Thoroughbred Horses

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Thinking of horse racing? Well, meet the Thoroughbreds; they’ll be your racing confidante from start to finish.

Thoroughbred horses originated from three foundation sires, the Darley Arabian, the Godolphin Arabian and the Byerly turk. These sires were named after their owners, namely, Thomas Darley, Lord Godolphin and Captain Robert Byerly. They brought their stallions to England between 1670 and 1710. They bred these sires with England’s native horse. In turn, the end product was an animal that could carry weight with sustained speed over longer distances. Because of this, selective breeding processes were done to come up with breeds that are excellent for race tracking. Around the turn of the 1700s, Thoroughbred breeding records were incomplete.

People do not name a horse unless the young horse can prove its self-worth. To change such situations, James Weatherby was able to publish the first volume of the General Stud Book through his research and combination of privately-kept pedigree records. He listed 387 mares which could all be traced back to Eclipse, a direct descendent of the Darley Arabian; Matchem, a grandson of the Godolphin Arabian; and Herod, whose great-great grandsire was the Byerly Turk.

Years after, horse racing flourished in North America which clearly shows that American-bred Thoroughbreds do need a pedigree registry similar to that of the General Stud Book. Col. Sanders D. Bruce, a Kentuckian who had spent almost a lifetime researching the pedigrees of American Thoroughbreds, published the first volume of The American Stud Book in 1873. The Jockey Club also published its first volume of the Stud book wherein the foal crop was about 3,000 and it exceeded51, 000 by 1986. The Jockey Club adopted new computer technology in order to make the registration faster and easier.

But the Club did not only focus on computer technology because in the year 1977, it also embraced the medical science advances, wherein they made use of the blood-typing program. As of today, all Thoroughbreds registered in the American Stud Book are blood-typed.

Thoroughbred horses stand 14.2 to 17.2 hands high. They come in solid colors but they do have white face markings and/or white leg markings. Their heads are refined. They have long necks, sloping shoulders and fine long legs. They are high-spirited, bold and quick.

They are used for racing, riding and in competitions as well.