Book excerpt: There are still many unknowns in the breeding of Thoroughbreds, but the international research coalition known as the Equine Genome Project is facilitating many new exciting discoveries. Dr. Matthew Binns is a leader of the project, an enterprise set up to map the equine genome, and with racing historian and bloodstock authority Tony Morris has written this important book on the theory, practice, art and science of Thoroughbred breeding. This long-awaited book describes how man came to express pedigree and to develop theories about it, and how practical breeders behaved in the light of their understanding. IT explains why many theories--including some still widely granted credibility today--are fallacious, examines the very real progress in knowledge since the principles of genetics were discovered, and focuses on the exciting developments of the last few years, when eminent geneticists have applied their expertise to the subject of the Thoroughbred. It has been the authors' endeavor to present the information in a form that may be readily understood by anyone who shares a love of the Thoroughbred and a fascination with what makes him what he is. Packed with absorbing history and cutting-edge science, this is a fascinating and illuminating book.