Why do you hardly ever see a grey/white harness horse?

[Zippy Chippy]

Anyone ever notice this? I never even thought of it til a couple weeks ago I saw one in a race and it looked completely bizarre. I dont think I've ever seen a white/grey horse in a harness race.

[wilderness]

There are many and have been many.

The theory amongst horsemen is the old white feet theory and that grays are more prone to lameness.

The infamous Greyhound and in more recent years at WEG the Michigan Bred Admiral's Express. There should be many old photo's and video's of Admiral's Express across the web.

seems to me there was a recent race at Monticello for gray's.

Many folks have bred to the Michigan stallion Admiral's Galley because he's prone to sire gray's when mixed with a mare of the same trait.

[Zippy Chippy]

Cool. Just found a nice vid on Admirals

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAxcgI7IpSw

[markgoldie]

Biggest reason there aren't more is that there have been few in recent years good enough to stand stud with a large enough service book to make any significant impression on the gene pool. Laag was probably the best in recent memory, but even he was a marginal sire.

[wilderness]

mark,
There's a BIG market for colors in show horses (non-racing), which the Standardbred industry fails to cultivate.

Some of these folks pay BIG dollars for pretty horses and could care less what breed they are. Many are simply renamed standardbreds and as a result of the renaming and change of status/breed category are simply and historically separated from Standardbreds.

"Most" Standardbred breeders are not even interested in understanding the factors/genes which create such colors, and many that do a make a "minor" attempt at understanding offer distorted interpretations.