The Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred

The thoroughbred horse is the most valuable asset in the British horse breeding industry. All modern thoroughbreds are the descendants of three stallions, the Byerly Turk, the Darley Arabian and the Godolphin Arabian, imported into Britain in the late 17th and 18th centuries. In the intervening centuries, the thoroughbred horse has developed into an animal with a trim body, short chest and relatively short back, capable of carrying weight at speed over extended distances. The development of the thoroughbred did not, of course, happen by accident; a process of selective breeding, aimed at producing horses that move and jump well, but horses amenable to training. Indeed, the thoroughbred sire has been and is, the basis of breeding British sport horses, including racehorses and Britain is renowned for quantity and class of its thoroughbred stock.

Traditionally, it was difficult to identify which stallions were likely to produce outstanding sport horses. There were, of course, records of past performances on the racecourse, which helped to assess speed, stamina, courage and soundness, but little else besides. Nowadays, the British Horse Database holds more detailed records for thoroughbred sires and their progeny, or offspring, which makes the process easier, if not altogether flawless.

The bloodlines of British thoroughbreds may have been carefully managed for hundreds of years, but an outstanding pedigree is still no guarantee of ability or disposition. One notable example was that of the Northern Dancer colt, Snaafi Dancer, sired by one of the most influential sire in thoroughbred history and sold as a yearling for $10.2 million in 1983; Snaafi Dancer not only never made it to a racecourse, having been deemed too slow to race, but also had fertility problems, producing just four foals. Indeed, leading breeding operations such as Darley and Coolmore have been criticised for their obsession with the Northern Dancer bloodline on the grounds that it has led to a dangerous level of inbreeding.

Theories abound as to why characteristics are passed from one generation to the next, but there is every chance that a previously unheralded combination of sire and dam can produce a champion, such are the vagaries of horse breeding.

Nevertheless, stud owners and breeders who produce horses with proven ancestry tend to market them for what they can earn at stud over and above what they can earn on the racecourse. The Epsom Derby may offer £1,250,000 in prize money, but the owner of a leading stallion can charge £250,000 or more for covering a single mare and a stallion may be capable of covering tens or even hundreds of mares in a single year.

Racing is a huge industry, with huge rewards for successful racehorses and sires, but there are many well bred thoroughbreds which are not fast enough to race. These horses often go on to make it in another discipline such as eventing, or can be used to upgrade half bred stock, by introducing class and athleticism to produce top quality British Sport Horses for hunting, showjumping etc.

From a punting point of view, the pedigree of an untried or inexperienced racehorse can give an indication of what to expect in terms of its preferences for distance, going, etc, but one again there are no hard and fast guarantees. Much more relevant to punters is the horse`s form, or its performances on the racecourse; the analysis of horse racing form can, however, be time-consuming and many people rely instead on free horse betting tips available in daily newspapers, racing publications and on the Internet.