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Progold Thoroughbreds

My Philosophy on Thoroughbreds

Thoroughbreds have been part of my life for pretty much as long as I can remember.  They have been an enigma at times.  Hard to understand, and sometimes even harder to back.  I had almost given up because no matter how much I looked at pedigrees, none of them ever seemed to have the answer.  How could two full siblings be so different in type?  Sure it is easy to say that it is simple luck, and that the genetic lottery can't be predicted.  But then there were always those breeders that got lucky pretty much all of the time.  How did they win the lottery so often, when plenty of others invested just as much, and sometimes more, time and money into the thoroughbred?  

Then computers came about, and access to thousands of pedigrees became commonplace.  Around this time I came across the writings of Franco Varola whose unique perspective impressed upon me a new way of looking at the thoroughbred.  It was the idea that the thoroughbred was a blend of characteristics and the predictable inheritance of these characteristics appealed to me.  It also allowed me to understand the missing pieces of the thoroughbred puzzle.  Horses are individual, and no one is ever going to get it right all of the time.  There can always be something unexpected go wrong, but it is all about reducing risk and accurately assessing the likelihood of success of each mating.  Instead of a lottery, I think it is largely predictable, even to the extent of predicting the likely outcome of individual races, providing there is enough information on which to make an assessment.

Opposite I have posted Rain Lover's wins in the Cups of 1968 and 1969.   I remember how the common sentiment was that he couldn't win a second one.  

Rain Lover's Melbourne Cup Double