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by Andrea Hoogendoorn© Past Perspectives (Part 1)When I first stumbled upon Thoroughbred pedigrees, my obsession with past champions clued me in on some very interesting patterns. I noticed a very high amount of sibling crosses. Out of curiosity, I looked even further back, to the beginnings of the breed to see if this was a constant pattern. There it was again. For anyone exploring pedigrees, I would highly advise that one go back to the beginning (I'm not kidding) and fast-forward. This can take years, but it is incredibly fascinating to learn. It is like a history lesson, and like anything else in life, you learn the present and can somewhat predict the future by studying the past. Since
there are a lot of broken and unknown lines in early pedigrees,
you cannot attain a whole picture, however, interestingly
enough, there were still patterns that you could see and
identify with. There were, in my opinion, two major sibling
factors early in the breed that shaped and molded the Thoroughbred
as we know it. The first is probably the most recognized (for very good reason) and heralded. This, of course, is the wonderful Spanker mare and her descendants. These led to the dramatic crosses of the full brothers Flying Childers (the first Superhorse) and Bartlett's Childers. I am sure that the subject of this family will be covered in depth by someone here (however, if not, I would be glad to fill in), but my subject will be of the 'other' major sibling factor that I feel has never gotten the recognition it deserves. This is the family and descendants of the famous broodmare sire Bald Galloway and his full sister, Points. The Godolphin Arabian is a name that even novices can recognize. His success as a founder and breed-shaper are well known. However, most of his successful get involved the above mentioned family. With either descendants of Points involving the famous Hartley mares, or from horses with Bald Galloway daughters, his best and most influential offspring came about. Here is a list of The Godolphin Arabian's offspring. Note the bold face involves horses with either Bald Galloway or descendants from his full-sister Points.
From the information on my database, I found 34 influential recorded progeny of the Godolpin Arabian. Amazingly 17 of these are crossed with a strain of either Bald Galloway or Points fairly close up in the pedigrees, thus making this base of 17 a huge source of closely related progenitors. I am sure I might be missing some offspring of the Godolphin Arabian for comparison, however, even if I am missing, say, 10 other horses making the total 44, the 17 out of even this number is still amazing. The actual number of offspring of The Godolphin Arabian, I believe, exceeds 100 or so horses, however, many of these are horses who never made an impact on the breed, etc.. My main concentration here are of horses that DID continue on into the breed to help shape and mold it in the early stages of its development. This article is NOT DIRECTLY about The Godolpin Arabian. My main focus here is about the association he has with the aforementioned strain of Bald Galloway and his full sister Points. Many of these horses are his BEST progeny and when combined in later pedigrees seemed to drastically upgrade the breed. The next step in it's evolution is the "breeding" back to these strains, and the results are simply amazing to say the least. Firstly, it is well-known that Regulus was a great broodmare sire in his era (the dam's sire of Eclipse for starters), as were Cade and Blank. Following early English classic winners you see this phenomenon, however, many pedigree historians seemed to ignore this mix.. Perhaps they were looking at just four generation pedigrees and didn't realize the complexities of these particular closely bred horses? Maybe all they were seeing was 3x3 or 4x4 to the Godolphin Arabian, instead of considering Regulus, Blank, and Cade as genetic equivalents? There were other notable sibling crosses in many of these classic winning pedigrees, to be sure, however, one cannot ignore the importance of the mix I am writing about, which, historically seems to have taken place. I will hope to enlighten you all on this interesting phenomenon in the development of the Thoroughbred racehorse. To clarify, one should compare the pedigrees of Regulus, Cade, and Blank. There is a very dynamic relationship between Cade and Blank, not just involving Points and Bald Galloway, but Betty Leedes and her half sister Chanter's Sister. These two are also out of the aformentioned Spanker Mare.
Blank and Regulus can also be found in numerous classic winning horses, and of course Regulus with Cade is quite common since they are products of the same cross. The interesting thing is that Blank seems to be a common factor with these two, especially if all three are combined. It was a very dynamic mix to say the least!!
By now the build up of these lines are getting further back in pedigrees, and new patterns are forming, particularly the Herod/Eclipse, Eclipse/Herod cross. That is another topic that will be discussed for sure! The interesting thing is that the patterns of the Thoroughbred don't change! Not all are exactly the same, but they are quite similar. It keeps going and going. One will build and then another takes over. Literally! It's not just sirelines, but clusters of similarly bred horses building up in pedigrees that seems to have propelled the breed. Notice that with all of the Regulus/Cade build up, there rarely is not at least one line of the Hartley Mares (through either Blank, Babraham, or Mogul) somewhere in the pedigree? Why this female line (family #15) died out from its dominance is a mystery. One can only guess, however, my take is not so negative. It played it's part, no doubt, and perhaps it's strength lies in the fact that because so many sons of this clan previaled as broodmare sires that their influence lies with other families and not it's own. Mogul is only found on the dam lines of families 9 and 24, however, these are the lines of Camel, Dark Ronald, Idle Fancy, etc.. Blank is found in numerous family lines. Babraham is found on the strongest branch of the #6 family through Giantess. If you want to see something intense, check out the 5th dam of Maid of Masham (Columbine). The Gower Stallion is right on the dam line of Queen Mary (family #10). Ironically a link lives through a stallion called Hornsea. Not a very popular name, right? Well, he happens to be the sire of the third dam of the great St. Simon, and the dam of the great mare Black Duchess (ancestress of Blandford) is inbred to him 5x3! How many horses have these breed-shaping giants splattered all over their pedigrees? Copyright Andrea Hoogendoorn 2001. |
Combinations of Blank and Cade can be found in heavy concentration
amongst early classic winnners. Is it any wonder? 
I will just concentrate on classic winning
products of this mix, noting the combination of these particular
three, however, Babraham(a notable broodmare sire in his
day), Mogul, Old England, Janus (huge influence on early
American strains!), and Lath (full brother to Cade) often
mix up along with them quite nicely. I will limit it to
one race; The English Derby. If I included The Oaks and
the St. Leger, well, this would be one long-winded
piece for sure. I think from a historical perspective, the
Derby should suit the purpose just fine for now.