In this day and age where just about every pacing horse has multiple crosses to Meadow Skipper via his son Most Happy Fella and his three distinct sire line links via Cam Fella, No Nukes and Tyler B, owner/breeder Eric Cherry has decided to breed newly purchased Rockette, a full sister to Blue Moon Stride, to current first crop racing stallion Sweet Lou, he a two-time Dan Patch winner as a 2 and a 5-year-old. The mating between Sweet Lou and Rockette will produce an individual with no pedigree duplications in the first four generations, which is about as out-crossed as we can get in contemporary times. Somebeachsomewhere at first glance seems out-crossed in that his sire Mach Three is by Matt’s Scooter from the Abercrombie mare All Included while his dam Where’s The Beach is by Beach Towel from Where’s Sarah by Cam Fella. While Somebeachsomewhere is clear of genetic conflicts through three generations, Meadow Skipper and Most Happy Fella both appear twice in generation four. Meadow Skipper is the sire of Most Happy Fella and appears multiple times in the fifth generation. Sweet Lou is by Yankee Cruiser from the Falcon’s Future daughter Sweet Future.  Yankee Cruiser is by Artiscape from A Yankee Classic by Jate Lobell. Sweet Future is from Sweet Dahrlin, she a Nero from Fly Fly Dahrlin, thus by generations four and five come the Meadow Skipper influences. Rockette is essentially a line bred Most Happy Fella being by Rocknroll Hanover from Classic Star. Rocknroll Hanover goes back five generations to Most Happy Fella through sire Western Ideal, grandsire Western Hanover, great grandsire No Nukes, and that one’s sire Oil Burner by Most Happy Fella. Classic Star is by Cam’s Card Shark, he in turn by Most Happy Fella’s son Cam Fella. Her dam Classic Wish has an additional cross to Most Happy Fella through her sire Armbro Emerson, he with a Most Happy Fella dam. Rockette is thus linebred 5x3 to Most Happy Fella with an additional fourth generation cross through Armbro Emerson. In that Sweet Lou has no Most Happy Fella blood until generations five and six, those Meadow Skipper influences get pushed back one generation in the individual he will produce with Rockette.  And that is about as clear an outcross as we’re going to get in modern times.  Back in the 50’s and 60’s when the pure pacing breed was just starting to develop, there were many examples of almost outcrosses. But for two crosses to Guy Axworthy in generation four both through sire Solicitor, Overtrick would have been clear.  His sire Solicitor was essentially trotting bred by the Volomite son King’s Counsel from the Scotland mare Jane Reynolds. Overtrick’s dam Overbid was by Hal Dale from the Billy Direct mare Barbara Direct. Meadow Skipper meanwhile was by Dale Frost (Hal Dale-Galloway-Raider) from Countess Vivian (King’s Counsel-Filly Direct-Billy Direct).  He had but two crosses to Peter Volo in generation four-one through Dale Frost’s maternal grandsire Raider and the other through his own maternal sire King’s Counsel by Peter Volo’s son Volomite.  Meadow Skipper had pacing influences on both his sire and dam’s side but was relatively clear to generation four. Conversely great trotters like Muscle Hill, Father Patrick and Trixton each have their share of genetic duplications within generation four. Walner however is totally out-crossed through the fourth generation, though he has multiple Speedy Crown crosses in generation five. Muscle Hill (Muscles Yankee-Blondie-American Winner) has two crosses to Star’s Pride and Speedy Somolli in generation four. Father Patrick (Cantab Hall-Gala Dream-Enjoy Lavec) has one Valley Victory link in generation three through Gala Dream’s dam Maple Frosting and one Valley Victory link in generation four via Cantab Hall’s sire line through Self Possessed, Victory Dream and Valley Victory.  He’s a 4x3 Valley Victory but is otherwise clear of genetic duplications. Trixton (Muscle Hill-Emile Cas El-Garland Lobell) has two Speedy Crown links in generation four through Muscles Yankee’s dam Maiden Yankee and Garland Lobell’s dam Gamin Lobell. Otherwise he too is clear of other conflicts. Thus the result of Mr. Cherry’s mating of Sweet Lou and Rockette could place the foal in rather illustrious company. We’ll see!