Affectionately, or not so affectionately, referred to as the Sport of Kings thoroughbred horse racing takes place throughout the world on a daily basis. There are purists who breed and own the horse for the prestige of owning and/or breeding a winner, with the ever persistent desire to own a Classic winner.
The forefather of breeding thoroughbreds to race was an Italian named Frederico Tesio born in 1869.
Image Credit: Thethoroughbredlink
The successes he achieved through his analytical study of breeding (and inbreeding between specific gene pools… even before the existence of genes was known) has not been emulated to this day. All modern breeding has some component of the Tesio Method in its program. To my mind his greatest race horse was arguably Ribot but Donatello and Nearco are two others which have had great influence on modern breeding through their bloodlines.
Ribot …. Born 1952
Image Credit: Wikipedia
There is such a plethora of aspects around the Thoroughbred racehorse, from individual champions, to worldwide famous races such as The Melbourne Cup, The English Derby and The Arc De Triomphe and countless more, not of course to mention the betting aspect. The numerous ways of handicapping, the many bet types etc….
This is a topic for which I am passionate, and knowledgeable having been involved for over 40 years.. if there is any interest I will gladly take up the cudgel and develop a blog around all aspects of the Sport of Kings ….