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Ancestry of the Thoroughbred horse:
This form of horse was formerly bred in England due to the English horsemens need to own a fast horse. There are three that began this breed which are: Byerley Turk, Darley Arabian and Godolphin Arabian, named after their owners, Thomas Darley, Lord Godolphin and Captain Robert Byerley. All of these stallions were imported to England from the Mediterranean Middle East between 1670 and 1710. The conclusion was an animal that could carry weight with consistent pace over extended distances. In the region of ninety percent of present thoroughbreds have come from Eclipse the grandsire of whom was Darley Arabian, who never lost in eighteen races. This prompted a very refined breeding process which has continued for all but 250 years, breeding the best race horses, giving them authorityand distinction on the race track.

About the turn of the 1700′s, breeding reports for Thoroughbred horses were sparse and commonly incomplete, and on any occasions, they would not refer to a horse until the young horse had proven themself creditable. A gentleman named James Weatherby, through his own inquiries and hard work, and by the consolidation of his personal privately owned pedigree records published the initial volume of the General Stud Book. This was done in 1791. The principal book listed 387 mares, each of which could trace back to Eclipse. The General Studbook is still available in the UK by Weatherby and Sons. Several years later, as thoroughbred racing became popular in North America the requirement for a pedigree registry for American Bred Thoroughbreds, comparable to the General Stud Book became obvious.

In 1873, the first American Stud Book was available by Colonel Sanders D. Bruce. This man spent practically a lifetime studying the pedigrees of American Throughbred horses. He continued the example of the General Stud Book creating six volumes of the register up until 1896 when the project was furthered by The Jockey Club. The reliability of the American Stud Book is the foundation on which all Thoroughbred horse racing in North America depends. The initial edition of the American Stud Book released by The Jockey Club had a foal crop of around 3,000. In 1986 in had grown to an astonishing 51,000. Today The Jockey Club operates an elaborate new computer system to meet the registration challenges posed by the colossal amount of annual registrations. The Jockey Club owns and maintains one of the most advanced computer operations in the world at the moment, with its catalog holding over 1.8 million thoroughbred horses on a main pedigree file, with names that can be traced back to the 1800′s. In addition to bloodlines, this database also processes daily racing results of every Thoroughbred race in North America, not including the ability to handle electronically sent pedigree and racing data from the UK, Ireland, France and other primary Thoroughbred districts. Another progeny of Darley Arabian is Diomed; who won the first running of the Kentucky Derby in 1780. At just 21 years old he was introduced to the US where he produced the male line through his son, Sir Archie.

Thoroughbred horses are the preferred option for track racing. Most thoroughbreds are born between January and April, although their official date of birth is January 1 of the current year. In their first year of growth, they are increasing bulk and strength with the adolescent starting his training as a yearling. Throughbred horses learn to take a bridle and a saddle and soon after a rider on his back to break in the horse in preparation for the starting gate and the competition around the track.

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