Wednesday, June 23, 2010

The Jockey Club Enhances Tattoo Database



The Jockey Club announced last week that it would expand the free services that it provides by adding the sales history of each Thoroughbred registered with them. Providing the additional information should help groups and individuals who attempt to retire or re home horses by providing a tool to aid them in knowing where the horse has been. This is of particular importance, when a horse is found at auction, or purchased years later off the track, and listed on Craig's List for instance.

The sales information is still being added. The Jockey Club reports that their free tattoo identification service has been accessed more than 200,000 times since its inception in April of last year.

The Kentucky Racing Commission has started a pilot program which allows for online monitoring of horse ownership, regardless of the number of owner changes. Kentucky hopes that other states will join the program. Again, making it easier for all to know the history of a horse.

Race horses are tattooed in different forms. Whether Quarter Horse, Arabian, Standardbred or Thoroughbred.

Below is a chart showing the year of birth associated with the letter in the lip tattoo for Thoroughbred and Standardbred horses. If there are two letters in a Standarbred's tattoo, it is the first one that tells the year of birth.


Thoroughbreds
A = 1971
B = 1972
C = 1973
D = 1974
E = 1975
F = 1976
G = 1977
H = 1978
I = 1979
J = 1980
K = 1981
L = 1982
M = 1983
N = 1984
O = 1985
P = 1986
Q = 1987
R = 1988
S = 1989
T = 1990
U = 1991
V = 1992
W = 1993
X = 1994
Y = 1995
Z = 1996
A = 1997
B = 1998
C = 1999
D = 2000
E = 2001
F = 2002
G = 2003
H = 2004
I = 2005
J = 2006
K = 2007
L = 2008

Standardbreds
P = 1971
Q = 1972
R = 1973
S = 1974
T = 1975
U = 1976
V = 1977
W = 1978
X = 1979
Y = 1980
Z = 1981
A = 1982
B = 1983
C = 1984
D = 1985
E = 1986
F = 1987
G = 1988
H = 1989
J = 1990
K = 1991
L = 1992
M = 1993
N = 1994
P = 1995
R = 1996
S = 1997
T = 1998
V = 1999
W = 2000
X = 2001
Z = 2002
A = 2003
B = 2004
C = 2005
D = 2006
E = 2007
F = 2008

The Second Race applauds the actions of The Jockey Club. Transparency is the key to helping the horses while on the track, and most certainly off.

2 comments:

  1. Fantastic...may be this can help some horses to not get lost along the way; and help owners know their horses history. Very Cool!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. If they're not done adding the sales information, there's actually a search tool at Bloodhorse that lets you find sales results.

    http://www.bloodhorse.com/auctions-tool/

    You have to be registered but it is free and has info from OBS, Fasig Tipton, Keeneland, and several other sales.

    ReplyDelete

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