What do the suffixes SNL and SSL stand for?

Both regularly appear in catalogues in South Africa

The unusual suffixes SNL and SSL have an interesting meaningCredit: Alan Crowhurst

Buyers scanning a South African sales catalogue for the first time may be perplexed by the SNL and SSL suffixes which appear after the names of horses throughout.

SNL is an abbreviation of "sired north of the line", while SSL stands for "sired south of the line", the line being the equator which separates the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere.

So if a mare was covered by a stallion in Britain or Ireland, but delivered her foal in South Africa, the foal would carry the suffix SNL in place of SAF, though they would still be considered as bred in South Africa.

View Bloodstock South Africa National Yearling Sale catalogue

Examples of horses sired north of the line include Noordhoek Flyer, a son of Pivotal out of the Kris mare Serra Negra who took out the Bloodstock South Africa Cape Guineas and later became a sire, and Dazzling Heights, a son of Indian Ridge who landed the Group 3 Scottsville Stakes.

A different mare covered in Australia or New Zealand, but who gives birth in South Africa, would see that foal carry the SSL suffix, though again they would still be considered a South African bred.

Examples of horses sired south of the line include the Galileo mare Della Scala, who went on to produce the Cape Guineas and SA Classic third Like A Panther, and the Montjeu mare Larking Around, who is the dam of the Group 2-placed Romi's Boy.

Both mares were conceived in the years Galileo and Montjeu shuttled to Australia and New Zealand respectively.