Absolutely true. The Thoroughbred breed organizations will not register a horse unless it’s conceived by live cover. This is not true of other horse breed organizations - most will happily register an animal conceived via AI. But Thoroughbreds (racers, anyway) must be begotten the old-fashioned way.
I have always assumed this is related to the exceptionally high stud fees commanded in the industry, and to the economic value of the resulting animals. If I, the mare owner, am paying six figures for a Storm Cat breeding, I want to be absolutely sure that my mare is getting a full dose of 100% Storm Cat spunk. The most fraud-resistant way to do this is to let the old man put it there himself.
My understanding in live cover became a requirement to prevent fraud (not only on the mare owners but also on the betting public). With DNA testing availalble, it’s not really neccessary any longer for fraud reasons.
One of the reasons it’s still around is that live cover helps keep the genetic variation in the breed. With live breeding, even the most in demand stallion can only service so many mares (not only because of his own limitations, but also because mare owners may not want to take the risk or pay the expense of shipping their valuable girl many miles away to be serviced). With AI, the number of mares that stallion can cover increases.
No, no, no! They had no idea what his pedigree was, because they couldn’t find and owner. It was a match race, and Mr. Volence and Mr. Boldt paid for the track themselves. Therefore (I’m sure there’s more to it than that), it wasn’t a JC-sanctioned race, and anyone could enter! (I just re-re-re-read this one a month ago.)
Firstly, from The Black’s stature at 17 hands we conclude that he was at least part something-other-than-Arabian. (such height is * insanely* uncommon among purebred Arabians)
And from the fact that Satan and ALL The Black’s other projeny (for example Black Minx, of TBS’s Filly) were allowed to race, we conclude he entered the JC studbook as a valid sire. Thus he must have been part Thoroughbred. Although there was a dust-up regarding’s Satan’s registration in Son of TBS, Satan himself must have been around 3/4 Thoroughbred.
How the Black qualified into the Standardbred studbook (to sire the Blood Bay Colt) is a mystery unto me. He truly was a Superhorse. LOL.
Yes, but at the time of the match race The Black’s ancestry was still completely unknown. The Cyclone/Sun Raider match was arranged privately between the two owners, since apparently they raced in two different regions or something and thus never had opposed each other in a race. Since it was a privately-arranged affair, The Black only had to get permission of the two owners to enter.
True and a good point. Touche, monsieur le pussycat! The fact that the JC studbook was, at one time, open to Arab crosses is really just an amusing footnote, something that renders possible the entire rest of the series.
BTW, the match race was modeled after War Admiral/Seabiscuit match race, two champion horses from different coasts who had never raced each other. There are actually a great many similarities between Seabiscuit’s story and that of The Black.
Demanding natural covers is now an economic decision for the TB industry. If AI was legal and a horse like Storm Cat could produce, say, 1,000 foals a year two things would happen - having a Storm Cat foal would be 10X less rare than it is now. This would result in having each foal cost less and that would mean mare owners would only be willing to pay a lower stud fee. Due to economics of scale, it wouldn’t hurt Storm Cat’s owners - but it would make the over all average stud fee for stallions of his calibre that much less.
More importantly, It would also pretty much eliminate the market for the so-so sons of great stallions. Why book with Sir Cat, http://www.gainesway.com/stallions/listOfStallions/sirCat/default.asp, if you could just get a straw of his sire? For every owner of Storm Cat, there are perhaps a dozen owners of Sir Cats. They’re the backbone of the TB industry, and the Jockey Club is smart not to put them out of business.
If you want to learn the abbreviations in a racing form, try this site:
They had no idea what his pedigree was, because they couldn’t find and owner. It was a match race, and Mr. Volence and Mr. Boldt paid for the track themselves. Therefore (I’m sure there’s more to it than that), it wasn’t a JC-sanctioned race, and anyone could enter! (I just re-re-re-read this one a month ago.)
There are actually a great many similarities between Seabiscuit’s story and that of The Black.