by Norman Hall

I had a request for me to look at trotter Greenshoe to give my take on his pedigree and see if he was also the result of a maternal build-up of maternal influence like Shartin N (full story here). His pedigree does, in fact, exhibit many of the same characteristics. Like Shartin N he is, for starters, by far the best performer in his maternal line with very little to show past his third dam in terms of high earnings or speed. I had not looked in depth at his pedigree previously but I am not surprised at what I found.

In my book about maternal lines,Queen Among Queens, I devote a chapter to examining the development of some of the most popular and prolific maternal families and show the point at which they suddenly expanded into production of high speed and earnings. I called this the “trigger” effect because it seemed to happen when certain key maternal influences first came together. Those influences are all based on X-factor mares also described in an earlier chapter on the trigger effect. Names such as Adioo, Hatteras, Kathleen, Manette and Oniska and the inbred daughters Margaret Parrish and Helen Hanover, are all key X-factor sources that when combined or doubled up in a pedigree can step up the performance of the individuals that inherit them.

In my research I have determined that the X-factor traces back to England and the so-called Ancestral Mom through the daughters of Diomed, a stallion imported to North America in the late 1700’s. His legacy is not restricted to standardbred mares but also is evident in the thoroughbred breed and many of those early North American mares show up in other ways in the maternal lines of standardbreds, in particular through the daughters of American Star and Mambrino Patchen with extensive thoroughbred dams that feature Diomed. That is where the family of Greenshoe begins.

His maternal family name is Lady Bunker born in 1873. She was by Mambrino Patchen and out of an American Star mare. The second dam is by the thoroughbred Tiger from an unknown mare and whose dam is Jane Hunt, the maternal family of one of the aforementioned trigger mares Kathleen. That combination in itself is a good foundation but there is one key ingredient needed to complete the package and that is an intersection with the legacy of Miss Russell, the Queen Of Queens.

Lady Bunker had two daughters, one of which ended up in Europe. The other one, Welcome Bunker, also had two daughters by Bobby Macgregor who brought nothing extra to the table but is responsible for Axcharm, the 10th dam of Greenshoe. Two generations of nothing added then we get to Farr (1934)who is notable only for the fact that we will see her later. Her daughter Fardean is the first on the line to inherit a maternal boost as her sire is Dean Hanover whose dam is inbred no fewer than four times to Mambrino Patchen including the trigger mare Hatteras. Still no Miss Russell however.

Fardean was bred to Blaze Hanover who contributes Adioo, the first link to Miss Russell, to the mix and their daughter, Gypsy Blaze, is then bred to Carlisle that makes her a double copy to Adioo maternally. The next step is a big one when Carlisle Blaze meets Speedy Crown who brings both Oniska and another trace to Adioo into the family. Up until now, through 10 generations the family has produced just one performer with more than $30,000 earned and that is Carlisle Blaze. Her daughter by Speedy Crown is called Southern Crown, the best of her 14 foals with $88K made. Of the 14 foals there are just two by Speedy Crown but it was Southern Crown that became the 4th dam of Greenshoe. Her best was by Texas, a double/double pedigree colt that made $552,000. Her second best was Southern Drawl ($113k) by Super Bowl and that was the one that really triggered the maternal line since he brings in the legacy of the great Margaret Parrish for the first time. Her full sister Blaze of Fury was not bred to Super Bowl and produced just one winner of $114K and no fillies of note

Southern Drawl was bred to Balanced Image and produced the third dam of Greenshoe and the first time the Noble Victory line is introduced. Balanced Image brings in maternal support from Adioo, Oniska and Hatteras maternally in X-factor position but more importantly his maternal dam goes back through Farr (1934) to the same source as the maternal line of Greenshoe, the combination of Mambrino Patchen and American Star. We now have a pedigree that combines double copies of every possible X-factor trace to Diomed. Southern Drawl earns $430,000 and is bred to Yankee Glide, producing Sheer Soul, a TB pattern and DD pattern mare and 2nd dam of Greenshoe. Now we are ready for the final ingredient that produces the explosion in the form of Greenshoe.

Sheer Soul is bred to Donato Hanover whose dam is by Donerail, a carrier of Margaret Parrish and in addition has another Margaret Parrish line maternally through Rodney, the same one as in the dam of Super Bowl. Donato’s dam, D Train, is therefore a double copy to the most important maternal influence of the X-factor in the trotting breed. This powerful maternal influence has a downside. however, especially for a budding stallion. It predicates that the stallion will be essentially a producer of great fillies and for Donato Hanover that is very much the case. He has five million dollar winners and the top four are all fillies and all of them have Margaret Parrish maternally and are double copies to the great mare accordingly.

Greenshoe’s dam, Designed To Be, is the fifth best filly with $663K made and he was her first foal. Her second foal is the million dollar yearling Maverick.

Adding lustre to the pedigree of this great colt and stallion prospect is his TB pattern pedigree since he is by a Valley Victory line sire and from a dam that is inbred to the Valley Victory line. He is also a DD pattern through his combination of Noble Victory and Speedster lines maternally that are duplicated in the maternal lines of Father Patrick and his sire Cantab Hall. That Noble Victory line that was picked up along the way is a crucial element in the profile of the best by Father Patrick. Every one of his top performers has a Noble Victory line in the dam – just another thing to look for in the search for a Champion.

I am sure there are some that say this is all 20-20 hindsight but I am constantly reminded of the words of Marg Neal in an interview with Dean Hoffman for Hoof Beats magazine in 2001.

“We have been conditioned by the restriction of catalogues and advertising to view our horses, at most, as three generation animals. There are many people out there that will tell you there is no reason to look beyond the grandparents of any animal. I thoroughly disagree. It is, however, a handy position to take for those unwilling to do their homework.

“There is a model of breeding that is like a pattern, and the pattern persists over generations, although, of course, the names change. I like to see a mare that is inbred and a sire that is not.”

Pedigrees — Patterns — Profiles — Percentages leads to PROFIT