Why aren't there more white race horses?

Question

Why aren't there more white race horses?

Answer 1

Grey Horses are very rare, and very common at the same time.

A Grey Horse Gene is the Dominant Gene, the Highest actually, so Gray never skips a generation. But in circumstances, if a dam and sire both have a recessive gene of bay, the baby will be bay. This is why there are barely any racing, because there aren't that many.

Answer 2

Most of the Thoroughbred racehorses that the public calls "white" are actually grey.  True white Thoroughbreds are fairly rare, although there are a couple of breeders who may be changing this:

Shadow Mountain Stables, home to stallion Airdrie Apache, is breeding white and "exotic" colored Thoroughbreds:  http://www.shadowmountainstables.com/def...

Painted Desert Farm, which originally stood Airdrie Apache at stud, is also breeder of white and exotic-colored Thoroughbreds:  http://www.painteddesert.net/

If you look down through this list of Airdrie Apache's registered Thoroughbred foals, you'll see that 19 of his foals to date are registered as white:  http://www.pedigreequery.com/progeny/air...

FWIW, the gene or gene group that operates in th Thoroughbred breed does not seem to be the same as the one that operates in other breeds.  http://news.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp...

Regarding why there aren't more true white racehorses, for the gene or gene group that perpetuates the white color to become more prevalent in the Thoroughbred population, there would have to be a stallion or stallions with this gene that sired superior runners.  Thoroughbred breeders want winning runners.  It's that simple.  If there is a sire that consistantly sires offspring that win races often, and win races of high class, breeders will breed their mares to him.  If there is a sire whose offspring do not do well at the races, breeders will abandon him.  This is true regardless of the color.  So although some breeders are breeding white Thoroughbreds as a curiousity, don't expect to see a lot of white Thoroughbreds at the racetrack until a sire who carries the white gene group shows he can produce good runners.

With regard to the grey-white horses, that gene is increasing within the population.  As an earlier poster noted, the genetics of grey coat color require that all grey horses have to have at least one grey parent.  A stallion that is homozygous for the grey gene will sire only grey offspring.

There are a number of popular stallions that are grey, so the number of grey racehorses is increasing slowly.  The problem with regards to grey-white coat color is that it usually takes 5-7 years for a horse that is born grey to turn completely white, so the public never or rarely sees a silvery-white grey Thoroughbred, since most Thoroughbreds are retired before they are of an age to turn completely white.  The public only sees them when they're at the iron-grey or rusty-roany looking stage.

Some articles about the genetics of white color:

http://www.ppqhorses.com/horsesstallions...

http://www.stallingspainthorses.com/leth...

http://www.stallingspainthorses.com/leth...

Answer 3

There's 5 major colors for thoroughbreds: Black, brown(dark bay), bay, chestnut, and grey.  The grey gene is more rare than the others.  Most of the time you'll see a bay or a chestnut.  If you do breed to get a grey horse, the foal is born a dark color...  black or bay or chestnut.  Then the grey hairs replace that color over time.  The time depends on the horse and the breed...  some breeds take longer than others, and some horses within the breed will do it faster or slower than others.  Horses race as 2 and 3 year olds (and older, but we usually see them race when they're young) so it's possible that the horse hasn't turned completely grey yet.  And even if it has, grey can range anywhere from really light to really dark.  You're really more likely to see a medium to dark grey rather than a really light grey.

And here's the biggest reason...  White horses are really really rare.  It's a different gene than the grey.  You can get a grey that is light enough to look white, but white is different...  a white horse is born white, it has pink skin, and the color never changes.  Greys are born dark, turn lighter, but their skin stays black.  Arabians can produce light colored horses, but not with the white gene.  So Arabians never actually have white foals.  Thoroughbreds descended from Arabians, so they're the same...  they don't make white foals.  So seeing a white race horse is really rare because it has to be born dark, then turn all the way to its lightest possible color, all by the time it turns 3.  So that's why you don't normally see a white race horse.

Answer 4

White horses tend to have genetic "defects" that make them undesireable for the racing industry.

Answer 5

because there are few of the horses with the dominant pigmentation gene for grey or roan horses, the color of horses that are almost white is called roan, their skin will generally be pink and have light colored eyes there are fewer and fewer of them as time goes...not exactly sure why but I believe you see more grey horses running on turf than dirt...

Answer 6

Because it is known in breeding and racing circles that the gene or genes for the white color are lethal in the Thoroughbred breed. White horses which aren't albinos tend to have genetic defects that make them unable to race. There are a very few rare exceptions to this, but by and large, that is the reason why.