Rare white foal born
A stud in Kentucky is celebrating the birth of a white Thoroughbred colt
Patchen Wilkes Farm in Kentucky is celebrating the birth of a white Thoroughbred colt. He was born on 5 April this year.
White Thoroughbreds are exceptionally rare. Only 16 have been registered in the USA since 1896, while according to Weatherbys, the organisation responsible for registering UK Thoroughbreds, none have been registeredin Britain.
Leading equine fertility expert Professor Twink Allen says horses born completely white are very unusual.
“A white horse is the result of a genetic deficiency, 90% of all Thoroughbreds are bay with the occasional true black, chesnut or grey.”
The colt has not yet been registered with the American Jockey Club, but the name “The White Fox” has been reserved by farm manager Barry Ezrine.
Speaking from Patchen Wilkes Farm, he said: “Providing all goes to plan, The White Fox will race and if he is good enough, stand at stud.”
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“He is developing well and is precocious. Just like his mother, he loves people and always comes over to say hello to visitors.”
The birth of this white colt has generated world-wide interest and Barry Ezrine has been inundated with requests for more information.
The colt’s family tree
The first white Thoroughbred born at Patchen Wilkes Farm wasa filly called White Beauty in 1963.
She had several foals, among them an unusual spotted filly named Spot O’ Beauty. The mare went on to have a filly called Precious Beauty, who gave birth to a white filly registered as PatchenBeauty, the mother of the colt in question.
Patchen Beauty was raced as a two-year-old. She won one maiden race and a total of $39,000 in prize-money. The father of the white colt is Pioneering, a chesnut stallion standing at Overbrook Farm in Lexington Kentucky.
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