Linebreeding forms a vital part of Thoroughbred breeding and since it's available at virtually no cost, why not take advantage of it?
TesioPower helps you find stallions for your mares. It does so by selecting matings for your mare that will result in foals with line bred pedigrees. The old way of mating selection (breed the best to the best and hope for the best), can work for you, but when just 6% of horses pay their way, you need an edge to get ahead. And as if that 6% isn't low enough, Jack Glengarry, pedigree researcher from New Zealand, goes on to suggest that only 6% of those that do pay their way, go on to be big winners.
How can we improve these odds? Whether you're breeding to sell or race or you're buying from a sale, the answer is simple. Look at the pedigree to 6, or preferably 7 generations, and see which ancestors are doubled-up in the pedigree. These duplications increase the influence of the ancestor, maximizing the chances of their genes making it to your foal. See the section below (What is Linebreeding?) for more detail.
Once you've identified the duplicated ancestors, use TesioPower's Key Names report to see what influence they've had on the breed and how they can help you. Also, you should use Dosage reports to see if your mating will result in a speed or distance aptitude.
TesioPower lets you do all these things before your mare gets to a stallion or before you leave home for the sales. Thoroughbreds are a big money business. Research done at this stage can save you money and time, helping your horses into that top 6%.
Let's be candid: Linebreeding isn't a silver bullet. We're dealing with nature, genetics and a hybrid, so things won't always go to plan. One thing is for sure, if you leave your breeding or buying program to chance, you'll only get a random outcome.
What is Linebreeding?
Linebreeding is a way to control your matings and produce the stock you want. The basic idea is to breed back to desirable ancestors and duplicate them in each parent.
Every horse in a pedigree is present 'through' their offspring. This is a key concept. To phrase this a different way, we say that a horse's sire and dam are present in the pedigree through their son or daughter.
Due to breeding in the past, many horses appear more than once in a pedigree. There's many reasons for this, but breeders like Federico Tesio noticed that if the horses who appeared more than once were present through a different son or daughter, it improved the pedigree. In linebreeding terms, horses present in a pedigree through two or more different offspring are referred to as a 'duplications'.
A duplication is the concept that linebreeding is built around. However, being duplicated isn't enough. It's quite possible and very common for a duplication to be contained solely within the sire's or the dam's pedigree. Breeders refer to duplications which occur as a result of offspring in both the sire's and the dam's pedigree as a 'cross-duplication'.
TesioPower highlights cross-duplications and other key linebreeding factors and shows you them in an easy to understand way, so you can find those desirable ancestors in your pedigrees.
Please note: The Linebreeding Index is not necessarily a measure of quality. As all breeders will know, it is perfectly possible for two full sibling horses (ie, the same pedigree) to be very different animals. A prime example is Veandercross, a supreme equine athlete, who's full brother Regal Crossing was a great disappointment. It has been said that linebreeding can form the basis of a great pedigree that can form the basis of a great horse. You don't have to have linebreeding in a pedigree to create a stakes winner, but when the advantage is there to have, why not get it?