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ITV Racing pointed out Trinculo in the Epsom 2.05 as being unusual for being black. Google tells us that only 2% of horses are born black and remain black. Have there been any well known black race-horses down the years?
I always thought that the ill-fated Ruffian was black, but apparently she was officially a dark bay.
John Dunlop trained a decent horse named Lucky Guest which was officially described as black.
As someone who loves dour stayers, this thread provides a great opportunity to mention two of my favourites – Just So and Killeshin, both black.
Just So’s finest hour was a second in the 1994 National, and Killeshin won the Aintree Foxhunters the previous day. He went on to win the Eider in 1996.
The Jockey Clubs in America and Europe/UK are apparently reluctant to register horses as black without photographic proof (a hassle) so there are several true black horses registered as dark bay/brown. Japan seems to actually register black horses as black and with the influence of Sunday Silence (himself a black horse registered dkb/br) they seem much more common over there, with black stars like Contrail . This year’s Japanese Derby winner Croix Du Nord is registered black.
Ruffian was a brown horse, the telltale sign is the lighter-colored muzzle.
Mohstahdaf is registered brown but is as black as can be, he has a wee bit of sun-bleaching in his mane in this photo but you can see his dark muzzle.
That’s strange: Croix du Nord may be registered as black, but his flank is clearly brown. 🤷♂️
These are useful summaries of Black horse genetics
https://www.animaldnadiagnostics.co.uk/uploads/pdfs/Coat_colour_Black_Bay_webpage_text1.pdf
Miss Woodford – Great post. Any idea why there would be a reluctance to record a horse as black without photo evidence? I could understand if someone was claiming green or pink!
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