I believe British thoroughbred race horses are all descended from a few Arab stallions imported a few hundred years ago, is this true and is there a website where I can find more about race house breeding, e.g. are close relatives mated?

Kainantu

The origins of modern racing lie in the 12th century, when English knights returned from the Crusades with swift Arab horses. Over the next 400 years, an increasing number of Arab stallions were imported and bred to English mares to produce horses that combined speed and endurance. Horse racing began to become a professional sport during the reign (1702-14) of Queen Anne, By the early 1800s the only horses that could be called 'Thoroughbreds' and allowed to race were those descended from horses listed in the General Stud Book. Thoroughbreds are so inbred that the pedigree of every single animal can be traced back father-to-father to one of three stallions, called the 'foundation sires.' These stallions were the Byerley Turk, foaled {c.1679;} the Darley Arabian, foaled {c.1700;} and the Godolphin Arabian, foaled c.1724 http://www.racing-horse.com/general-history.htm Race horse breeding and other information: http://www.equineinfo.com/racehorsebreeding.htm Mar 27 03, 1:30 AM

Jimmy

Further to earlier answers most thoroughbreds are also descended from about 30 foundation brood mares. The Official Stud Book is the property of Weatherbys http://www.weatherbys-group.com/ and they should be able to help you on this. Mar 27 03, 12:18 PM