English Thoroughbred

To trace the roots of the English thoroughbred horse ('Thoroughbred', which literally means bred in purity) one has to go back in time to the 1700s and to three stallions of oriental origin: the ByerLeyTurk bay (of Turkish origin), the Darley Arabian dark bay (of Arabian origin) and the Godolphin Barb bay (of Berber origin). These stallions were mated to 100 local brood mares, the so-called foundation mares, chosen for their particularly conformation and marked speed. Of these mares, some 40 have perpetuated their direct female line to this day.
In the 1800s, a great scholar, Bruce Lowe, decided to order English thoroughbred families with a numbering from 1 to 74, depending on the number of their class-winning offspring. An empirical ranking in effect. There are also additional lists with Australian, New Zealand and other mares, which include a further 81 basic mares.
From the three founders of the breed descend as many progenitors. More precisely, from ByerleyTurk through four generations comes Herod; from DarLeyArabian through four generations comes Eclipse, by far the most important stallion; and from Godolphin Barb in the second generation comes Matchem. They are the modern references.

The English Thoroughbred does not present particularly homogeneous morphological characters, since selection has always taken place exclusively through racing: the finishing post as infallible judge. Striving, however, to identify general lines, it can be said that, as in athletics, certain physical types are more suited to certain attitudinal characteristics: the "stayer", small and collected is gifted on the round; the "sprintee", taller and with strongly quartered forms, finds greater speed; the intermediate, suited to obstacle races, with oblique croup, sloping shoulder and rather short back.

The English Thoroughbred shows elegant lines, with harmonious forms. The type is distinctly dolichomorphic. Its height at the withers varies from 1,58 to 1,70; it can be of bay, dark bay, morello, saurian and grey coat; rare the roan and the ubero, frequent the frills and the stars on the forehead. It has a small, well-attached head, ears of the right proportions, large, lively eyes, wide nostrils and thin lips. The neck is long and straight, the withers dry and prominent. The back-lumbar line elongated, the shoulder well sloping. The limbs are long and well formed.
The Stud Book of the breed was established in 1791 in England and has been maintained by the Weatherby family ever since. The racing career of thoroughbreds begins at the age of 2 and lasts on the flat until 6-7 years, rarely beyond that; in hurdles even until 13, 14 years.
Racing in Italy takes place over flat distances between 1,000 and 4,000 metres. There are races for 2 or 3 years only or races for 3 years and over.