Although there are no silver bullets in breeding Thoroughbreds, we remain intrigued by the notion of Rasmussen Factor inbreeding, which is the duplication of superior female ancestors in a foal’s pedigree through different individuals (a theory named for pedigree expert Leon Rasmussen and as explained in the book he co-authored with Rommy Faversham called “Inbreeding to Superior Females: Using the Rasmussen Factor to Produce Better Racehorses”). As opposed to “standard” inbreeding to male horses, which is fairly omnipresent to the likes of Northern Dancer and Mr. Prospector in modern pedigrees, achieving a mating with the Rasmussen Factor is much harder to accomplish just by virtue of the fact that mares only have ten or so foals over the course of their entire breeding careers, compared to the 150+ foals a year that stallions sire nowadays.
So when we find a mating through our typical methods which also encompasses the Rasmussen Factor, it’s particularly exciting — and that’s exactly the case with the match of Wasabi’s Desert Rendezvous and her 2025 mate Independence Hall.
With our more standard methods of pedigree analysis and mating planning, Desert Rendezvous would be a good match for Independence Hall for a couple of reasons:
- Her half-sister Better Lucky has already produced two black-type horses by Independence Hall’s grandsire Tapit; her half-sister Enrichment is the dam of a black-type runner by a son of Tapit and of a black-type winner by the AP Indy (he being Tapit’s own grandsire) son Girolamo; another half-sister is the dam of a Panamanian champion by Purge, a son of Pulpit like Tapit; and Desert Rendezvous and her sisters are all half-siblings to G3W Sahara Heat by AP Indy himself.
- Independence Hall, whose first crop will race in 2025, is a son of Constitution, who has 38 runners out of Danzig-line mares, of which 30 are winners and five are black-type winners (good for an “A+” TrueNicks rating), including the G2W Webslinger out of a mare by Hard Spun (Desert Rendezvous’s sire).
So this cross has already worked both ways, both for the female family and for the sire-line. And physically, Independence Hall is a balanced, scopey individual that has produced quite commercial foals so far, and he should add a bit of leg to Desert Rendezvous’s foal, which is always a plus.
But by far the most intriguing part of this matchup is that Rasmussen Factor inbreeding we referenced above, to the unraced Damascus mare Breezy Stories.
Breezy Stories will appear 4×4 in this foal’s pedigree in what has been dubbed the “Formula One Pattern” by Faversham, meaning that both Independence Hall and Desert Rendezvous trace directly to Breezy Stories in the tail-female line. Even more importantly, this 4×4 duplication comes via two daughters of Breezy Stories who are full-sisters by Storm Cat: Breeders’ Cup Sprint-G1 winner Desert Stormer (Desert Rendezvous’s 2nd dam) and Independence Hall’s 2nd dam Desert Stormette (ancestress of at least 18 black-type runners).
But that’s not all of it! Desert Rendezvous’s dam, Sahara Gold, is by Seeking the Gold, while Independence Hall’s dam, Kalahari Cat, is by Seeking the Gold’s G1-winning son Cape Town.
So even though Breezy Stories will only appear 4×4, and Seeking the Gold 4×3 (sex-balanced, through a son and a daughter), in this foal’s pedigree, the more immediate tail-female ancestors are actually quite similarly-bred, and we think that will give this foal a chance to be something special!