Jim Bolger says gene discovery is the 'most significant in history of thoroughbred'
• Company claims runner's optimum trip can be predicted
• Results take guesswork out of targeting races
Jim Bolger, left, with his Derby winner New Approach, has hailed the genetic breakthrough his new company is involved in as a revolutionary one for the breeding industry. Photo: Jeremy Durkin/PA
A racehorse's optimum distance can now be predicted before he has set foot on the track, according to an Irish scientist who claims to have isolated the gene that influences equine speed. The development has been greeted with enthusiasm by Derby-winning trainer Jim Bolger, who has described it as "the most significant discovery in the history of the thoroughbred".
According to Dr Emmeline Hill, a lecturer in equine science at University College Dublin, every racehorse falls into one of three genetic categories, which she has classified by letters. 'C:C' types will be sprinters, 'C:T' types will be best over middle-distances, while 'T:T' types will be suited by a test of stamina.
Bolger stands to gain a great deal if, as expected, owners and breeders are prepared to pay ¤1,000 per test to find out the genetic predisposition of their horses. A company called Equinome, part-owned by Bolger and Hill, which launches next week has been set up to market the test to the racing industry.
"I've been using it for the last five or six years without knowing the full value of it," said Bolger, who has made his horses available for Hill's researches since 2004. "It's only over the last 12 months or so that the whole situation has clarified itself. This will be the first full year that I'll be using it.
"We take a blood sample and send it to Dr Hill and then she tells us what genome it is. We know then what distance is likely to suit the horse."
The test also indicates how quickly a horse will be ready to race, since C:C types are generally precocious, while T:T types take time to mature. On average, T:T horses earn up to 20 times less as two-year-olds than C:T horses of similar pedigree, Hill claims.
"I probably won't be cock of the walk with some of the trainers now," said Bolger, who expects that owners of T:T horses will save on fees by sending them to be trained at a later stage in their two-year-old year. "But in the long term, this will help trainers."
Hill, whose grandmother owned the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup *winner Dawn Run, claims to have met with "remarkable enthusiasm" from prominent trainers in Ireland. "When I told them the test result for their horse, some of them said things like: 'Oh, that explains it,'" she said. Hill has hopes that her services will be much in demand as racing professionals try to take the guesswork out of the sport.
Her discovery also has implications for breeders, who will be able to predict the outcome of matching horses whose genetic characteristic is known. Bolger has enjoyed great success as a breeder in recent years but believes Hill's test will make a big difference.
"If I knew then what I know now, I could have saved myself a lot of money," he said. "Even though I got some extraordinary results from the matings I chose, I got some bad ones as well."
