New bloodstock company formed

Pedigree analysts and bloodstock advisors have teamed up with researchers specializing in genetics, racehorse training, and veterinary medicine to form Performance Genetics. The bloodstock consultancy will use a proprietary DNA database to evaluate genetic, cardiovascular, and statistical data points and make predictions about unraced Thoroughbreds’ performance potential and the performance potential of prospective matings.

Byron Rogers, managing partner of Pedigree Consultants, is chief executive officer of the new company, Performance Genetics. Other executives include geneticist Steven Tammariello, PhD; veterinarian and trainer Greg Fox, DVM, of Thoroughbred Performance Diagnostics; and Alan Porter, a prominent breeding consultant and a partner with Rogers in Pedigree Consultants and the TrueNicks pedigree evaluation service. Bloodstock agents Alex Solis and Jason Litt also are on the company’s sales and product development team.

The Performance Genetics database is founded on DNA sequencing from 400 elite racehorses and breeding stock, resulting in more than 26 million datapoints that can be analyzed and compared to other groups of horses. “We are now in a position to do some outstanding studies on what makes an elite Thoroughbred who he is,” said Tammariello.

“One of the best questions we get asked regularly by our clients is, why is one horse a champion and another, even a full brother or sister, unable to break their maiden?” said Rogers. “We believe that with the data we now have and the prediction model we have developed, we can start to answer these types of questions and give breeders and buyers a solid scientific foundation for their mating decisions and selection techniques.”