Thoroughbred Breeding: Pedigree Theories and the Science of Genetics

All breeders of the race horse must get this book

As a not-native speaker this book was by far the most difficult one I have encountered in years. The subject of genetics it a tough one in any language I suppose, and to get your lectures in such a compact form makes this book a challenging read, and certainly not one for the average racing-fan, keen on a nice story and/or a bet or two. This book clearly is for either serious student of horse-pedigrees, or for the practical breeder only, and the latter one might not even be bothered anymore half way through book.The book is divided into two parts. The first one, presumably written by Tony Morris, is basicly a history of the development of structured breeding, and the written documents that were left behind over the centurys. From early notes, the development towards the Racing Calendar, the General Stud-Book, small handbooks about breeding horses, to the Bobinsky Family Tables, the family numbers, to so-called milestones in throughbred literature - this books chronicles it all, and -in the new-found light of genetics - dismisses most. Old-fashioned "patters of greatness" are dismissed as wishfull thinking; it may be harsh, but is certainly an interesting and informative read.The second part of the book is the above mentioned lecture into the current knowledge of genetics and how thoroughbred breeders shall be able to use this knowledge and -better still- benefit from it.True Tony Morris -Fans - his now-scrapped Pedigree-analysis in the Racing-Post was my favorite read in that particular paper- have been waited for his new book for a long time, and the result is somewhat disappointing. The book contains at least one serious mistake - Master Robert is declared as the ancestor of "all thoroughbreds" - the word "white" is clearly missing here but would give the sentence a whole new meaning; and as for the genetics, well. They are of course nature, and a fact, but even the stoutest "supporters" have to admit that the experts are scratching at the surface still, and what is hailed as "we know so much" is clearly just a glimpse into the dark. The chapter of colour inhertance in horses is interesting, and the charts make it easy to understand, but why a story - along with a chart - of the inheritance of haemophilia in Queen Victoria's family; and one of colour-transmission in cats - is included is for everybody to guess.While horsebreeding is certainly a science, not all breeders are scientists (nor do they want to be one) and not many scientists are horse-breeders, so this book is a strange mix of it all. Nature has its own rules and regulations, thank god, and while mankind is so busy to unveil all its secrets, there are -luckily- so many still unraveled, and the will continue to be just that hopefully for some time to come.The book gives a very interesting insight into the current standing, but is clearly a long way short of being a practical guide etc., if it ever intended to be.

Superb Introduction and in depth coverage

Great book

Clearly this is a book for the person who is fascinated by thoroughbred horse breeding and in particular the development of theories about this topic. It is not for the casual racing fan or for someone wanting to know the basics of breeding - but the title alone would tell you that!The book has two authors and two main themes. The first is to describe the various, often far-fetched, theories that have been proposed as to how superior racehorses might be bred. This is the work of Tony Morris and shows a great deal of historical research and a deep knowledge of the subject. Many pet theories are described and appropriately knocked on the head. The few to apply any degree of scientific rigour are rightly praised.This builds up to the second theme, which is about the way that the study of molecular genetics will illuminate the whole subject (although personally I wouldn't want it ever to illuminate it to the point where a stallion or mares stud carrers can be predicted, or a foal's likely racing success!However, it doesn't come near to fulfilling any of the suggestions that geneticists will show the way to breeding success. Most of the coverage of genetics is interesting in defining basic principles, but it casts little light on thoroughbred breeding. Discussing (in rather shallow detail) colour genetics in the horse is all well and good, but this merely shows the principles of genetic inheritance that most of us have known since school; and even here the topic of white markings is rather skirted over when it becomes 'complex'. If this is too complex for a geneticist to explain, then what about racing ability?In terms of this, nicks are covered in basic terms, with the word 'genes' replacing 'features' when the balancing of characteristics is discussed, but without imparting any more knowledge of whether they exist or how important they are. The recently - announced 'speed gene' is mentioned only as a recent discovery with no discussion of its implications; and the so-called X factor is discussed in the context of sex heritage in tortoiseshell cats not in terms of whether there is evidence as to whether one or more genes define heart capacity or on what chromosomes such genes are found.Overall, I believe that Tony Morris is a great writer on thoroughbred breeding, with lots of knowledge and common sense, and he builds up with great skill to the denouement that genetics will offer. Unfortunately, though, there is no denouement. Tony has not been well-served by his co-author, who seems to feel that a recitation of well-known facts abour colour in cats and haemophilia in humans will satisfy readers who are eager to learn about thoroughbreds. Too many equine geneticists are concentrating on selling 'tests' for performance factors and such like rather than on elucidating knowledge - and I feel that either Matthew Binns don't know or he ain't saying - probably rather more of the former, to be fair to him.Tony Morris' input to the book was a delight, but I hope that if another version is published in five years time his co-author is able to reveal a lot more than he did on this occasion. Sorry if this sounds negative, as I really enjoyed the book and would suggest it as a 'must buy' for anyone as interested in thoroughbred breeding as I am - probably some of Tony's excellent prose in describing false prophets has rubbed off on me when I came to describing Matthew's input!

This book is very well produced and researched and of great interest to lovers of thoroughbreds and their history. Not for everyone but for horse fanatics it is a 'must'

Enjoyed the book very much. Found the historical aspects interesting. Much of the genetic theory was explained clearly and the pitfalls explained.

Very comprehensive; excellent research regarding origins of Thoroughbred horse racing and the breed.

It was an interesting read on how to breed horses. It has changed my mind on how to do things differently.

At a price of a whopping 51€, the expectations are naturally high. So how did the book live up to the expectations?The largest part of the book (chapters 1-8) could be subtitled as a history of the thoroughbred pedigree. This would have probably left me bored, but the writers were able to keep the topic very much alive with surprising wit inbetween the anecdotal references. The early writers on thoroughbred breeding are identified and their deductions scrutinized, labelling most of them as having been clueless. Let me illustrate this: "displaying a hopeless grasp of what was then known about sexual reproduction" or "it was going to need something more than rejection on intellectual and logical grounds by lucid thinkers to curb the enthusiasm of those who had found a major new religion". So yes, even historical references can entertain.This book managed to enhance my view on the historical context on why some weird theories used to exist (or still prevail today) in horse breeding. Chapters 9-12 are pretty much a literature review of past writers and their theories on how to produce a better racehorse. It's actually quite scary to find that many of today's firmly held beliefs have been held for such a long time on rather vague notions. The theories discussed in the book are: Lowe family figures, dosage, greater mare influence/ tail female line, inbreeding, outcrossing, nicks, sex-balancing.Unfortunately, there is a natural limit to the information that can be spread out, since breeding is still much more of an art than a science. I was a bit disappointed to learn that even in this rather scientific book there are many pages on the inheritance of coat colours and other factors, that are easily perceptible and reproducible by any breeder. When it comes to performance traits there is not much left of that clear cut picture. Which really ought to have been the expected outcome of the book, but is still somewhat frustrating after pages and pages of promises about state of the art information about the equine genome project. Sure enough, a great horse will still be born by chance, rather than bred on purpose. So don't be fooled, because no book can substitute the experience and intuition of the breeder and there is not much news for practical breeders. Nonetheless a good book review that puts many theories in historical perspectives and is above all an enjoyable read.

If you're buying this book thinking you will learn the secrets of breeding the next triple crown winner you will be sorely disappointed. In fact if you're one of the proponents of systems such as "Dosage", "X-factor", Mare families, or pedigree analysis that goes back more than 5 generations, prepare to have your views challenged and criticized. The Authors spend most of the book explaining then debunking a lot of what has been written about breeding racehorses over the last 200 years. The Authors then go on to give you a fairly cogent and understandable explanation of how genetics works, how much more we know about it now and how much work there still is to be done.I did enjoy reading this book. However, I would have liked to know where horse breeders can look to for the better professional research of genetics in race horses. The few studies they site seem to be somewhat open-ended and inconclusive. A lot of what's said is along the lines of "wouldn't it have been nice if they had studied this or that bit". I finished reading it thinking "that's all there is?".

thanks