Large heart"X Factor" Stallions

journeyman · Postby **journeyman** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 10:00 am

In the past few years, I've had the pleasure of preparing some very nice horses for the races including, You, Bsharpsonata, Crown of Thorns and Behindatthebar. They all separated themselves from the crowd immediately by the way they moved. The way a horse uses himself is the greatest indicator of athletic prowess. The next greatest indicator is FIGURATIVE heart size, their ability to endure and persevere when they feel the stress of competition.

merse · Postby **merse** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 7:20 am

Although not related to how the large heart is transmitted, there is a connection between heart characteristics and the racing class of the horse. I remember reading an article in either the BloodHorse or the Thoroughbred Times a few years back about Dr. Lambert. Apparently, as I recall the article, one of the big outfits had him come in and measure the hearts of a group of their horses and did not distinguish which horse was which (i.e. stakes vs. regular) and, after analyzing their hearts, Dr. Lambert correctly identified all of the group that were stakes winners.

cj55 · Postby **cj55** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 8:00 pm

http://www.pedigreequery.com/ruebels+warrior
Does this colt carry the big heart gene? IF not where did it stop? trying to learn how the x-factor works on the pedigree page. I know how to check the xfactor box, but not sure how to read the red lines? Thanks
He is our first colt to go to training for us and we also raised him. He is at 45 days and seem to have a lot of endurance. He has other colts going a mile and he goes a mile and a half and is looking for more. Is this good? Thanks, cj

aethervox · Postby **aethervox** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 6:50 am

cj55 wrote:http://www.pedigreequery.com/ruebels+warrior
Does this colt carry the big heart gene? IF not where did it stop? trying to learn how the x-factor works on the pedigree page. I know how to check the xfactor box, but not sure how to read the red lines? Thanks
He is our first colt to go to training for us and we also raised him. He is at 45 days and seem to have a lot of endurance. He has other colts going a mile and he goes a mile and a half and is looking for more. Is this good? Thanks, cj

The only way to tell for sure would be to have his heart measured.

Having said that, his damsire, Swain, is said to have the large heart gene and he would have passed it on to his daughter, Exclusive Gal, giving her one X chromosome with the large heart gene. Exclusive Gal's dam, April Dance, also has at least one copy of the large heart gene, inherited from her sire, Sword Dance, who is said to have inherited the large heart gene from his damsire, Secretariat.

The question is whether Exclusive Gal has one or two copies of the large heart gene and, if she only has one copy, did the large heart gene get passed to her colt. So, he has a 50% chance of having it.

The fact that he likes to go longer distances seems to indicate he may have inherited the large heart gene, but as I said, the only way to know for sure is to have him tested.

I don't have a subscription to the database, so I don't see the lines, but it's my understanding that a red line indicates a mare or stallion who has one copy of the large heart gene and a blue line indicates a double copy mare, i.e. a mare who has two copies of the gene. Also, the lines only show for those horses who are in a position to pass the gene along in a pedigree, so a colt's pedigree will only show lines in the dam's part, since his sire passed the Y chromosome to the colt.

Does that help?

aethervox

cj55 · Postby **cj55** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 7:34 am

Swain, is said to have the large heart gene and he would have passed it on to his daughter, Exclusive Gal, giving her one X chromosome with the large heart gene. Exclusive Gal's dam, April Dance, also has at least one copy of the large heart gene, inherited from her sire, Sword Dance, who is said to have inherited the large heart gene from his damsire, Secretariat.

Thank you! Appreciate the information. On the ped page, Swain and April Dance both have the red lines. So I guess that means the colt would have a good chance of having it also? Thanks again, cj

aethervox · Postby **aethervox** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 11:27 am

cj55 wrote:
Swain, is said to have the large heart gene and he would have passed it on to his daughter, Exclusive Gal, giving her one X chromosome with the large heart gene. Exclusive Gal's dam, April Dance, also has at least one copy of the large heart gene, inherited from her sire, Sword Dance, who is said to have inherited the large heart gene from his damsire, Secretariat.

Thank you! Appreciate the information. On the ped page, Swain and April Dance both have the red lines. So I guess that means the colt would have a good chance of having it also? Thanks again, cj

He has a 50/50 chance of having the gene. That's if Exclusive Gal only got a copy from Swain. He would have it for sure if Exclusive Gal also got a copy from April Dance (it would make Exclusive Gal a double copy mare).

It's only one factor in making a great race horse, though. He's got to have good legs, lungs and a lot of determination as well.

Patuxet · Postby **Patuxet** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 7:34 am

An article in the Sept. 6, 2003 Thoroughbred Times summarized the results of a study of the relationship between heart size and performance carried out by EQB Inc. and published in the Journal of Equine Veterinary Science.

The study found that in general larger horses had larger hearts and that they tended to do better at the racetrack than their smaller counterparts. But when comparing horses of similar size, sex and age the cardiac measurements of the most successful racehorses were significantly higher than those of their counterparts of similar size, sex and age but with smaller hearts.

Analysis showed that the thickness of the septal wall was the most significant variable when differentiating between high and low earners. High earners and routers tended to be heavier, taller and their hearts were larger than their peers of similar age, sex, height and weight. Further discrepancies in the measurements of the left ventricle in diastole and systole accounted for the differences between high earner routers and sprinters. Successful routers were four times more likely than successful sprinters to have large hearts and to be above average in physical size before their racing careers began.

Patuxet · Postby **Patuxet** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 9:36 am

Did anyone else receive a similar e-mail from "Fernando Martinez"?

Our English is very poor but I will try to explain something we have been studying for a long time.

If you continue back to BIG BROWN´s bottom line you will come to REGULUS MARE always by the bottoms line, and his father REGULUS is the one who transmited what you name like “LARGE HEART”, throw the chromosome X road.

From REGULUS comes all, he passed it to POCAHONTAS, and others.

From Uruguay –a very little country in SOUTH AMERICA we think we have found the source of what you tittled LARGE HEARTS, but we don´t consider its means really BIG HEART , but superiors genes.

LB · Postby LB » Sun Apr 26, 2009 6:04 am

Patuxet wrote:Did anyone else receive a similar e-mail from "Fernando Martinez"?

No, not me. What does he want you to do, buy horses from Uruguay?

griff · Postby **griff** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 2:59 am

How expensive is it to have your horses heart size measured?? Also, is there a age limitation where heart size is not a factor?

griff

spex4me · Postby **spex4me** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 6:07 am

I would love to measure my mare's too. The one stallion I like, Green Fee, measured 140-143, which is freaking huge. I look at a lot of Spectacular Bid daughters because of the assumption of x factor, whether it is a truly valid attribute or not I cannot say for certain, but I think there is defintely something to it.

I'll guess at least $350.