The Sibling Factor

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.

	Babraham / ex Hip Mare
	Bajazet / ex Whitefoot Mare
	Blank / ex Little Hartley Mare
	Brother to Whitenose / ex Sister to Blaze
	Buff Coat / ex Silverlocks (by Bald Galloway)
	Cade / ex Roxanna (by Bald Galloway)
	Coalition Colt / ex ?
	Cripple / ex Blossom
	Cygnet / ex Blossom
	Daphne / ex Fox Mare
	Dismal / ex Alcock Arabian Mare
	Dr. of Grey Robinson / ex Grey Robinson (by Bald Galloway)
	Feather /ex ?
	Goldolphin Arabian Mare 1735 / ex ?
	Godolphin Arabian Mare 1752 / ex Hobgoblin Mare
	Godolphin Arabian Mare 1745 / ex Childers Mare
	Godolphin Arabian Mare 1740 / ex ?
	Godolphin Arabian Mare 1739 / ex Little Hartley Mare
	Godolphin Arabian Mare 1738 / ex Silverlocks (by Bald Galloway)
	Gower Stallion / ex Whitefoot Mare
	Janus / ex Little Hartley Mare
	Lath / ex Roxana (by Bald Galloway)
	Lofty / ex Spinster
	Matchless / ex Y Cartouch Mare (by Young Cartouch, a son ofBald Galloway)
	Marlborough / ex Large Hartley Mare
	Miss Windsor / ex Y Belgrade Mare
	Mogul / ex Large Hartley Mare
	Old England / ex Little Harley Mare
	Omar / ex Lath Mare
	Regulus / Grey Robinson (by Bald Galloway)
	Selima / ex Large Hartley Mare
	Sophia / ex Hobgoblin Mare
	Whitenose / ex Sister To Blaze
	Young Whiteneck / ex Old Whiteneck

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.

Combinations of Blank and Cade can be found in heavy concentration amongst early classic winnners. Is it any wonder?

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!!

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.

	Diomed . Winner of the first English Derby in 1780. He has the rare son of Bald Galloway (Cartouch) in his sire's damline and his second dam is by Blank. Therefore he is 5x6 to Bald Galloway/Points.
	Young Eclipse 1781. He is 3x3 to Regulus/Blank
	Assassin 1782. He is 4x3 to Cade and Regulus, however it is his sire, Sweetbriar, that adds the Points element to the max. Sweetbriar's dam is inbred to the Little Hartley Mare 2x2. Enough said.
	Serjeant 1784. Has Regulus/Blank 3x3.
	Aimwell 1785. He is 3x4x3 to Blank, Regulus, and The Gower Stallion (a 3/4 sibling to Blank). I must note that this makes him 4x6 to the Little Hartley Mare as well.
	Noble 1786. He is inbred to Blank 3x3 with a line of Regulus as the second dam sire of his sire, Highflyer.
	Sir Peter 1787. Inbred to Regulus 4x3 and gets a line of Blank since he is the dam's sire of his sire.
	Skyscraper 1789. Similar to Sir Peter (a son of Highflyer-adding Blank) except he is actually inbred to Regulus 4x4x4.
	Rhadamanthus 1790. From an intensely inbred mare by Sweetbriar. Remember him? His dam is inbred to the Little Harley Mare 2x2. The third dam of this Derby winner is by Blank out of a Cade mare. Where is Regulus? He is supplied by his sire Justice right on his damline!
	Eager 1791. Most of this comes from his dam who is inbred to Cade 2x3 and is out of the aforementioned dam of Sweetbriar (2x2 to the Little Hartley Mare). His sire, Florizel, carries Cartouch, the much needed son of Bald Galloway.
	Daedalus 1794. Full brother to Rhadamanthus.
	Spread Eagle 1795. Linebred to Regulus 4x5x4 and Mogul/Blank (3/4 siblings) 4x4.
	Didelot 1796. Has Cade/Blank/ Regulus/Regulus, 4x4x5x4
	Fidget Colt 1797. His sire, Fidget, can boast his second dam as being the full sister to Sweetbriar. He has 3 lines of Cade. His damsire is is from a mare that is a Blank/Regulus cross, his third dam is by Babraham and he traces to another mare by Bald Galloway. Very interesting pedigree in that he has 3 lines of the Little Hartley Mare and one of her 1/2 sister the Large Hartley Mare w/ Bald Galloway splattered all over the pedigree. First winner from the Giantess clan.
	Sir Harry 1798. Has Blank/Regulus/Cade/Regulus, 4x4x4x4
	Archduke 1799. Inbred to both Blank (4x3) and Regulus (4x4)
	Champion 1800. Inbred to Regulus 4x5x4 with Cade and Blank 4x4 as well.
	Eleanor (f) 1801. First filly to win the Derby. Her sire has 3 lines of Regulus. She is inbred to Matchem, supplying the Cade strain twice, and her dam, the ever famous producer Young Giantess (daughter of Giantess), is 4x3 to closely related Blank and Babraham.
	Ditto 1803. Regulus is splattered 5 times in his pedigree with the sole line of Blank coming through his grandsire, Highflyer.
	Hannibal 1804. He is the first winner with a female representative in his pedigree. His sire is a maternal grandson of the "daughter of Grey Robinson," the full sister to Regulus. His pedigree sports 4 additional lines of Regulus, one of Cade and the influence of a line of Mogul through his damsire, Mercury.
	Cardinal Beaufort 1805.The first winner by Gohanna (a very influential sire), who is inbred to half sisters Little Hartley Mare and Large Hartley Mare, through Mogul and Blank. He has Regulus splattered all over his pedigree and actually traces to his full-sister, daughter of Grey Robinson, in female line. His dam's sire is from a Cade mare as well.
	Paris 1806. Inbred to Blank 4x3 and Regulus 5x4x4
	Election 1807. Regulus/Mogul/Blank/Cade/Cartouch, 5x5x4x4x5.
	Pan 1808. Heavily linebred to Regulus, 5x5x6x5x4x5, with Blank/Cade through his sire 4x5.
	Waxy Pope 1809. A son of the ever-influential mare, Prunella, who is inbred to Blank 3x3, he has a 5x5 cross of Regulus with line of Cade in the same remove through his sire.
	Whalebone 1810. Out of a daughter of the aforementioned Prunella (3x3 Blank), he also has Cade and Regulus 2 times as well as a strain of Matchless.
	Phantom 1811. Linebred to Regulus and Blank, with 2 lines of Cade and one of Babraham through his dam, Julia, a daughter of Y. Giantess, therefore, another member of the Giantess tribe.
	Octavius 1812. Once again, another just splattered with Regulus, ironically, the first without any lines of Cade and also the first with Janus (mostly found in American pedigrees). The line of Janus' full brother Blank doesn't hurt.
	Smolensko 1813. A son of Sorcerer, who is a son of Y. Giantess and out of a daughter of Mentor, who is another son of the inbred Shakespeare Mare. He is also heavily linebred to Regulus and Cade. Not Surprising.
	Blucher 1814. Another linebred to Cade and Regulus, his dam has The Gower Stallion and Blank.
	Whisker 1815. A full brother to Whalebone.

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.