The Breeding Game: It has drama and comedy, science and art. But what exactly is involved in horse breeding? Eileen Battersby investigates.
It's 1.45 a.m. and almost six hours after beginning to pace her stall, the mare has given birth to her first foal, a bay colt by Danehill. It's a wonderful moment, as are all normal births. The five-year-old mare is magnificent; brave, gentle and impressively calm. She immediately begins to tend her baby. Within the hour, junior who looks to weigh between 55 and 60 kilos, will be standing. A future champion? Perhaps.
Far more importantly, away from the drama and/or comedy of the breeding shed this is the practical base of that most royal of royal families, the thoroughbred industry; worker-bee brood mares ensuring the bloodline, delivering single foals. Legends and stud lore tend to revolve around the stallions; their antics, their moods, their libidos, their roars, their, in some cases, six-figure cover fees. The mares, many of whom have also performed well on the track, are viewed as passive partners although producing at least 50 per cent of the genes - the stallions are the superstars but the brood mares are the heroes.
In accordance with rules set down by international racing authorities, only registered horses may compete on the international thoroughbred circuit - and only horses conceived by "natural cover", not artificial insemination, are registered. So far so good - at least physical contact is required. But a thoroughbred sex act is a public team effort involving at least five humans committed to encouraging the stallion upwards and onwards - simultaneously holding the mare's tail and ensuring she neither kicks nor maims her suitor. While the horse in all its beauty is an enduringly romantic image, Wuthering Heights and tales of tangled passion play no part in the breeding industry.
For the stallion, it's a job done in seconds, heralded by a flick of the tail, and usually without even a glance at the mare's face. He could cover up to 150 in a season. The leading US sire, Storm Cat, a grandson of Northern Dancer, has more than 700 offspring to his credit. Based at Coolmoore Stud, Co Tipperary, the US-bred Sadler's Wells is sire of more than 1,000 and Danehill sire of more than 2,000.
From the age of five, a brood mare may be expected to produce a foal a year until she is 20 or more - for as long as she can do the job. Horse lovers may be left reeling by the clinical efficiency of it all, never mind the money - remember 1985 when Seattle Dancer, a son of Nijinsky, sold at auction for $13.1 million? Breeding is not about a complex love of horses. It can leave the observer with mixed feelings - though no doubt Jane Austen would have understood the pragmatic emphasis on family - blood lines, breeding, duty - and money.
The thoroughbred is a work of art contrived by man if shaped by nature. Among horses, it is broken earlier, has to learn more quickly, has to run faster and, it seems, exist at a speedier pace. There are huge risks: aside from accidents and illness, some simply don't live up to their pedigree.
Upwards of 85 per cent of the yearlings sold at bloodstock sales never see a race track, never mind win a race. It's a highly organised, scientific industry devoted to what is ultimately a gamble: horse racing. It's not necessary to be either a scientist or a historian to grasp that the early Irish horse, fast and small, gained in quality with the arrival of the heavier Norman horses. Cross breeding, like intermarriage, has often produced interesting results.
The bloodstock industry has no place for the random. Still, it is fitting that at the heart of nearly all breeds lies the most beautiful of horses, the Arabian.
Arabian legend maintains that Allah created the great desert breed by taking a handful of the South Wind, breathing on it, and advising the resulting creature, "Thy name shall be Arabian - go and gallop in the plain. Thou shalt become a source of wealth and happiness for men; the glory of taming thee shall add to the lustre of the work which they do". Allah is also believed to have said of the Arabian: "I have given him the power of flight without wings."
It is this characteristic, speed, that the Arabian has passed on to the thoroughbred, the most famous of the many breeds it has created. Although faster over short distances than the Arabian, no thoroughbred would match another of the Arabian's qualities, that of endurance and the stamina to race for several hours. But then, track races only last a couple of minutes.
The modern thoroughbred traces its origins to three foundation stallions - the Byerley Turk, who having been captured in one war, the Siege of Belgrade, was later ridden by his new owner, Colonel Robert Byerley in another, the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. Then there is the Darley Arabian purchased in Aleppo in 1704, by an English merchant named Darley. The stallion was smuggled out of Turkey in violation of a 200-year-old Ottoman law, banning the export of pure-bred Arabians. Darley gave the horse to his brother and the line began in England.
The third member of the foundation triumvirate was the Godolphin Arabian. Foaled in the Yemen in 1724, he had several owners, including Louis XV of France and ultimately, the 2nd Earl of Godolphin. He was champion sire in Ireland in 1752 and again in 1757. This bloodline is particularly interesting as it appears to ebb and fade, only to flow again at intervals.
Some 60 years after the Darley Arabian was smuggled into England, a very special colt, Eclipse, the great-great-grandson of the original Darley Arabian, was foaled on April 1st, 1764, during a solar eclipse. Bred by the Duke of Cumberland, the black stallion, painted by George Stubbs, won 18 races and made a great deal of money for an Irishman, Denis O'Kelly. The Duke of Cumberland also bred Herod, the great-great-grandson of the Byerley Turk. Herod did well on the track but triumphed as a stud and was England's champion sire for eight consecutive years. He was also the father of Highflyer, champion sire 13 times.
IN 1766, the first thoroughbred auction was held at Tattersalls, in Newmarket, now synonymous with English racing. Weatherby's first general stud book was published in England in 1791. It was a major step towards what we now have, although that first edition contained the pedigrees of only 387 mares and seems more like a catalogue than a stud register. It is now the reference Bible for England and Ireland - where the first Goff's Sale took place in Ballsbridge in 1887.
In ways, the obsession with thoroughbred breeding is a variation of Darwinism. One thing is certain, Weatherby's Studbook was crucial to the development of today's international industry.
While Ireland is legendary horse country (even Napoleon's white charger, Marengo, was bred in Co Wexford) it is interesting to note the prominence of North American-bred sires.
Many great champions have enjoyed second careers as sires; such names as Northern Dancer; his son and winner of the English Triple Crown, Nijinsky; Mr Prospector; US Triple Crown winner, Secretariat; Seattle Slew, another US Triple Crown winner who sired more than 100 Stakes winners and died earlier this month aged 28, and current super studs such as Storm Cat, Sadler's Wells (by Northern Dancer), Danehill (by Danzig), Machiavellian (by Mr Prospector) and In The Wings (by Sadler's Wells) with emerging sires such as Fantastic Light, Galileo (by Sadler's Wells) and King's Best (by Kingmambo).
Fate denied others the chance to fulfil their stud promise. On February 8th, 1983, Shergar, the 1981 Epsom Derby winner, was stolen from Ballymany Stud on the Curragh; he left only one crop of foals. Far less sinister, but also tragic, was the death last year of Dubai Millennium, from grass sickness aged only five, again after only one season atstud.
History rather than money lies heavy on the atmosphere while waiting for a thoroughbred mare to foal in the early hours. There is a powerful awareness of the great names of great horses. Although mares are secretive, a thoroughbred birth is monitored, as privacy carries risk.
In the first-class foaling unit at Kildangan Stud, Co Kildare, a fine-looking bay mare in foal to Machiavellian is taking her time. Currently in Ireland to be covered after foaling by King's Best, she is 16. The card on her stable door lists her owner as H.M. the Queen.
One of 21 Darley studs in nine countries owned by Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed, the beautifully landscaped Kildangan Studfarm by night is much as it is by day: peaceful, organised, protective and protected. Electronic gates and checkpoints ensure security is obvious but not oppressive, you know your horse would be safe as well as comfortable here. The foaling unit cost about £3 million to build, it has high timber ceilings, big stalls, many windows - light, air and space. It's the definitive maternity ward, with dimmer switches and a team of foster mares.
A full foaling report is logged after each birth. Details included are the mare's pre-foaling behaviour, the time the waters broke out, her attitude to the foal, the time the newborn passed its meconium. The placenta is examined. Catherine McRoberts does her job of "equine midwife" with meticulous professionalism as well as immense sympathy.
Earlier, equal care goes into each of the three daily covering sessions, in which the stud's five stallions, In the Wings, King's Best, Cape Cross, Xaar and Lend A Hand, are escorted to meet their dates, five waiting mares, including a nervy maiden or first timer; a spectacular chestnut, super model filly owed by a prince and a gorgeous old girl of 18 who has already presented her owner, a farmer, with nine good foals. The mares are wearing rubber boots, the stallions are excited. "Hand" or assisted breeding is fast, safe, efficient and devoid of romance.