22 June 2011

New Scientist

Horse breeders have always put their faith in bloodlines when it comes to finding a winner – now they're putting science into their stud books

AND they're off! It's the 2.35 at the Curragh, county Kildare, on the first day of Ireland's flat racing season. In the nick of time I manage to place a €5 bet on Whip Rule, a 2-year-old colt. His odds don't bode well - 10/1 in a six-horse contest - but I still think I'm on to a winner. That's not because I've had a hot tip from a stable boy, but because I'm confident my horse is made of the right stuff for this race.

Genes are everything for thoroughbred racehorses. Yet although horse racing has grown into an international multibillion dollar industry, racehorse breeding still relies on the same tools as it has for the past 300 years: pedigree charts, and trial and ...

 

Read the full article at http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028181.800-speedy-genes-making-horses-for-courses.html

(c) New Scientist, 2011