While most breeding theories amount to about that - theory - and are no more use than a good subject for debate over a dinner table, the X Factor has some credibility when one can observe a high proportion of good horses carrying multiple such crosses.

A few years ago, we came across some rather startling results when attempting to explain why In The Pocket had been such a resounding success at stud Down Under when his prior results in North America had appeared to be rather ordinary.

As is often the case in these matters, In The Pocket's success can be attributed to a combination of factors, but there was overwhelming evidence that one of these could well be a mare population in New Zealand with a high proportion of multiple X Factors in their pedigrees.

In The Pocket is from a mare by Tar Heel, a wonderful broodmare sire who is in turn from a mare by Volomite, whose third dam Esther was a thoroughbred.

Billy Direct was also a hugely significant sire and even more so broodmare sire considering the relatively small number of foals he produced.

Billy Direct was also from a mare saturated in X Factor lines and he figures as the sire of the grandam of Meadow Skipper, the sire of In The Pocket's grandam.

Nothing really out of the ordinary in all this of the face of it, but when one analysed In The Pocket's best performers, it soon became apparent that without fail, he was crossing particularly well with mares by sires who had a Tar Heel dam or grandam.

Mares by Holmes Hanover, Vance Hanover, Soky's Atom and Son Of Afella fell into this category, and more often than not, also found in the further removes of their maternal lines was Light Brigade and/or U. Scott, providing for yet more multiple X Factor crosses.

Holmes Hanover, Soky's Atom and Vance Hanover are also by Albatross, the son of Meadow Skipper who is from a mare by Dancer Hanover (dam The Old Maid) from a mare by Tar Heel.

Light Brigade and U. Scott were champion sires who were representative of the marvellous Peter The Great/Volomite sire line, which also led to In The Pocket in male line, perhaps another significant factor.

The X Factor cannot be passed from a sire to his colts, only from mare to mare or sire to mare, so we cannot attribute the X Factor to the siring success of Christian Cullen.

However, Christian Cullen also comes from a mare with a pedigree thick with X Factor lines, so we can certainly offer it as a reason why he is proving such a wonderful sire of fillies.

More about all that later though.

 

One of the best examples of multiple X Factor lines in In The Pocket's best progeny was Lennon, a pint sized but very precocious juvenile a few years ago.

Lennon is from a Vance Hanover mare and his grandam Paperback Writer is by Lordship, who is from a U. Scott mare, while his third dam is by Good Chase, who was by Light Brigade from a U. Scott mare.

Then there is his sixth dam Elsinore, the U. Scott dam also of Robalan.

Tar Heel represented just as much of an outcross as the Volomite and Scotland lines in todayfs pacing pedigrees, which tended to be pretty much dominated by Hal Dale through either Meadow Skipper or Adios until more recently.

While Light Brigade, U. Scott and Tar Heel represent outcross paternal lines, it is the degree of X Factors in their maternal lines which may well be the more relevant point though.

The X Factor is a reference to where it is believed thoroughbreds may have inherited their large hearts and it can be found from an obscure source in standardbreds through Glencoe, a top thoroughbred stallion foaled in 1831 whose third dam was a famous matron in Penelope.

The latter was a 1798 foal and has a special place in the hearts and minds of many breeding historians.

She had a 5x5x5x6x5 cross to the Godolphin Arabian and a 7x7x6x7 cross to the Darley Arabian, but importantly and what is probably more than coincidence was that her maternal line traced to a mare by the Darley Arabian.

Penelope's pedigree was the subject of extensive research when she proved the dam of English Derby winners and successful sires in Whalebone and Whisker, while her daughters included English 1000 Guineas winner Whizgig (dam of English Oaks winner Oxygen), Wire (grandam of English Oaks winner Pussy), Waltz (ancestress of English Derby and St Leger winner Silvio) and Web, the grandam of Glencoe.

She belonged to what was considered the best maternal family of thoroughbreds in the world at the time.

It is believed that the X Factor, a reference to the large heart gene being carried on the dominant X chromosome in females, can be inherited genetically from dam to dam and from dam to sire to dam, but not sire to sire.

It can be recessive like all genes, and of course a large heart doesnft necessarily make for a fast racehorse, but it is believed that equally positive genes may accompany the re-emergence of the large heart gene, which is of course most likely to occur the more chances it is given.

In the example of Lennon, his first three dams qualify as carriers along with the dam of In The Pocket.

We can identify the X Factor in standardbreds through Glencoe as the sire of the dam of Dame Winnie, one of the thoroughbred mares that Leland Stanford experimented with in mating her to Electioneer at Palo Alto a little over a century ago.

This cross resulted in the sire Palo Alto, the sire of Alla P, the third dam of U Scott.

It also resulted in Gertrude Russell, the grandam of highly influential sire Belwin, the sire of Minnetonka, the grandam of Light Brigade.

Light Brigade could not inherit the X Factor from Volomite, but Tar Heel could through being from a mare by Volomite.

His fourth dam was Colisseum, who was by Colossus, who was from a mare by Glencoe.

When one then considers all the mares in this part of the world by Light Brigade and U. Scott, and what they did for many of our maternal families, particularly when doubled up, and more recently the successful sires that have Tar Heel dams and grandams, it all added up to a pretty good argument that something rather special and unusual was indeed taking place here.

It was not a bad theory anyway in attempting to explain the mystery of In The Pocketfs extraordinary ability to produce so many quite brilliant colts and fillies, when bred to mares with multiple possibilities of the X Factor.

If one looks at In The Pocketfs best performers, we can note those from mares by Vance Hanover (Advance Attack, Courage Under Fire, Chiavelli, La Motta, Lavross Skipper, London Pride, London Express, Pacing Grace, Pocket Queen and Lennon), Holmes Hanover (Under Cover Lover, Time Flies, Top Tempo, Ultimate Pursuit and Top Speed), Son Of Afella (Windermere Girl) and Sokyfs Atom (Cincinnati Kid, Light And Sound, Listen To The Rhythm, London Legend, Some Courage, United We Stand, Winforu).

Vance Hanover and Sokyfs Atom have Tar Heel grandams and Holmes Hanover and Son Of Afella are from Tar Heel mares. Also, Vance, Holmes and Soky are by Albatross, who also has a Tar Heel grandam.

All this goes a long way towards explaining why Albatross and for that matter Bret Hanover (from a Tar Heel mare) have been such incredible broodmare sires, and why Vance Hanover has been such a revelation here when from all accounts he had little known ability at all.

It can also be noted that the Albatross-Bret Hanover cross was dynamite and produced one of the great fillies of all time in Three Diamonds, the dam of the lion hearted Life Sign.

The X Factor can also be offered as the reason why a horse like Tar Heel can be a top sire, a disaster as a sire of sires, but a champion broodmare sire.

At least one variation on the X Factor theme, but often with more, can also be applied to Christian Cullen (4th dam by U. Scott), Bellafs Boy (3rd dam by Good Chase), Hero (3rd dam by Gentry from Scottish Star mare), Tupelo Rose (grandam by Mark Lobell, who is from Volomite mare), Classy Filly (grandam by Tar Heel), Kaiterau (4th dam by U. Scott), Ouch (3rd dam by Lordship), Onedin Pick Pocket (grandam by Lordship), Pickapocket, Pic Me Pockets (3rd and 4th dams by U. Scott from Light Brigade mare), Pocket Me, Village Raider (3rd dams by U. Scott) and Silver Lined Pocket (5th dam by U. Scott), which in fact pretty much covers all of his best performers.

Throw into the equation In The Pocketfs best U.S. performers in Sanabelle Island, who is from a mare by Tyler B (from a Tar Heel dam) along with the likes of All I Ask, Crew Cut Zach and Tinted Cloud, who each have multiple X Factor dams, and it is all rather compelling.

Some may also have noted that Tar Heelfs third dam is none other than Rose Scott, a sister to Scotland, and that Light Brigade was a half-brother to The Old Maid, who figures close up in the pedigree of Albatross.

While it is early days yet for In The Pocket's progeny in Australia and there will never be the numbers to prove a lot, it will be interesting to see whether he proves in any way comparably successful there.

Outside of mares purchased from New Zealand, the mare population does not have anywhere near as much U. Scott or Light Brigade blood in their pedigrees, and not the same top sires with Tar Heel dams or grandams.

 

It is also early days yet for Christian Cullen insofar as a database for his best crosses, but we can already tell that he is crossing particularly well with mares by Soky's Atom, Vance Hanover, New York Motoring and Tuapeka Knight.

New York Motoring has a Tar Heel grandam, while Tuapeka Knight is from a mare by X Factor sire Lumber Dream and his grandam was bred on that Light Brigade-U. Scott cross.

Soky's Atom mares have produced Mainland Banner, Born Again Christian and Spicey and several very impressive types to be seen at the yearling sales in recent years, while New York Motoring mares have produced C C Mee, Christian Spirit, Fergiemack, Huey Hewett, Kamwood Cully, Likmesiah and Mighty Cullen.

Vance Hanover mares have produced Roman Gladiator and Molly Darling, while Tuapeka Knight has led to Pay Me Christian and V For, all from very limited numbers to date.

Mainland Banner is a particularly interesting case in point for proponents of the X Factor.

Following her Soky's Atom dam, she has a maternal line of sires in Lumber Dream, Bachelor Hanover (dam The Old Maid), First Lord (dam First Water), U. Scott, Grattan Loyal, Our Thorpe, Young Irvington and Rothschild.

All those sires are considered X Factors in a thoroughbred maternal sense by Tesio, but Young Irvington makes a second appearance as the sire of the dam of Our Thorpe, and we can note that he was by a son of Hambletonian in Irvington and a mare by the thoroughbred Telegram.

Without being big numerically, the family of Dusky Morn has been a very good one for class performers over the years. It is best identified as the family of New Zealand and Auckland Cup winner Loyal Nurse, which would lead to the likes of Enterprise, Deeside, Royal Walk, Walk Alone, Stroll Away, Loyal Deputy, Classical, Paula Michele, Paula's Mate and Tosti Girl.

Mainland Banner's line coming through the Our Thorpe mare Morning Glow (3x2 to Young Irvington) has also led to Avon Song, Dreamy Morn, Dreamy Guy, Dictatorship, Esprit Turbo, Run Albert Run, New Life, Genuine Product, Mark Craig, Mighty Khan, Happy Asset and top trotters Waipounamu and Waihemo Hanger.

The more immediate family of Mainland Banner had been nothing out of the ordinary however.

That is until it saw Christian Cullen and produced a freak, all of which will lend more weight to those in favour of debating the merits if X Factors at that dinner table.

By Frank Marrion