BY SARAH WELK BAYNUM

Etalon Equine Genetics helps Florida’s Thoroughbred industry make more informed decisions with equine genetics. Etalon was founded in an effort to help demystify equine genetics and its connection to horse health, making the science simple, practical and accessible. 

Etalon is the leading equine genetics institute, publishing 61 studies in two years. Genetic testing can identify markers related to conformation issues, performance traits and potential genetic risk factors such as fracture, roaring and tendinopathy. It also can help identify horses that should not be bred together to avoid compounding problematic traits.

Etalon’s Senior Account Executive, Laura Simiele, understands the horse racing industry firsthand as she has a generational history in the sport.

“I’ve been born and bred into racing, primarily in New York,” Laura Simiele said. “My grandfather was an avid racing fan and my mom even hot-walked in college for Hall of Fame trainer John Nerud. She’s been breeding and racing Thoroughbreds for about 45 years and I’ve been breeding and racing horses for over 25 years.

“Today, my mom and I still breed and race together. We’ve raced in Florida and have been in partnerships with and bred in Florida at places like Ocala Stud. We also do business with people like Jena Antonucci and others throughout Florida.”

Simiele was passionate about breeding racehorses from a very young age. 

“I planned the conception of my first foal when I was 11 and I delivered him at 13. His Jockey Club name was General Schuyler, but we called him Rusty. I raced him and retrained him to ride after he retired from the track. He was a hard knocker at Finger Lakes but kept me loan-free through college. I had him until he was 19.”

Christa Lafayette, founder and CEO of Etalon, was always drawn to horses. 

“I never had horses growing up—we couldn’t afford them. I was that kid sneaking under pasture fences, riding animals I had no business riding—but I did because I loved horses. Years later, I had a couple of companies under my belt and a friend sent me a picture of a beautiful horse. I said, ‘I wish I could have a horse.’ Then I realized, I’m an adult—I can have a horse.

“I went looking for a 15-year-old well-broke gelding, and naturally, I came home with an 8-year-old breeding stallion. But he looked like he had stepped out of a fairy tale. He had a long mane, long tail and a star—he was the most magnificent animal I’ve ever owned. He had his own mind about things, but I learned a lot quickly.”

Later, Lafayette became involved in horse racing and learned more about how personality might affect a horse’s success on the track. 

“I was part of a syndicate through Taste of Victory Stables, with Kyle Yost and Brian Richardson. I met them at a brunch—there was alcohol, horses, you know how it goes—and suddenly I owned some racehorses. We were walking along the barn aisles one day, and there was this 4-year-old stallion who was a monster in his stall—there was caution tape everywhere. I saw him try to practically behead a groom while he was on the hot walker. I said, ‘You know what? We have this temperament test we’re working on—Curiosity vs. Vigilance—and I bet I know what he will test as.’ Curious horses tend to be happy and friendly. Vigilance horses, however, tend to be aloof, aggressive, and territorial, but competitive. They let me pull a sample from him, which matched exactly what we’d expected. It was the first time the test aligned perfectly with the behavior. He was aggressive, but an outstanding athlete—he earned over $400,000 on the track. And even though he was a monster to everyone else, he let me pull the sample—it was like he knew I was supposed to.”

Lafayette explains that while foundational genetics is relatively straightforward—think and family trees—horse performance is influenced by far more than single-gene traits. Input from horse owners and their insights into their animals have also been crucial in identifying real genetic links.

“Genetics is not all bad news—a lot of it’s excellent news. But it’s about how much you have of each gene. Take speed, for example. You might inherit two sprint genes, two endurance genes, or one of each. But performance isn’t just about speed genes—it’s about a full spectrum of inherited traits, some simple, some complex and some predispositions.”

“In humans, you have conditions like diabetes. There’s a type where you’re born needing insulin, and another where you’re predisposed, like if your parents got it at 50 or 60. If you take care of yourself, you might never develop it. That’s what we’re trying to offer horses: insight that lets you intervene early and make educated decisions,” Lafayette said.

Lafayette emphasizes that genetics isn’t the whole story, especially regarding performance.

“Knowing a horse’s speed type and temperament can hugely inform training and race planning. Of course, genetics can’t account for everything, such as the weather, the jockey’s mood, and the saddle’s fit. Still, if you win by a tenth of a second because of this genetic knowledge, that edge matters.”

These genetic insights are game changers, especially for breeders and trainers who want to give their horses every advantage. “One mare carried a dual variant for anhidrohsis, that doesn’t mean she’ll never sweat, but it explains much about her performance on hot days,” Simiele said. “I reviewed this mare’s racing history and discovered she had underperformed when stretched out to a mile on a 90-degree day. Wouldn’t it have been helpful if her trainer had known first to test her on the track when it was a cooler temperature? For racehorses, many suspected genetic regions, such as fragility, affect risks like fractures, tendinopathy, roaring, height, speed, temperament, etc. You might be okay with some genetic risks if you only have one or none of these specific variants. However, you might not want to breed that horse to another horse with the same variant setup, as it could potentially compound problematic traits.”

The “Build-A-Horse” feature is one of the many ways Etalon hopes to help FTBOA’s members. This predictive breeding tool is an advanced form of genetic “nicking,” which runs 100 simulations of gene pairings between two horses. It predicts traits, health risks, sprint/endurance ratios, and genomic inbreeding ranges.

“Do you want to race at short distances with a 2-year-old, or go for the Triple Crown? Those are two very different genetic profiles. Genetic editing isn’t the thing that could happen—it is happening. Another feature that can help the Thoroughbred industry includes the ‘Find a Horse’ feature for breeders and prospective buyers across disciplines.”

“We want to connect science with reality on the ground. Then, we can make better educated decisions for our horses. That’s what it’s all about—using knowledge to improve outcomes.”

Return to the April 22 issue of Wire to Wire