Scientists will soon be able to furnish race horse buyers with a genetic map before they fork out millions of dollars for a young thoroughbred that may never race, a panel of eminent researchers said on Monday according to Reuters. Having established that The Darley Arabian, a colt imported from Syria 300 years ago, is responsible for 95 percent of the Y-chromosomes in all male thoroughbreds, scientists believe it will not be long before they can screen out equine ailments. "When people are spending millions in a sales ring for a thoroughbred ... you might want to take a look at its engine as well," said Dr Emmeline Hill of University College London, who conducts research in animal genetics. "Genetic profiling will give you an extra level of information that wasn't there before." Technology allowing buyers to exploit performance-enhancing genetic mutations and avoid inherited diseases that have curtailed many a horse's career should become a reality within her lifetime, she added. Research is made easier by two centuries of record keeping, the old bones of former champions and a level of inbreeding that means the world's half-a-million thoroughbreds get almost all their genes from just 28 horses. --more 2311 Local Time 2011 GMT
