The novel is a fictionalised biography of the Godolphin Arabian, an ancestor of the modern thoroughbred.

While Baffert and others say steroids can help keep horses healthier, others argue they have the opposite effect and have been contributing to the high injury rate among modern thoroughbreds.

Though that may not seem like a particularly demanding schedule, more and more stables have become worried about the fragile nature of the modern thoroughbred and prefer to wait several weeks between races.

The academy's architects have designed a modern athletic thoroughbred of a building.

It is mainly through Steady Aim, the female line ancestor of Danzig that Felstead continues to appear in the pedigrees of modern thoroughbreds.

He sired four winners of the Epsom Derby and is the direct male-line ancestor of most modern thoroughbreds.

Among the boats competing for top prizes were such modern thoroughbreds as Larry Ellison's Sayonara, Jim Dolan's Sagamore and George Coumantaros's Boomerang.

Hethersett and Blakeney are representatives of the Byerley Turk sire line, unlike more than 95% of modern thoroughbreds, who descend directly from the Darley Arabian.

Apart from Humorist, he sired the Derby winners Pommern and Fifinella and through his son Phalaris is the direct male-line ancestor of most modern thoroughbreds.

Through Bend Or he is the direct male-line ancestor of most modern thoroughbreds.