Fun Horse Racing Facts, (Thoroughbred Horses)

[Garf79]

Thoroughbred horses are a breed of horse that can be traced back to just 3 stallions that were brought over from the Orient and Arabia and bred with native English mares. All thoroughbred horses today can be traced back to this blood line that was created in 17th and 18th century in England. Horses born today have to be registered as thoroughbred and have their DNA checked to ensure they come from this ancient blood line.

Thoroughbred horses also all share the same birthday, which I find fascinating. If the thoroughbred is born in the Northern hemisphere then its birthday will be on the 1st of January, coincidentally it is the 1st of January today as I am writing this, so happy birthday to all the thoroughbreds in the northern hemisphere 😄 If the horse is born in the southern hemisphere then all their birthdays are on the 1st August. This rule is kept to make it easier to track  how old a horse is. A few of the major races have age limits and this means the horse only one chance of winning it. For example, horses racing in the Kentucky Derby must be three years old.

                                     

Many breeders will try and make their horses mate so that the foal is born as close to the 1st of January as possible, this then gives the horse more time to mature and get stronger, so they are ready to compete and win races. Trainers know that a horses gestation period is 11 months but the mares come into heat in spring around April time, so they use huge powerful lights to try and trick the mares body into thinking spring has come early and getting them to breed around February or early March. I hope you found these little fact interesting and next time you are watching a thoroughbred race you will know a little bit more about what a thoroughbred horse is.

 

[AlphaGambler]

Great post buddy! I just read a little bit about Thoroughbred horses and found out that the most expensive Thoroughbred horse in history, Fusaichi Pegasus, sold for 70 million dollars in 2000 🙂

[serjua8]

Thanks for the information I was totally unaware of the birth dates and it seems so exaggerated that they alter a natural life cycle. Everything that the power of money does. 

[Garf79]

It is around a 36 Billion Dollar industry, per year!