SPF records: Will records, not included in the spf record at root level of a domain, validate emailservers ?

Hi,

I have a question regarding spf records.

Do records, not included in the spf record at root level of a domain, validate emailservers ? For example: I have a domain (company.com), which has a nameless record (record 1) with these values:

v=spf1 include:_spf.company.com ip4:123.123.123.123 include:_spf.domain1.com -all

So there is another record (record 2): _spf.company.com which include some other values.

I see why this is working. Record1 points to record2 and therefor an external mailserver is validated as valid sender and mail is being deliverd.

But, there is some other records that seems to be on it's own: (record3) E.g _spf_orphin.company.com - v=spf1 include:ip4:111.111.111.111 include:_spf.otherdomain.com -all

I don't see another record pointing towards it.
Will mailservers included in this record (record3) be validated, or will they just be skipped because no other records points to it ?
Or do all records who's value starts with: "v=spf1" count as a valid spf record to which spamfilters can validate ?

Thanks in advance !