pulpit · Quality Road · Riverman · Roman · Royal Academy · Rubiano · Scat Daddy · Secretariat · Shamardal · Sir Gaylord · Sir Ivor · Slewpy · Smart Strike · Speak John · Speightstown · Star Kingdom · Star Shoot · Street Cry · Sweep · T.V. Lark · The Tetrarch · Tiznow · Tom Fool · Traghetto · Turn-to · Twirling Candy · Uncle Mo
Classic (C)
Balanced speed and stamina: the classic middle-distance horse.
Ack Ack · Alibhai · Alleged · Alydar · A.P. Indy · Arch · Aureole · Awesome Again · Bahram · Best Turn · Blandford · Blenheim II · Blue Larkspur · Blushing Groom · Bold Bidder · Bold Ruckus · Bolt d'Oro · Brantome · Broad Brush · Buckpasser · Bull Lea · Candy Ride · Cape Cross · Caro · Clarissimus · Codex · Constitution · Count Fleet · Cozzene · Creme dela Creme · Curlin · Damascus · Danzig · Distorted Humor · Dynaformer · Elusive Quality · Empire Maker · Equipoise · Exclusive Native · Fappiano · Forli · Gainsborough · Galileo · Giant's Causeway · Gone West · Graustark · Great Above · Gun Runner · Gundomar · Hail To Reason · Halo · Herbager · High Top · His Majesty · Holy Bull · Hyperion · Icecapade · In Reality · In The Wings · Into Mischief · Key To The Mint · Kingmambo · Kitten's Joy · Liam's Map · Linamix · Lord Avie · Luthier · Lyphard · Mahmoud · Medaglia d'Oro · Midstream · Mill Reef · Monsun · More Than Ready · Mossborough · Mr. Prospector · Nashua · Native Dancer · Navarro · Nearco · Never Say Die · Nijinsky II · Niniski · Nodouble · Noholme II · Northern Dancer · Not This Time · Nureyev · Persian Gulf · Pilate · Pretense · Prince Bio · Prince Chevalier · Prince John · Prince Rose · Promised Land · Pulpit · Quality Road · Quiet American · Rainbow Quest · Reviewer · Ribot · Riverman · Roberto · Rock Sand · Rough'n Tumble · Sadler's Wells · Scat Daddy · Seattle Slew · Secretariat · Shamardal · Sharpen Up · Shirley Heights · Sicambre · Sideral · Sir Gallahad III · Sir Gaylord · Sir Ivor · Smart Strike · Star Kingdom · Street Cry · Street Sense · Swynford · Tapit · Thunder Gulch · Ticino · Tiznow · Tom Fool · Tom Rolfe · Tourbillon · Tracery · Unbridled · Unbridled's Song · Uncle Mo · Vaguely Noble · Vieux Manoir · War Admiral
Solid (S)
Stamina with enough speed to matter: staying middle-distance horses.
Asterus · Bachelor's Double · Ballymoss · Blenheim II · Bois Roussel · Busted · Chaucer · Chief's Crown · Cozzene · Creme dela Creme · Darshaan · Discovery · Dubawi · Empire Maker · English Channel · Fair Play · Galileo · Graustark · Herbager · In The Wings · Kingmambo · Linamix · Man O' War · Mill Reef · Monsun · Montjeu · Nijinsky II · Oleander · Pia Star · Princequillo · Rainbow Quest · Reliance II · Relko · Right Royal · Rock Sand · Round Table · Sadler's Wells · Sea-Bird · Stage Door Johnny · Sunstar · Tantieme · Teddy · Ticino · Vatout · Worden
Professional (P)
Pure stamina: marathon and staying influences.
Admiral Drake · Alcantara II · Alizier · Alleged · Alycidon · Bayardo · Bruleur · Chateau Bouscaut · Crepello · Dark Ronald · Donatello II · Ela-Mana-Mou · English Channel · Fair Play · Foxbridge · Hurry On · La Farina · Le Fabuleux · Massine · Mieuxce · Niniski · Nodouble · Ortello · Precipitation · Rabelais · Reliance II · Ribot · Run The Gantlet · Sardanapale · Shirley Heights · Solario · Son-In-Law · Spearmint · Stage Door Johnny · Sunny Boy · Tom Rolfe · Tourbillon · Vaguely Noble · Vandale · Vatellor · Wild Risk
The chef-de-race list is a slowly-changing reference, not a live ranking. It describes an inherited aptitude on paper, a leaning toward speed or stamina. That is one input among many, never a prediction of how any individual horse will run.