Equinome Seminar Presented By Dr Emmeline Hill

Dr Emmeline Hill, a world-leading Equine Genetic scientist, paid a visit to the Midlands last week to give the KZN Breeders an interesting seminar on Equinome,which was kindly sponsored by Bloodstock South Africa.

Her discovery and product has earned her an Irish Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Dr Hill began by explaining that there were 25 000 genes in a genome and every single gene was responsible for a trait, and that there were 3-billion genes that could be found in the Thoroughbred horse. Incredibly, Dr Hill has identified the single gene – either a ‘CC’, ‘CT’ or ‘TT’ – that will tell us the stamina ability of a particular Thoroughbred racehorse.

Dr Hill showed examples of three characteristics in a Belgium Bull, a Whippet and a human baby – all of which displayed abnormally large muscling due to genetic mutations (the baby human was the child of an Olympic athlete and the unusual leg muscling at birth sparked interest). Dr Hill said she questioned this in the Thoroughbred racehorse and its athletic ability, and discovered that the gene responsible for muscle mass development that the DNA code could either contain a ‘C’ or ‘T’ variant.

As the horse has two copies of the gene, one from the dam and the other the sire, there are three possible combinations of DNA variants.

From 6000 letters in the myostatal gene, she identified the following in the chromosomes of several racehorses:

C:C – Sprinter (1000-1600m)
C:T – Sprinter-miler (1400-2400m)
T:T – Stayer (2000m and over)

Dr Hill has discovered a powerful tool that provides the most accurate genetic indicator for the best race distance in Thoroughbreds. She also showed examples of pedigrees where the genetic stamina predisposition of a horse cannot necessarily be determined by pedigree alone and pointed out that Ireland and Australia had begun testing their yearlings and selling them as tested – giving the buyers an added advantage of knowing what their horses’ potential was – therefore giving the trainer and owner a better idea of how to plan a horse’s racing future without too much guessing.

Dr Hill also showed slides that proved her point – where ‘elite race winners’ (ie. Gr 1,2,3,L) were tested and it was established that these horses’ genetic traits matched their champion ability – their genetics matched the distances they ran over, giving the horses an added advantage of excelling in their correct ‘atmostphere’.

However, Dr Hill did point out that an optimum environment and favourable care played a large part in the horse’s success, not just the genetic factor which provides 50% of overall performance – but never replaces good horsemanship.

Dr Hill has taken it one step further, by offering to test stallions and mares – to see which of the ‘C:C’, ‘C:T’, and ‘T:T’ genetic predisposition they passed on. She was quick to point out that whilst owning a ‘T:T’ racehorse might not be what everybody wanted, some of the top sires in the world had been tested as ‘T:T’ candidates.

The advantage of mare and stallion owners testing their breeding horses is the ability to be sure what your breeding sire and dam are passing on – and the possibility of breeding a racehorse specific to distance preference. Dr Hill gave examples of studs overseas, particularly in Australia (where she said there is a high ‘T:T’ gene found amongst the sires) where this is now advertised as a selling tool for stallions.

The huge advantage of this, particularly in young stallions, is that it takes the ‘guess-work’ out of breeding a horse and assists with the easier management of matings.

If you know specifically what your mare is going to throw, it will be easier to earmark a stallion for her – especially if the stallion has been tested. Dr Hill also noted that the stallion and mare make an equal contribution to the genetic type of their progeny with regards to this trait.

Another interesting train of thought Dr Hill introduced was the case of full-siblings and why they wouldn’t necessarily perform the same over the same distances; or pass on their genetics equally as sire or dam. For example: if the sire is a C:T horse, as is the dam, there is a 25% chance they will produce a C:C horse; 50 % a C:T horse, and 25% a T:T horse. Equinome would be able to identify what your foals would be.

Jim Bolger, a director of Equinome as well as a well-known racehorse trainer, has made good use of Equinome to his advantage and bred his 2011 crop of foals to produce C:C and C:T horses, as he felt that he could achieve a quicker return of investment by eliminating the ‘T:T’s .

Another interesting fact that Dr Hill pointed out was that the three founding sires of the Thoroughbred have all been identified as ‘T:T’s, including Eclipse. As racing tracks modernised and improved, distances were shortened and the need for a sprinting individual was born.

Testing of the foals also identifies the type of racing the foal will be suited to and their careers can be planned for accordingly, as well as optimising the training regime. Dr Hill said that C:C horses that were identified tended to respond well to their training regimes set out for them accordingly and the horses developed rapidly.

The next test Equinome is offering is that of the Elite Performance Test, which identifies individuals with the greatest genetic potential for racecourse success and identifies whether your horse is a Class I, II, III or IV. It also takes into account the metabolic differences between a sprinter and stayer and after the overall evaluation, the test provides a score which splits the horses into four different classes:

Class I – Should be a Group horse
Class II – Above average
Class III – Average chance of being a Group performer
Class IV – Poor

Dr Hill pointed that of 1051 horses in the research sample, 241 horses were classed as Class IV – poor, but pointed out the benefit of having this knowledge could save the breeder or owner from unnecessary expense. Dr Hill did say that other assessments had to be taken into account before making an informed decision on a horse’s career. She also re-iterated that the test wasn’t a guarantee, but a step in the right direction – she also pointed out that horses classed as Class II horses had won the Breeders Cup, Irish and French Derbies as well as major races in Australia.

In order to send a sample to Equinome, blood is usually sent – although Dr Hill pointed that that they couldn’t accept blood samples from Africa, so hair (with the bulb intact) would have to be taken from the mane and tail. She said that testing doesn’t take place without owner’s consent and the results are only released to the owner of the horse – and Equinome do not disclose any horse’s results unless they have permission. She said it takes 24hrs to do the first test with a three week turnaround time.

At the end of the talk, she disclosed that sire Dawn Approach has been tested as a C:C.

A number of breeders in KZN have expressed their enthusiasm for testing their stallions and mares – Dr Hill has expressed a willingness to provide reduced rates on bulk testing, advantageous for breeders in particular with young stallions and broodmares. Please contact Candiese for further information or if you would like a copy of the presentation on DVD.

Thank you to Tom Callaghan of Bloodstock South Africa for bringing Dr Hill to see us, as well as for their sponsorship. Keep a look out on Winning Ways for excerpts of Dr Hill’s presentation to the KZN Breeders.