
One 18th-Century Horse Eclipsed All the Others - pepys
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/eclipse-famous-racehorse-gambling
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Animats
"Eclipse first, the rest nowhere." This is a well known story in the horse
world. All Thoroughbreds are descended from three stallions, the Darly
Arabian, the Godolphin Arabian, and the Byrerley Turk. Most lines pass through
Eclipse. That's why Thorougbreds are so uniform.

(I've owned three ex-racehorses - one lively little guy, one good hunter, and
one that was too hyper to be safe.)

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danieltillett
Given how restrictive the bloodlines of thoroughbreds have become I have
thought for sometime now if it is possible to breed a faster horse via some
intelligent outbreeding. Genomics has now given us the tools to do this
efficiently.

If there are any billionaire race horse owners out there that would like to
own the fastest racehorse ever to live I am happy to help out :)

~~~
Animats
The Jockey Club doesn't allow that. Thoroughbreds can be bred only from other
Thoroughbreds to be registered in the Thoroughbred registry. Live-bred, too;
no frozen sperm. This is strictly enforced; Thoroughbred breeding involves
witnesses, videos, and. since 2001, DNA testing.

~~~
danieltillett
Yes I know this - it doesn't stop some rich person breeding a faster race
horse. In practice once you have the fastest horse you will be able to race it
outside the thoroughbred system.

Actually even within the registered thoroughbred system it would be possible
to use genomic data to improve speed. Due to inbreeding the average
thoroughbred carries a large number of null mutatations in minor genes that
degrades overall performance. Using genomic data it should be possible to
identify which horse should be crossed to remove these mutations. Having said
this, it will be a slow and expensive process.

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chiph
The article uses the word "Louchest" to describe the times. I had to look it
up:

> Disreputable or sordid in a rakish or appealing way

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Animats
"Louche" is a known word. "Louchest" is something that author made up.

~~~
zimpenfish
It fits with existing conventions for word extensions and it's perfectly
understandable. What's the problem? This is how words join the existing
language.

~~~
saghm
I didn't read GP's comment as saying there was a problem; it's not in conflict
for the word to "fit existing convention and be understandable" if it's made
up.

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qubex
Out of idle curiosity, what is this doing here?

~~~
falsedan
Strong clickbait game from Atlas Obscura

~~~
imron
I've certainly noticed that recently there seems to have been an increase in
the number of 'less relevant than I'd expect' Atlas Obscura articles regularly
making the front page.

A quick look at the submission details though doesn't reveal any sort of
sustained pattern - either of posters or timings between submissions.

~~~
falsedan
Yeah, I didn't say it was a systemic spamming problem; the submissions are
completely organic due to their strong clickbait game: Atlas Obscura
specialises in the long-form, superficially-interesting but ultimately-
pointless articles that give infovores enough of a hit to make them think, hey
I learned something that not many other people know, I should share it. And
yeah, you do end up learning about (say) the underground town of opal miners
at Coober Pedy… but not to any more depth than someone who read the Wikipedia
article (who also avoided creating ad impressions).

