Racehorse Owner's Guide to Horse Records and Identification
All Thoroughbreds are registered at Weatherby's. One glance at the track, however, will reveal just how many horses look very similar. Generations of selective breeding have created a distinct physical type that all Thoroughbreds match to some degree or another. Also, Thoroughbreds only come in four colours - black, bay, chestnut and grey. Even some trainers have been known to mix horses up.
Because of this, since 1999, all racehorses born in Britain and Ireland have been microchipped on registration. The microchip is on the left hand side of your horse's neck and can be read with a scanner. This reduces the chance of horses becoming misidentified by accident and makes it a lot harder to insert a so-called 'ringer' (a much better horse run under the name of a low quality one, generally for betting scandal purposes). At the same time that the chip is implanted, the horse is also blood tested and its DNA matched to the horses listed as sire and dam, preventing mistakes in registration.
Your horse will also have a passport that stays with him. The passport number matches a number stored in the microchip on the horse. Also, the passport, which is also issued when the horse is a foal, contains a full description of the horse including any white markings and the location of its whorls. Whorls are places on a horse's coat where the hair changes direction - the easiest way to see this is to look at a horse's forehead, as all horses have a whorl somewhere between or slightly above the eyes. These whorls are unique to each horse and do not move or change with age (a horse's colour, on the other hand, can alter quite dramatically as it grows up).
The passport also details the horse's pedigree and contains it's vaccination records. Passports are checked randomly, mostly to ensure that vaccinations are kept up to date. If in doubt, the stewards can order a blood sample be taken and the DNA compared with what is on record for the horse. Owning a racehorse means making sure that your trainer keeps your horse's passport up to date.
All of this means that in this day and age it is far harder to slip a ringer by the stewards. It also acts as a theft deterrent, as it would be hard for a thief to pass a horse off as a different animal. The permanent microchipping means that a horse's identity can always be traced (attempting to remove the chip would leave a scar in a very obvious location). Thus, these measures help keep all horses safe both from theft and infectious diseases. For everyone involved in owning a racehorse this is a good thing.
Because of this, since 1999, all racehorses born in Britain and Ireland have been microchipped on registration. The microchip is on the left hand side of your horse's neck and can be read with a scanner. This reduces the chance of horses becoming misidentified by accident and makes it a lot harder to insert a so-called 'ringer' (a much better horse run under the name of a low quality one, generally for betting scandal purposes). At the same time that the chip is implanted, the horse is also blood tested and its DNA matched to the horses listed as sire and dam, preventing mistakes in registration.
Your horse will also have a passport that stays with him. The passport number matches a number stored in the microchip on the horse. Also, the passport, which is also issued when the horse is a foal, contains a full description of the horse including any white markings and the location of its whorls. Whorls are places on a horse's coat where the hair changes direction - the easiest way to see this is to look at a horse's forehead, as all horses have a whorl somewhere between or slightly above the eyes. These whorls are unique to each horse and do not move or change with age (a horse's colour, on the other hand, can alter quite dramatically as it grows up).
The passport also details the horse's pedigree and contains it's vaccination records. Passports are checked randomly, mostly to ensure that vaccinations are kept up to date. If in doubt, the stewards can order a blood sample be taken and the DNA compared with what is on record for the horse. Owning a racehorse means making sure that your trainer keeps your horse's passport up to date.
All of this means that in this day and age it is far harder to slip a ringer by the stewards. It also acts as a theft deterrent, as it would be hard for a thief to pass a horse off as a different animal. The permanent microchipping means that a horse's identity can always be traced (attempting to remove the chip would leave a scar in a very obvious location). Thus, these measures help keep all horses safe both from theft and infectious diseases. For everyone involved in owning a racehorse this is a good thing.
Tags: racehorse training
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