Jim I talk to a lot of people who really love rose blooms, the thing that stops them from growing them is the thorns. The work I have done, maybe because of the cultivars that I have used, has come quite easy, I think the big test will be, as I said early will be when I cross all these thornless back on each other.
Talk about a rose from hell, moss cultivar LANEII, I used it to get mossing and its bloom is quite good as well, but the thorns, my god, I freaked out when I took it out of the mail package, I would hate to think how many thorns it has per inch of stem. I think it would make any rugosa or rugosa hybrid stand back in fear.
I would agree with you Jadae about the commercial side of grafting, those people who are familar with Laneii, could you imagine, the effort in getting a bud from it amoung the thorns (ouch)
I think you should put Laneii with bracteata Warren 
lol
Kim,
HelpMeFind in its description says Miracle on the Hudson is armed with thorns/prickles???
In one of your pics there I do see prickles just below the bud; another cane appears smooth.
Jim
Miracle is smooth enough out there right now to be considered low to no thorns. It may be variable, but it IS healthy, continous blooming and deeply saturated in color.
At a Huntington Symposium years ago, a very lovely woman approached me and asked if I could bud her a Waldtraut Nielsen. I took a look in the study plot the next day and went back to her asking what I’d done to offend her. That is THE thorniest rose (except for Fakir’s Delight, which I named because it IS a bed of nails) I have ever encountered. Fortunately, it had layered itself and Clair gave me the go ahead to dig it up to sell her. Her sixteen year old daughter was even more gorgeous than she was (and she was GORGEOUS!) and she wanted to plant it as living barbed wire under the daughter’s bedroom window.
Link: www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.6474
Yesterday I buried Gilbert Nabannond, he was strangled by Cedar Elm roots. As I was removing his skeleton I noticed that the only thorns were at the very base and there were not many. I have used this rose as both a pollen and a seed parent. It is an early bloomer in my garden, usually one of the first to bloom. I will definately be replacing this rose as it is a a great mother plant.