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We know that genetics is the science of heredity. It’s likely common knowledge that in the last half-century, human understanding of that science has exploded. Each year, the pool of knowledge grows, so that now, humans, working in a laboratory,
We know that genetics is the science of heredity. It’s likely common knowledge that in the last half-century, human understanding of that science has exploded. Each year, the pool of knowledge grows, so that now, humans, working in a laboratory, can manipulate the genetic material stored in organisms already living or yet to be born.
As long as humans have been producing plants and animals for their own needs, we have known that the young would resemble their parents in a variety of ways. Since the middle of the 1800s, we have been moving toward a better understanding of exactly how this occurs. We know more and more about the molecular nature of inheritance, and research is bringing us closer to connecting genes with genetic traits.
Less than half a century ago, the study of genetics seemed simply to be a matter of figuring out which traits were recessive and which were dominant, and how many genes produced any given trait. You know—the brown eyes / blue eyes idea. It was very straightforward. We were years away from mapping the human and equine genomes. That process, once completed, brought the realization that only a thousandth of that material was unique to an individual, and only about 4% of DNA separates a human from a chimpanzee.
Each time we think we know more, we discover so many more things that we realize we don’t know at all. Sometimes, when we discover something new, we also have to “unknow” something we were convinced was true. Not long ago, many of us believed that the field of genetics would give us a “blueprint” for life, as though DNA was a sort of simple assembly plan to create living organisms. New discoveries now contradict this idea, suggesting that nuclear DNA is less like a blueprint than a cake recipe, where one ingredient affects how the other ingredients behave.
A small proportion of genetic material points to physical characteristics, like hair color and earlobe shape, as we believed. Now, it seems large amounts of what was thought to be “junk DNA” turns out to be functional. Some of that function turns out to be tied to biochemistry, whether a gene gets turned on or off, and a whole lot of other things that are hard to make sense of, but there is also much still out there beyond our knowing.
For example, two hundred years ago, many believed that simply stabling horses together would affect the color of foals born in that barn. The more is known about genetics, and the more we learn about how much of this system remains outside our grasp, the better we realize that breeding is much more complicated than cutting, pasting, and photocopying. Sometimes, we get a surprise.
The son had none of those flaws. He was in every way, lightning in a bottle: that sort of happy accident that sometimes happens when you breed the best to the best, and hope for the best. - AFN
The Thoroughbred is unique among horse breeds, in that The Jockey Club allows registration – and the right to race – only to horses produced by live cover. Artificial insemination is not allowed, nor embryo transfer, nor cloning. This ensures the continued careers of many more colts because their semen cannot travel farther than they can. It also keeps as much diversity as possible in the breed and ensures a breeding career for horses who are not stakes winners.
The Quarter Horse breed faced the effect of extreme overuse of semen from “the stallion of the moment,” meaning whoever was the model horse at the time, resulting in the devastating spread of a muscle function disease caused by a single genetic mutation from one sire. In the Standardbred breed, artificial insemination is allowed so the frozen semen of top class horses can be shipped worldwide. Unless a colt is among the best available, he must make good earnings as a racehorse because of the challenge for him to earn a profit at stud.
And yet – even with the apparent handicap of the live cover restriction and the vast uncertainty of what science cannot tell us – astute horsemen have for centuries carefully tracked performance and pedigrees.
They have crossed speed with stamina, and recognized the top producers each year. They have bred the best to the best, and hoped for the best.
Listen as Abby traces this tale of how a series of incredibly lucky events changed the face of Thoroughbred racing in America forever.
Sources for this episode
Documents found on the Internet:
Bloodhorse Staff. (2006, July 20). A memorable date: first seven-figure yearling sold. BloodHorse. Retrieved from https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/164340/a-memorable-date-first-seven-figure-yearling-sold
Bold Ruler. (n.d.) American Classic Pedigrees. [website] Retrieved from http://www.americanclassicpedigrees.com/bold-ruler
Cajun Country Girl. (n.d.) Pedigree Online All Breed Database. [website] http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/cajun+country+girl
Claiborne Farm. (n.d.) New leadership and continuing success 1947-1972. Retrieved from /narratives/new-leadership-and-continuing-success-1947-1972/
Goldstein, R. (2017, September 17). Penny Chener, owner of the Triple Crown winner Secretariat dead at 95. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/17/sports/horse-racing/penny-chenery-dead.html
Oakford, G. (2013, April 24). Legendary Overbrook Farm stallion Storm Cat dies at 30. Daily Racing Form. Retrieved from http://www.drf.com/news/legendary-overbrook-farm-stallion-storm-cat-dies-30
Peters, A. (2013, June 18) A look at today's broodmare sires. BloodHorse. Retrieved from https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/120365/a-look-at-todays-broodmare-sires
Richardson, G. (2013, December 28). "X" marks the spot - the large-heart gene theory. Pedigree Dynamics. Retrieved from http://www.pedigree-dynamics.com.au/x-marks-the-spot-the-large-heart-gene-theory/
Rogers, B. (2015, June 12). The stride of a champion: How does American Pharoah compare to Secretariat? Performance Genetics. Retrieved from https://www.performancegenetics.com/post/2015/06/12/the-stride-of-a-champion-how-does-american-pharoah-compare-to-secretariat
Secretariat. (n.d.) American Classic Pedigrees. [website] Retrieved from http://www.americanclassicpedigrees.com/secretariat.html
Somethingroyal. (n.d.) American Classic Pedigrees. [website] Retrieved from http://www.americanclassicpedigrees.com/somethingroyal.html
Storm Cat (n.d.) American Classic Pedigrees. [website] Retrieved from http://www.americanclassicpedigrees.com/storm-cat.html
Contributors:
Ricky Bloxsom, Visual Design https://www.rbloxsom.com/
Lanin's Southern Serenaders, "Shake It and Break It," Antique Phonograph Recording
Abigail Nemec, Show Notes
Beth Linnetz, Quality Review
Images for this episode:
Statue of Secretariat by John Skeaping at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga, showing his distinctive bounding gallop. By Jlvsclrk (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons
A.P. Indy before the 1992 Belmont Stakes (Jockey Eddie Delahousaye up) By Jlvsclrk (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons
Secretariat Photo Album by Steve Haskin http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse-racing-steve-haskin/archive/2017/07/20/secretariat-photo-album.aspx
Big Red and Penny https://alchetron.com/Penny-Chenery-456879-W
Cajun Country Girl, Anna Bloxsom up, by Abigail Nemec (Own work)
All images on this page [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]
