{"id":21415,"date":"2020-04-04T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-04T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/?p=21415"},"modified":"2020-04-03T06:13:16","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T11:13:16","slug":"grey-racehorses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/grey-racehorses\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the Deal with Grey Horses? Why Only 3 Have Won a Grand National"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
There is something remarkably striking about grey horses \u2013 a\ngenetic accident of skin pigmentation means they stand out in paddocks when\nparading and are easy to spot on racetracks in the thick of the action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just about three percent of all thoroughbred racehorses are grey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like their more common bay and chestnut counterparts, they are born with darker skin but their coats soon become dappled, then grey and eventually white.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Equine bloodstock and genetic historians believe that the\ngene that makes grey horses was introduced into the western world when Arabian\nstallions were brought to Europe for thoroughbred breeding purposes in the\nearly eighteenth century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One sire in particular, Alcock\u2019s Arabian, has been traced as\ntheir origin from about 1720. Genetics also tell us that at least one parent in\na racehorse\u2019s pedigree must be grey in order to pass the trait on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is also a cautionary tale about breeding greys. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the age of 10 onwards they are genetically more likely\nto develop tumours on their skin, called melanomas, due to a biochemical link\nbetween coat colour and this illness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This led some influential people in the bloodstock world to believe that grey horses are diseased \u2013 a prevailing attitude which only began to change when famous racehorses<\/a> of this colour emerged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Research continues into drugs that block malignant melanomas,\nthough many tumours are thankfully benign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It follows that if so few of the thoroughbred population\nare grey horses, then it is little wonder only three have won the world\u2019s most\nfamous steeplechase race \u2013 the Grand National at Aintree.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n From their introduction into the equine gene pool in the\nearly Georgian period, we jump ahead about 150 years to the end of 1860s and\nthe Victorian era. William Henry Poulett, 6th Earl Poulett, loved his\nracehorses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He owned a curiously-named horse called The Lamb<\/strong>, who won the Grand National twice and four seasons apart in 1868 and 1871. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What seems strange looking back on that now is Poulett\u2019s horse was fancied on both occasions despite no grey horses having won the race previously.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Lamb \u2013 a Grand National Pioneer<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n