Re: RC: breeder ethics

[Bette Lamore <woa@stormnet.com>]

Re: DNA testing

When we were at Los Alamitos, I believe it was about 5 years ago, there
was a very heated debate about DNA testing, and no it had nothing to do
with establishing criteria for parentage---blood typing handles that
very nicely. A group at Texas A&M was developing criteria to distinguish
purebred Arabians from essentially Angloarabs in an effort to stop 
horses, such as Unchained Melody and Victoria's Secret who looked like
Anglos, ran like Anglos and led the Arab pack at Los Al by 40
lengths---I was there to see one of Victoria Secret's wins and it was
pretty pathetic---the jockey was actually holding her back as she raced
at least 30 lengths ahead---someone said it was 40---could have been. I
just know it was disheartening to watch. I'd made friends with some of
the jockeys and none of them believed she was purebred. How could that
be??? A loophole. The owners of the mare who was her dam said she was
sold at auction (presumably to the killers) and since they could not
retype the mare's blood to prove it was hers, there was a HUGE debate
and many race people left racing. You see, the French were coming in
with their questionable mounts at the same time. This group headed by (I
have to ask Bev Scott for his name--she would remember) were pushing to
delineate criteria to separate purebreds from Anglos by going to the
chromosome level. Now this was going to be difficult because remember,
the thoroughbred was infused with the blood of the Darley, Gedolphin and
someone help me out here--I always forget the third ones' name (early
Alzheimers or, as I prefer, the forgetfulness of youth) who were
purebreds, of course. 
So the very heated debates went on; friendships were destroyed in some
cases. We were on the fringe, but you think ridecamp debates get heated.
Imagine debates where your horses might not meet the criteria because
they have, let's say Serafix up close and perhaps it was true he was an
Anglo. Big money went into racing. Well the group pushing for it said it
would not go back far enough to discount all the Serafix
offspring---that they would construct the criteria so that it would
eliminate those who had Thoroughbreds up close. Many were not convinced
and others did not want to see DNA testing become part of registration
because of the anticipated extra costs. Many trainers became
disheartened because it meant, rather than a few "ringers" (like Melody
and Secret--who, by the way were quickly bought up by the sheiks and
whisked away to European races) there could be many ringers from
overseas
countries who did not "police" their breeding programs as well as us. As
it stands now there are still many trainers who are disgusted with the
current situation. I was there when Nadine Phillips talked Patrick
Swayze into NOT pursuing flat racing because of the French horses. Pat
had just come back from the 25 miler at Quatar and was really thinking
of pursuing all types of racing then--even sponsored some stakes races.
Nadine dropped out of Los Alamitos right after that--and she was a
highly respected trainer. I know of others who did, too, but I can't
speak for them.
In all, it was and is a bad deal overall. To be competitive one almost
has to put some of the French blood in their program and I heard over
and over at the Sotheby's race auctions,"if you can't beat them, join
them." That is really hard for many breeders to do who have integrity
and believe in their program. In my experience, most breeders knew they
were fighting the odds, but continued breeding purebreds; but then,
maybe it was just those I hung out with. The thing that makes it gray
and not black or white is that the French have been breeding for size
and race ability for a long time so a pretty head and type as we
Americans define it didn't seem as important to them. Thoroughbreds are
faster than Arabs in the short runs so if their Arabians resembled The
big "T" in body type and could win---what was the problem? None to them.
So how close TB's are in their program it is difficult to tell; hence
the quest for the perfect criteria and DNA testing. 
When the Registry refused to accept the French Registry horses as being
Purebred carte blanche, WAHO kicked us out of theirs--clash of egos some
say. All I know is that it destroyed the race industry for awhile until
the ruse was developed to filter our horses through Canada's Registry.
The rest is history and still nothing has been decided about the DNA
testing so far as I know. If anyone is really interested, I believe
Finish Line has tons of articles about this and I'm sure ARAC officials
could give you an earful about all these proposals. It's been a long
time since I was involved, and again I was only on the fringe (but then
you know that anyway, huh?). My memory is not that great but I believe I
got the Gist of it. Any race people on line? Please correct any errors.
I've been out of racing at the track for some time now so there are
obviously  newer developments that I'm not aware of. Fortunately, very
little of this mess impacts endurance riders as there is no purebred
breed requirement and races are not set up in breed divisions. Tried to
find my Finish Lines but I believe they fell victim to the great MARK
PURGE in our last move. Oh well. (Hiding my collection of 70's Horse
Worlds).
Hey I am anything but an expert on DNA testing; these are just my feeble
recollections of the great debate at Los Alamitos (actually, tracks all
over from what I heard.)
Bette

-- 
Bette Lamore
Whispering Oaks Arabians, Home of TLA Halynov
http://www.stormnet.com/~woa
I've learned that life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer it
gets to the end, the faster it goes. Smell the roses!