general question about spectular bid

[bdw0617]

I'll make this simple

http://www.greenstarequestrian.com/Spec ... dDerby.jpg


http://www.greenstarequestrian.com/Spec ... ddock2.jpg



dude..what happened?

I mean logic tells me he was a gray, but I never would have known until I seen his older picture. I looked at alot of his old races and he looks like a regular dark horse.

is that odd or am I crazy?

[Bid]

He almost seemed to be a different color in each pic, I agree. Look at the You-Tube of his Woodward. I think that shows best. He was unusual in many ways.

[louis finochio]

i remember SB when i would go by his barn, he was a kicker so i would have to be careful not to get too close to him.

His color was a dark gray grizzle with small patches of white scattered in his coat.

[Barbaro06]

Greys are neat and they are varied in many ways. Bid was a neat one and I cried when he lost the Belmont (I was just a kid!).

[bdw0617]

so i guess what I am getting at is, gray is more a gene then a color? that if you have it you will be white when you get older.

[xfactor fan]

According to the latest research, grey is a gene that modifies the base coat color.

It causes the pigment producing cells to work harder and produce more pigment. Which is why grey horses are often born very dark--the cells start hyper production before they are born.

So lets say a horse is genetically a regular bay. The grey gene will cause the horse to be a dark dark shade of bay. Over time as the pigment cells burn out from over production of dark pigment, the hairs start coming in white--no pigment in the hair. Over time as more and more of the pigment cells burn out, the horse gets more and more white hair. The end stage is a totally white horse.

There is some research that indicates that a horse that carries two copies of the grey gene turns white faster. There is also some research that indicates that the rate of turning grey can vary quite a bit.

Some chestnuts go through a stage where they are pink, a very silly color for a horse.

From the description Spectacular Bid was a slow progressing grey. He's still not quite white in the pasture photo.

[majxmom]

I remember a few years after the Bid went to stud at Claiborne, they ran an ad for him in the TTimes. I was sure that they had made a mistake and put in the picture of another horse. Who could have thought he could have gone that gray that quickly? Boy, was I surprised when I learned that he really looked that gray already.

Looking at the first picture, it seems that in the old days, he would have been called a roan, not a gray.

[Vindicated]

My Gelding was born a deep red bay color almost blood bay-with nice socks and a star.
Not a spec of white in his coat....his Sire was Black bay and his dam grey (she was "white" by the time she was 2)

We started seeing more grey in his coat just before he was a year old-and he was Dapple grey by the time he shed out his 3 year old year.

Have had "black" horses just up and shed out one year grey....

By the way....the older pick of Bid-he is completely grey-those spots are what are called Flea bites-or Flea Bitten.
And they only show up on "white" grey horses....
They are kind of like liver spots on people

[bdw0617]

humm..interesting stuff.

[Jorge]

I decided to follow Spectacular Bid's career since he won a stakes race at 7 furlongs in circa 1:20 (reported in Thoroughbred Times) and since then I began browsing his period photos. His graying out was always subtle, with hints on his face and end of tail. Even as a four-year-old, his gray color was not that noticeable. At the end of that campaign his color became more apparent. But as far as I remember his gray color was fully obvious as a 5-year-old, when he entered stud. In 1978 I wrote an article in Spanish comparing him to Native Dancer and, wishful thinking, predicting his Derby victory, which fortunately occurred. Great memories! While searching for one of his races during his sophomore year (1979) in The New York Times, I came across another article about another horse of an even rarer coat color. The name of this NY-bred horse was Clarence Stewart (1977) and he was completely white in coat color. From then on, as they say, the rest was history; and my research on sabino white Thoroughbreds began and evolved.

[bdw0617]

I honestly never knew he was a gray until yesterday.

[xfactor fan]

The Jockey Club finally changed the color registration and now includes Roan/Grey as one color. Much closer to being genetically accurate. I think most folks register red based horses as roan, and the black based ones as grey. That leaves out all the other odd colored horses out there including all the roany sabinos and the roany Dominant Whites or Stained whites, or whatever folks are calling these horses now. Also the "skunktails" with the white hairs that can be quite pronounced.

Of course with the historic roans or greys who knows what is going on.

The best way to tell, is that grey is dominant, and every true grey horse has at least one grey parent. So if there is a "roan" produced from non-grey parents, something fishy is going on.

[Crystal]

Most greys are born almost black with few white hairs. Some greys are even born other colors and after the first "shed" their coat greys out. A grey will also appear black when they are wet or sweaty. Take a look back at some of Skip Away's photos. Grey to white also comes with age. Google horse colors and you will see there are many different types of "grey".

[bdw0617]

that just facinates me. very neat. like winning colors you could tell she was a gray. but looking at the bid's derby like I said, I had no idea until 2 days ago.

[Daisy Jal Dastur]

When I saw him at Milfer Farms back in 1995-1996, he was a beautiful, 'almost-white' colour. He was such a sweetheart - I stood there petting and nuzzling him for an hour! In the meantime, Cure The Blues was in the stall across from the Bid - and, boy! What a ruckus he was throwing up - let's just say he was a bit too playful for me!