Genetic Testing Can Help to Identify a Potential Grand National Winner

STILLORGAN, Ireland - April 5, 2013 - PRLog -- Researchers at Equinome, the Irish equine genomics company based at University College Dublin, have found a new application for the Equinome Speed Gene Test.

The Equinome Speed Gene Test can now be used by National Hunt trainers, owners and breeders to select or produce horses that are best suited to steeplechase races of three miles and greater, such as The Grand National, which takes place tomorrow afternoon at Aintree, or the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

The results of this latest Equinome research will be revealed tonight as part of the UK Channel 4 TV programme, “How to Win the Grand National” starting at 8 pm.

In this new research, samples from 302 National Hunt trained horses were collected and tested from five of the top National Hunt training yards in Ireland.

All the horses were tested with the Equinome Speed Gene Test and were categorised as either C:C genetic type (sprint horses), or C:T (middle-distance horses) or T:T (staying-type horses).

Results showed that 61% of National Hunt horses are T:T, 35% are C:T and the remaining 4% are C:C. This suggests that C:C horses are less suited to National Hunt racing than either C:T or T:T horses. Further analysis showed that while the genetic type cannot be used to identify ‘stakes’ winners, T:T horses have a marginally better win strike rate than C:T horses.

However, a key finding of the study was that the 14 horses that had a best win distance of three miles or greater in a steeplechase race were all T:T horses.

Dr Emmeline Hill, a leading genomics scientist at University College Dublin’s (UCD) School of Agriculture and Food Science and co-founder of Equinome, said, “The results of this study show that if trainers or breeders want to have or produce a National Hunt horse to win a race such as the Aintree Grand National or the Cheltenham Gold Cup, then their best chance is with a T:T horse.”

She added, “From a scientific point of view the considerable singular influence of the Equinome Speed Gene on race distance in Flat and National Hunt racing Thoroughbreds is due to its central role in the control of muscle mass development and in the determination of the muscle fibre types required for different types of racing.”

Equinome, a world-leading equine genomics company, is a spin-out from University College Dublin and is headquartered at NovaUCD, the Centre for New Ventures and Entrepreneurs. Equinome is already working with many of the leading Thoroughbred breeding and training operations in Europe, North America, Australasia and Hong Kong to provide key genetic information on athletic performance and breeding potential.  

Mark Evans, veterinary surgeon and physician and presenter of the Channel 4 documentary How to Win the Grand National said, "We are only beginning to understand the potential that the equine genome has for the way we both select and train horses. What we find out over the next ten years could both improve racing, and the welfare of the horses involved."

Equinome, an Enterprise Ireland client company, is currently establishing a new office in Australia as a focal point for the company’s sales and marketing activities throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

National Hunt owners, breeders and trainers who want to test their horses for the Equinome Speed Gene Test to see which variant their horses have can now send blood samples to Equinome’s laboratories in Dublin, Ireland.

All forms and instructions are available to view and download from Equinome’s website www.equinome.com.

ENDS
5 April 2013

For further information contact Micéal Whelan, University College Dublin, Communications Manager (Innovation), e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie, t: + 353 1 716 3712 or Dr Emmeline Hill, Chairman, Equinome, e: emmeline.hill@equinome.com or t: +353 1 716 6231.