Recipe for perfect racehorse JAMES RANDERSON FOR BREEDERS, bookies and punters alike, it could be the holy grail of racing: the recipe for the perfect horse. With megabucks at stake, getting the combination of mare and stallion right is essential in producing the fastest fillies and speediest stallions. And now geneticists think they might have found a way of tipping the odds with the discovery of `speed gene' combinations. Research carried out by Thoroughbred Genetics in Kent, U.K., which has launched a genetic service for breeders to improve their odds of producing a race-winning foal, appears to confirm an old breeder's adage that it is a racehorse's mother that contributes most strongly to stamina. The idea was popularised in the 19th century by Bruce Lowe, who traced the success of thoroughbred maternal lineages in the English classics — the St Leger stakes, Epsom Derby and Epsom Oaks. Convenient tag He listed 43 maternal lines numbered in order of success. The numbering system is still used today as a convenient tag for thoroughbred families. The new research suggests there may be truth in focusing on mothers. Stephen Harrison of Thoroughbred Genetics and Juan Turrion-Gomez of the University of Salamanca have investigated a collection of genes that are passed on from mother to offspring but not by fathers. These are carried by energy producing devices in cells called mitochondria. "If this turns out to be a genuine sign of form then we would perhaps put it into the pot," said Rupert Adams, a spokesman for the bookmakers William Hill. The researchers analysed DNA from 1,000 thoroughbreds — including recent racing legends Falbrav and Giant's Causeway — and divided these into 17 maternal lines. They then worked out a score for each maternal line's success in races over the past 100 years. Some lines were built for stamina while others were better for sprinting, they report in the journal Mitochondrion. "There seems to be quite a difference between the groups in terms of their stamina ability," said Dr. Harrison. Obvious importance "That is obviously important if you are trying to train racehorses to run over a certain distance if it has no chance of actually winning over that distance." Louise Kemble of the Thoroughbred Breeders Association in Newmarket said that breeders were open to new techniques. "This is an international business so you can't afford to put your head in the sand," she said. However, she said there is no simple method of producing winners. "If there was one good pedigree expert out there wouldn't they be breeding winners every day? They aren't." A leading geneticist who asked not to be named said that breeding a winning horse could not be reduced to a combination of eight genes in mitochondria. "I just don't believe there's a single factor that's crucial," he said. He added that years of selective breeding for speed mean that the most important gene types are already shared by all thoroughbreds. He thinks breeders will be sceptical. "They are used to all sorts of snake-oil salesmen trying to sell them quick fixes," he said. —