Rasmussen Factors - A Powerful Breeding Tool.

Those breeders willing to chance their arm by dabbling in a touch of inbreeding can be well rewarded albeit avid followers of Marcel Boussac and his breeding principles or just plain willing to give it a go if the opportunity arises.
If the desirable duplicated ancestor is a female then this should double the attention of any breeder.
Some breeders believe that inbreeding to a female with superior qualities or attributes as either a racehorse or a broodmare is especially effective.
This was certainly the view of Leon Rasmussen, a staunch advocate for what became known as the "Rasmussen Factor" i.e. a principle relating to breeding back to superior females through different individuals within the first 5 generations.
As the late great "Father of Pedigrees" in our part of the world ( Australia and New Zealand ) Harold Hampton identified from his myriad of observations, the position of greatest influence in most pedigrees centres around the 4th and 5th generational level.
So whenever a potentially exciting new racetrack achiever comes along, especially one who is the product of a new or new season sire, then it is only natural for pedigree consultants such as myself to study it's pedigree to see if we can identify the possible source of excellence.
One shining example came through after the eye-catching performance of the Murray Baker / Andrew Forsman trained two year old filly Mustang Valley, a memorable winner at Te Rapa on 12 June 2021.
Mustang Valley is a daughter of new season sire Vanbrugh ( a son of Encosta De Lago ) and is a very impressive physical type.
But it is her pedigree page that is equally as impressive if not more so.
We are first to admit that Vanbrugh is a stallion that can be a challenge to match mares' to ( Windsor Park's Steve Till may disagree with this ) but in Mustang Valley's dam Cream Of The Crop ( by Galileo's son New Approach ) he was to receive a mare who we can only describe as a "match made in heaven".
The resultant pedigree match produces a foal ( Mustang Valley ) which is bred on what is known as a double Rasmussen Factor.
A single Rasmussen Factor can be relatively common in a mating but a double Rasmussen Factor can be more difficult to find.
In the case of Mustang Valley, this occurs through the broodmare gems Fairy Bridge ( a daughter of Special ) and Benediction.
The Fairy Bridge Rasmussen Factor occurs at 4x5 through her sons the full-brothers Fairy King ( grandsire of Vanbrugh ) and Sadler's Wells ( great grandsire of Cream Of The Crop ).
The Benediction Rasmussen Factor occurs at 5x4 through her daughters the half-sisters Miss Priority ( by Kaapstad, and the dam of Lucky Owners who is the damsire of Vanbrugh ) and Buenos Aires ( by Rainbow Quest, and the granddam of Cream Of The Crop ).This also sees Buenos Aires as the great granddam of Mustang Valley.
A little further removed in Mustang Valley's pedigree female linebreeding also occurs to Natalma at 5x8x7x7x6x7x7 which is favourably sex-balanced through son Northern Dancer and daughter Spring Adieu.
I recall many years ago a former Sri Lankan workmate once telling me that "good information comes in one ear and goes straight upstairs and that bad information comes in the same ear but passes out through the other ear" and this I have never forgotten as it so relates to assembling a superior pedigree such as that possessed by Mustang Valley.
So when it recently came to pedigree-matching a valued Waikato-based client's mare by Showcasing in the lead-up to the 2021 breeding season the Mustang Valley breeding template came back downstairs to me.
As i scrolled through all the Tesio test-matings with the available stallions another mating appeared in front of me offering a foal bred on a rare double Rasmussen Factor also occuring in the 4th and 5th generational levels.
The name Mustang Valley echoed off the canyon walls.
And this newly found mating looked as if it could pack a decent punch as well.
The stallion featuring here is none other than Novara Park's new season sire King Of Comedy.
And the double bloodline connection is made through Showcasing ( both sides of his pedigree ) and King Of Comedy's revered sire Kingman, more specifically though Kingman's maternal bloodlines.
The first Rasmussen Factor features broodmare gem Hope at 4x4, favourably sex-balanced through her son Oasis Dream ( sire of Showcasing ) and daughter Zenda ( dam of Kingman, sire of King Of Comedy ) who are half-brother and sister.
The second Rasmussen Factor occurs to the broodmare gem Zaizafon at 5x5, through her sons the full-brothers Zamindar ( damsire of Kingman ) and Zafonic ( damsire of Showcasing ).
So how do these these two sets of Rasmussen Factor's, Mustang Valley's and the one in the King Of Comedy / Showcasing mare compare?
The Mustang Valley double Rasmussen Factor occurs through a set of full-brothers and a pair of half-sisters so no sex-balancing takes place but it does have the advantage of being spread across all four quartiles of Mustang Valley's pedigree whereas the King Of Comedy / Showcasing mare double Rasmussen Factor also features a set of full-brothers as well as a desirably sex-balanced pairing with the total connection occuring through just the first and the third quartiles of the overall pedigree.
The latter also means that any Showcasing mare that is bred to King Of Comedy will carry this same double Rasmussen Factor as outlines above.
And as with the Mustang Valley pedigree, we also see further removed in the pedigree of the King Of Comedy / Showcasing mare  mating further female linebreeding this time to the broodmare gem Tamerett at 7x7x7 also in desirable sex-balance via her son Known Fact and daughter Secrettame.
Time will be the judge as to which of these two examples of the double Rasmussen Factor will prove the more telling but one would presume if logic was to prevail then the King Of Comedy / Showcasing mare mating should have weight of numbers in it's favour especially if those breeders possessing a Showcasing mare are aware of this opportunity.