Gene Genie
Horse breeding all begins with a twinkle in a breeders eyes as they scour through generations and generations of champions attempting to breed to a proven ‘nick’ or to inbreed to pre-potent ancestors. By Emma Boling
thousand dollars up to the leading sires such
The gene pool of the thoroughbred race horse
as Redoubts Choice who commands a fee of
is really more of a puddle. Every thoroughbred
$176,000 per mare.
horse racing across the world can trace back to a mere three stallions and less than one hundred original mares. Through such genetic restrictions, desirable traits such as speed and stamina have been honed across the centuries to produce the modern race horse. But of course the science of genetics and the subsequent mapping of equine genes is only a very recent tool to assist breeders, and over the years detrimental traits were bred in along with those most coveted. The three original stallions – the Darley Arabian, Godolphin Arabian and Byerley Turk – all came from eastern blood as their names suggest. While the latter two stallions are now poorly represented, the dominant Darley Arabian line currently accounts for over 80% of all horses. When it comes to international bloodlines, Australia is strategically positioned, allowing the best stallions from commercial studs around the world to serve both hemispheres in their respective springs. Around 4,700 yearlings are sold at sale each year in Australia out of approximately 16,000 born. A commercial stallion fee can range anywhere from a few 22
During the season a busy stallion generally serves three or four times a day and can serve as many as 200 mares in a season. As not every mare gets in foal first time around, he also has to re-serve the misses. Gestation is just over eleven months when a foal is usually born during the night and is up on spindly legs within the hour. The night time foaling and quick activity of the little one harks back to days in the wild where horses needed to be on the move to avoid predators. To reach the yearling sales, a youngster will undergo a ten to twelve week preparation.
The premier sales in Australia are the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale on January 12-21st 2011 and the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sales on April 5-7th 2011 which grossed $66.64 million and $80 million respectively in 2010. The highest price paid for a yearling last year was $1.875 million for a Redoubts Choice colt at Easter. For the full sales calendars check out www.magicmillions.com.au and www.inglis.com.au.