Studying the pedigree of this horse is a sort of educative experience. It is a lesson on the history of one of the most famous and traditional Portuguese coudelarias and, consequently, of the breed itself. That is also a lesson, posthumously given, by the greatest bullfighter of all times: João Núncio, the so-called Caliph of the  Alcacer. His coudelaria, situated next to the Sado, in Alcácer do Sal, breeds ferocious bulls and bullfighting horses. The story tells that João Nuncio used to test Manuel Veiga's horses in the bullfight in order to select those that, as per his scholarly criteria, were well suited for it. Then he would bring them to the arenas and get the well-succeeded ones to be used for reproduction. That's certainly the best process of functional selection as one can get. From then onwards, as a result of that selection, extraordinary stallions found their way up to fame and glory, as well as the name of the Coudelaria Veiga itself as a breeder of bullfighting horses. Well, it is known that the typical Lusitano horse of our times, the one that most resembles the warrior horses of ancient Lusitannia, is exactly the one which in the past combated  'à la ginete' - the individual combat between knights armed with spears - the cavalry that so much tormented Carthaginians, Romans and other adversaries of the Lusitanos. It is also known that the bullfight sprung up as martial exercise, a military training for horse and knight who were bound to fight  'à la ginete' in the battlefields. That said, we can clearly see how the selection of the bullfighting horse recovered and brought about the old warlike horse of the Lusitannia and also that no-one has ever been capable to carry through this 'purification' with such ability and good results as the greatly missed Mr. João Núncio. It was as a result of this process that some horses have reached the top hall of fame, like Sultão I (MV), Pincelim (MV), Zamorim (BN) and Requinte (BN). Now all that is History, palpably registered throughout the pedigrees of the Núncio horses, pedigrees that, as we said in the beginning, are a lesson on the efforts of João Núncio to fix and to transmit those noble qualities of his horses. In them, the careful reader will find out that the entire Núncio lineage derives from only three animals: Sultão I (MV) and the mares Sereia (MV) and Mimosa (MV). In other words, all of the Núncio horses contain, only and nothing more than the blood of those three animals. Because that is as high a consanguinity as one can get, it seems a miracle that horses like Picasso (BN) be not only alive but also display normal development, with no such hazards as science claims to come up from much lower consanguinities than his. The practical result of it all is that the Nuncio horses of both sexes are very powerful genetic reserves that, if well used, are capable of recovering, fixing or yet refining, fast and efficiently, the racial standard of any coudelaria. That was the reason why Interagro acquired twelve mares directly from Mr. Jose B. Núncio, son of João Núncio, and has been sharing such precious genetic material with Brazilian breeders. We are sure to affirm their capability of bringing about many and important benefits for the national breeding. Photos: Interagro File