ALMOST all European thoroughbred racehorses can trace their paternal ancestry
back to just one original stallion. Born in 1700, he was called the Darley
Arabian.
By combining over 250 years of pedigree information from the stud book with
genetic analysis of animals at Coolmore Stud in Tipperary, Ireland, scientists
discovered that 95 per cent of paternal lineages can be traced back to the
Darley Arabian (Animal Genetics, vol 32, p 360). Two other stallions
are responsible for the remaining 5 per cent of Europe鈥檚 racehorses.
鈥淚t鈥檚 as if 95 per cent of the population are called Murphy,鈥� says team
leader Patrick Cunningham, of Trinity College Dublin. If you include the
maternal line, the researchers estimate that 78 per cent of genes in the
population came from just 30 horses.
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