Ross is passionate about the thoroughbred. From an early age, he had an affinity with this wonderful animal, and he has turned this into a lifelong passion. Ross is considered one of Australia's leading pedigree analysts, and he always has time to talk about horses. He discovered a century old study called Dosage that helps him to explain and understand the nuances in pedigrees, and the balance of characteristics within an individual horse. More can be read on this at www.dosage.com.au or at www.thoroughbredvillage.com.au
Around 100 years ago, a French Cavalry Officer, Lieutenant Vuillier who was a student of thoroughbred pedigrees discovered that there were a very limited number of horses that regularly appeared in the pedigrees of the most successful racehorses. These horses he classified as chefs-de-race, a French term that literally means the leaders of the breed. Vuillier used these principles in the employ of the Aga Khan and helped establish one of the world’s greatest breeding dynasties.
During the 1970’s, an Italian lawyer by the name of Franco Varola published his influential work, “Typology of the Racehorse.” In this work, Varola explored the correlation between the physical and developmental aspects of the racehorse using these chefs-de-race as benchmarks within the breed. He determined that there were fundamentally five key characteristics to the thoroughbred ranging from speed to stamina. These classifications are Brilliant, Intermediate, Classic, Solid and Professional.
The
Both figures [DI and CD] are largely a measurement of the relationship between speed and stamina in a pedigree and Dr Roman’s work concerned primarily the distance aptitude of a racehorse. Fundamentally Dr Roman took the study from a quantitative study to a qualitative one. Underlying this work is the principle that our chefs-de-race consistently instill predictable characteristics within their progeny.
In
Opposite is Shadow Creek whose dosage profile reads [-0.02/1.27] [1-15-24-2-8] largely due to the presence of the Classic/Professional influence of his sire, Zabeel. This largely reflects the developmental characteristics contained within the study of dosages, and suggests that most of Zabeel's progeny are later maturing types.
SHADOW CREEK - a son of Zabeel standing at Kelana Park in Beaudesert