| The colours of the thoroughbred are predominately bay, brown, chestnut and black, although the term black is often disputed. A true black is the positive of grey. Bays, browns and chestnuts are recessive colours, this means they can skip generations providing an offsping carries the colour gene but doesn't show it he can then pass it on to his offspring. 'It takes two to tango' in a sense, both parents must carry a particular colour gene for it to be passed to their offspring. For example if a foal is chestnut and both parents are bay, it's because both parents carry the chestnut gene. The grey colour on the other hand is classed as dominant, this does not mean that all that horse's offspring will be grey, only that the gene cannot be carried unnoticed to the next generation. In the case of both parents being grey then all their offspring will be grey, and those offspring will only produce greys regardless of their mate's colour. So it will take three generations before this colour can be changed. |
| All grey thoroughbreds trace back to Alcock's Arabian, but some also trace to other grey foundation horses. The horse pictured here is the grey mare Zaffre born in 1999 she is out of the mare Zeferina also a grey, this dam line goes back to Mumtaz Mahal, via Petite Etoile, all greys. Mumtaz Mahal was by the grey stallion The Tetrarch, a major influence of many greys today. The Tetrarch's grey line zig-zags throughout his pedigee back to a mare called Bab (gr) she was the dam of Sir Peter Mare (gr) 1797. Bab was a true breeding grey as both her parents were grey, while her dam's grey line goes back to Alcock's Arabian(1700), her sire's grey line goes back to Miss Belvoir, also a true breeding grey. Miss Belvoir's sire Grey Grantham was by Brownlow Turk (gr) 1704 and her dam Paget Turk Mare's grey line goes back to Fairfax Morocco Barb (gr) of 1633. So you can see that The Alcock's Arabian was not the only grey influence. As there was no importation date known of Alcock's Arabian, also known as the Pelham Arabian, it is possible he was bred in the UK and may in fact be a son of the Curwen Bay Barb. |
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| Mumtaz Mahal |
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| GREY THOROUGHBREDS |