|
Tattoo Tracing |
|
The Jockey Club
offers this service. |
|
. |
|
Asterisks* |
|
Asterisks are used to indicate that a horse has been imported. Although
these days the country of birth is usually shown in brackets following
the horse's name, such as "Northern Dancer (Can)", in previous
centuries the horse's name would have been written as
"*Nearco". In early American and Colonial pedigree research knowing
which horses were imported can be helpful in distinguishing between
horses of the same name. |
|
. |
|
Duplicate Names |
|
Many, many horses throughout history have had the same name. Stud book
compilers faced inordinate challenges, not the least of which was
sorting through numbers of similarly named horses, whilst trying to
construct their pedigrees. Spot was probably the
most popular name having nearly one hundred so named equines racing
under it. It was common practice to name offspring after the sire or
dam, even to the point that both colts and fillies would bear the same
name. |
|
. |
|
Duplicate Sires |
|
Mares are sometimes covered by more than one stallion for a variety of
reasons, including the death or infertility of the first stallion. Since
the stud farm presumably had reason to doubt that the mare was in foal
from the first cover, the second stallion is usually assumed to be the
sire. Unfortunately not all early sources listed duplicate sires in the
order of covering and confusion can arise from this. |
|
. |
|
Spelling |
|
Early spelling was fluid and no standard existed. Words appear to
have been written the way they sounded to the recorder. Recorders heard things
differently so sources offer a variety of spellings. For example, before approximately 1730 "chesnut" appears to have been the
preferred spelling used in stud books and racing calendars. |
