erhrdt3 wrote:Hi all, hope everyone doing well and healthy!
I could not WAIT to see the comments on Oxbow's unusual coloring. As you all said, listed as a bay, but they called him grey on TV yesterday, but IMHO, he looks like a red roan. He also has the extra long, thicker tail, is that not very usual in the very true greys (Jorge?) His tail had to be cut as it was almost to the ground. Gorgeous boy.
Jorge, what do you think he's going to do as he ages? I noticed his very gorgeous color in the Derby pre-race programming, as you could not see what color any of them were in that slop!
I was rooting, of course, for Ruffian's great-nephew, Orb, to win, but just not to be. This just goes to show the horses of today are nothing compared to yesteryears non-inbred to death TB's. Sad.
anyway, hope you all are doing well!
I really wasn't paying that much attention to Oxbow's phenotype
because the photos I had seen were not that telltelling. But when
I saw him on TV I was really intrigued. Here are my reactions in
order of thoughts:
01. Hmmm, that phenotype must be some kind of angle-related
camera trick or due to a very close hair clipping.
If not, then he is the newest version of a similar case that appeared in last year's Triple Crown series who came from Europe and participated in last year's Breeders Cup Juvenile. Another case that can be mentioned is Sweet Return.
02. Then, my next thought was: Hmmm, he is coming from a grey broodmare sire! What if the dam was a bona-fide grey who was wrongly
labeled as "solid-color" and her color was never corrected? But when I realized she was no obscure mare but the full sister of an elite horse and
an elite linege not realistically subject to that kind of error. So I discarded that possibility.
03. Then, I decided to keep to myself this topic for lack of additional theories but thanks to "Nancy T" this topic has dawned.
04. Given the fact that we cannot assert that Oxbow is coming from an
immediate gray parent (sire/dam), then we have to conclude that he is not going to behave like an ordinary "G" gray gene, in which case he is not going to grey-out as it normally occurrs with greys.
05. Whether he is a genuine Roan mutation I cannot say, without entering into unproven speculation. I don't want to enter into wishful thinking either but I think that the influences of Northern Dancer and Halo are causing many many strange occurrences that are maturing right before our eyes. Don't forget that both are coming from The Tetrarch and the one-man-gang of color oddities: Hyperion.
As for the comments on Mylute, let me tell you that he looks exactly the same as Negruzca (Scandal--Wealthia/by All Hands) looked during her sophomore racing days. She was officially registered as "Dark Bay or Brown" and even represented her country in the Caribbean International Stakes (Gr-1) in December of her sophomore year. At that time she was beginning to reveal herself as a truly dark gray equine. In fact the name "Negruzca" means "Blackish" in female form.
Hey, have you noticed that both winners (Derby & Preakness) are carrying short names and beginning with the letter "O"? What about the Belmont?
