Thoroughbred Breeding: Pedigree Theories and the Science of Genetics

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.

All breeders of the race horse must get this book

Superb Introduction and in depth coverage

Great book

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.