The Thoroughbred Horse

Origins of the Thoroughbred horse:
This breed of horse was originally bred in The United Kingdom due to the English horsemens want to own a quick race horse. There are three that began this strain which are: Byerley Turk, Darley Arabian and Godolphin Arabian, all named after their respective owners, Thomas Darley, Lord Godolphin and Captain Robert Byerley. All of these stallions were brought to the UK from the Mediterranean Middle Eastduring 1670 and 1710. The conclusion was a breed that could bear weight with sustained speeds over extended distances. Approximately 9/10 of modern thoroughbreds have come from Eclipse the grandsire of whom was Darley Arabian, who never lost in eighteen races. This began a very selective breeding procedure which has continued for all but 250 years, producing the finest race horses, giving them authorityand brilliance on the race track.

About the turn of the 1700's, breeding accounts for Thoroughbreds were meager and regularly partial, and on any occasions, they would not refer to a horse before the juvenile horse had proven themself creditable. A gentleman called James Weatherby, through his own investigation and relentless work, and by the collection of his own privately owned pedigree records published the foremost volume of the General Stud Book. This was done in 1791. The principal publication listed 387 mares, every one of which could be traced back to Eclipse. The General Studbook is still in print in the UK by Weatherby and Sons. Many years afterward, as thoroughbred racing proliferated in North America the requirement for a pedigree registry for American Bred Thoroughbreds, comparable to the General Stud Book became clear.

In 1873, the earliest American Stud Book was released by Colonel Sanders D. Bruce. This gentleman used up almost a lifetime researching the pedigrees of American Throughbred horses. He continued the example of the General Stud Book creating six volumes of the register until 1896 when the project was overtaken by The Jockey Club. The integrity of the American Stud Book is the flagstone on which all Thoroughbred horse racing in North America is based. The initial edition of the American Stud Book by The Jockey Club had a foal crop of around 3,000. In 1986 in had grown to an amazing 51,000. Today The Jockey Club uses an elaborate new computer technology to meet the registration issues presented by the colossal quantity of yearly registrations. The Jockey Club is responsible for and maintains one of the most complicated computer systems in the world today, with its record holding in excess of 1.8 million thouroughbreds on a main pedigree file, with names that can be traced back to the 1800's. In addition to bloodlines, this computer database also processes daily racing outcomes of all Thoroughbred race in North America, not including the capability to process electronically sent pedigree and racing information from the UK, Ireland, France and other leading Thoroughbred countries. An extra descendant of Darley Arabian is Diomed; he won the principal running of the Kentucky Derby in 1780. At 21 years of age he was brought to the United States where he started the male line by way of his son, Sir Archie.

Thoroughbreds are the preferred option for track racing. Most thoroughbreds are born between January and April, however their certified birthday is January 1 of the current year. Throughout their first year of development, they are developing size and strength with the youngster commencing his training as a yearling. Throughbred horses learn to accept a bridle and a saddle and soon after a rider on its back to break in the horse in preparation for the starting gate and the race around the track.

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