In this blog I want to share some thought-provoking ideas about selective breeding to improve the quality of racehorses and the genetic stock of mares. It comes from the thoroughbred side of life – but don’t let that put you off. I don’t agree with some of it, and will say why.
What’s more important is keeping open minds and encouraging discussion. That’s often not a strength of our industry, but it is what my blog tries to do. So read on, and have a think about it. And please respond if you want.
NZSBA chair John Mooney sent me an extract from a book he’s been reading called Thoroughbred Breeding – pedigree theories and the science of genetics, by Dr Matthew Binns and Tony Morris. One chapter looks at how selection of breeding males is intense and only a small, select few go on to be successful sires – but they have a significant impact on the breed through the production of large numbers of offspring and the establishment of breeding lines. The improvement of females through selection is much weaker, with lower grade mares lacking performance and soundness having often been allowed to breed to meet the market for numbers of racehorses, at least until the recession bit from 2008.
The authors go on to say:
The lack of selection on the distaff side in Thoroughbred breeding inevitably presents a major barrier to genetic improvement, and although the recession…will doubtless lead to many inferior females being withdrawn from the production line, their removal will make little difference; a technique which could bring advances has been developed and is available, but it has not been sanctioned by the Stud Book authorities who control the breeding of Thoroughbreds.
Embryo transfer…is a procedure which would enable better-quality mares to produce several offspring per year instead of the one decreed by Nature. In this way the number of foals born might be retained while improving the overall quality of the breed, but current regulations do not even allow foals to be conceived by artificial insemination, so the introduction of embryo transfer is something for the distant future, if ever.
Readers of my blog will know that I advocate for full consideration of a system for standardbred breeding that allows 2 foals in a season from the same mare, one carried by that mare and the other by embryo transfer to a surrogate mare. So it is interesting to see this issue being raised in a different context – for improved breeding of thoroughbreds.
Having said that, I’m very aware how different the thoroughbred situation is from ours – we have already introduced artificial insemination and allow some embryo transfers.
However I don’t agree that genetic selection to improve the breed is what should drive the decision to allow more than one foal per mare. I’m more interested in it as a way of keeping breeding numbers up, increasing diversity and providing commercially focused breeders with better opportunities to get a return on their risky investment. There is, in my view, a need to maintain a level of genetic diversity (however limited it is within our very inbred industry) rather than a simplistic “breed the best to the best” approach. That is one reason I have suggested two foals per season as reasonable (and from different sires, so that breeders are encouraged to be more adventurous in their selection of sires for more commercial mares).
The authors go on in the same chapter (Selective Breeding) to discuss how financial drivers of breeding have also held back good selective breeding practice:
In the old days, when racing was dominated by wealthy owner-breeders, the breeding goal was to produce the best racehorse possible. The breeding goal of most Thoroughbred producers now is an animal who will generate a high price at the yearling sales. This leads to mating plans based on fashion, and, in defiance of logic, the most fashionable stallions are often the newest recruits to the ranks. Although everyone is aware that the vast majority of stallions are destined to be relatively unsuccessful at stud, breeders routinely place their trust in unproven horses to the extent that some 40 per cent of most foal crops have sires whose progeny have not been tested on the racecourse. Given the large books of mares covered by many of these unproven stallions, some may have 500 foals before it becomes clear that they are failures. Many of the females produced find their way into the breeding population to disseminate unfavourable genetic combinations. While the production of commercial yearlings takes precedence over the goal of producing successful racehorses, the breeding industry will not develop Thoroughbreds of greater genetic strength.
Do New Zealand standardbred breeders look for fashionable new sires? In some cases, but overall it’s not a driving factor in breeding decisions in New Zealand.
What is fashionable?
New Zealand breeders are notoriously conservative in their selections and will usually opt for proven sires against “fashionable” new sires, rewarding sires like Mach Three, Christian Cullen, Falcon Seelster and Bettor’s Delight with incredible support for many years, while other “fashionable” new sires come and go. New Zealand breeders are reluctant to experiment with sires (even those who are top-rated overseas like Life Sign, Artsplace and Western Ideal) and it is rare that they get a flood of support when they become available here. “Yeah, nah, I’ll let someone else have a go first, mate and see how they do on the track.”
Yes, many of the trainer-buyers at our standardbred yearling sales are looking for fashionably bred yearlings to ‘sell on’ to owners because those owners will view more positively having Somebeachsomewhere to brag about, even though the best yearling on type was a Live Or Die or a Grinfromeartoear.
So “fashionable” tends to translate as “most popular and proven” in this part of the world, rather than newest sire on the block. (Note: The buying and selling of older horses outside of the yearling sales has always been a very important commercial factor here, and provides a balance to the more fickle factors that drive the yearling sales environment.)
In the standardbred world, the North American hype around first season sires is driven not so much by breeders looking for ‘fashionable’ sires, but more by the owners of the recently retired racehorse and the stud who has a vested interest in him. They are desperately needing their horse to become “fashionable”. In reality, very few horses carry such an aura off the track that they capture global enthusiasm. Somebeachsomewhere and Rock N Roll Heaven would be recent examples, and of course SBSW has now moved into a “proven” category in North American (which may or may not be reflected in success in the southern hemisphere). But many other top racehorses who become first season sires are not likely to be viewed so confidently. They will struggle to get a toe-hold in a market that is over-supplied with new sires.
So our situation is quite different from that outlined by Binns and Morris in the quote above.
Binns and Morris also say that favouring new, unproven sires is working against the long-term genetic improvement of a breed.
I’m not at all worried about breeders experimenting with new season sires – in fact I encourage it. How are stallions expected to show what they can produce if they don’t get a decent number and range of mares?
If selective breeding means concentrating on proven mares crossed with proven sires, I can feel a big yawn coming on. Playing safe is wise but not necessarily how nature has made significant advances!
We might end up with an improved genetic product, but we may miss important contributions coming from left field.
After all “successful sires” and “successful mares” are only those we identify in hindsight. History shows us many examples of sires that were not valued/fashionable or not overwhelmingly successful as a sire, but later added an important injection of genes into our breed. Well, locally look at our beloved sire Vance Hanover, who was unraced and unproven, an imported son of Albatross from a good family, who attracted his first big books of “nondescript” mares here through an extremely affordable service fee, and went on to set siring records for many years.
It’s stimulating to think about these things.
In my next blog I will look at a good point Binns and Morris raise: What is our breeding goal?
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