‘This has been quite a blow’ - rare genetic condition means stallion’s first foal will be his last

Multiple Graded-placed stakes winner Snapper Sinclair sired his first reported foal on Wednesday in New York at Irish Hill Century Farm. Actually, the filly out of the winning Lemon Drop Kid mare Country Time, will be his only foal – ever. 

The nine-year-old millionaire son of City Zip, who gave Jeff Bloom's Bloom Racing Stable a front row seat at some of racing's highest-profile events on some of the biggest stages, had his stud career short-circuited by a rare genetic disorder that drastically limits his ability to impregnate mares. 

A conventional evaluation done prior to his entering stud at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds had given every indication that he was fertile with a good sperm count and healthy mobility and morphology. What could not be seen was a flaw that occurred in only some of his sperm. The flaw, linked to an identifiable genetic mutation, prevents some sperm from fusing with an egg in high enough numbers that his fertility rate can be at best 20-30 per cent or as low as five per cent.

A genetic test was requested by McMahon of Saratoga as part of its due diligence in acquiring a 50 per cent interest in the stallion. The veterinarian who performed the test said 'Snapper' was the only horse she's seen get a positive result for the mutation. The condition occurs in only one to two per cent of the thoroughbred stallion population, according to a study done in central Kentucky in 2021.

Since the stallion was capable of getting some mares in foal, Bloom said he decided to breed ten mares. Two got in foal and unfortunately one of those mares and her foal died during foaling. Snapper Sinclair's legacy now rests with a spunky bay filly with a big star now named Snapper Time.

Snapper Sinclair's condition is so rare that it is tough for equine reproductive specialists to have adequate data for their research. One of the veterinarians working with 'Snapper' in New York contacted Texas A&M University's Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, where assistant professor Dr Camilo Hernández-Avilés has been doing research on this condition.

"I have been studying the proteins in the sperm of stallions with this abnormality," said Hernández-Avilés. "Even though we have a genetic test that allows us to screen for these horses, the gene itself does not explain why we have this problem. Once we heard about Snapper Sinclair, I contacted Jeff and told him he had a very unique stallion because there are not very many horses that present this condition that we can collect semen from."

Texas A&M had the stallion shipped to its facilities in College Station, Texas, where Hernández-Avilés and his team collected semen samples for two months. 

"I really appreciated what Jeff did because getting samples is so rare," said Hernández-Avilés. "We are going to start to pinpoint where this condition occurs in the reproductive tract. If any other stallions are presenting like this, we want to encourage the stallion owners to contact us, with all the confidentialities in place. Let us get samples from these horses. The more we can identify, the better we can study this problem and maybe down the road find a solution."

Snapper Sinclair posts his most recent win in the Listed TVG Stakes at Kentucky Downs in September 2021Credit: Grace Clark/Kentucky Downs

After Texas A&M collected the samples it required, Snapper Sinclair was gelded and sent to Jesus Camacho, the top outrider in southern California, to be retrained to be an outrider pony.

"Snapper was and always will be one of my favourite horses," said Bloom. "He was larger than life with a big personality. I'm biased, but he did amazing things on the racetrack and was a huge fan favourite. When he was sent to McMahon there was a lot of interest, so this has been quite a blow."

Snapper Sinclair won seven of his 39 starts, including two Listed races at Kentucky Downs plus a black-type contest there, with a further 13 places

He was also a Grade 1 runner-up in the Cigar Mile Handicap, made two appearances in the Godolphin Mile at Meydan on Dubai World Cup day, and ran at three Breeders’ Cups.

Bloom said he has long planned to eventually send Snapper Sinclair to Old Friends Retirement Farm in Georgetown, Kentucky, but not this soon. He said with 'Snapper' being so young he felt the horse would be happier with a more active retirement.

"He still loves working, so we wanted him to have a job he could enjoy," said Bloom. "Jesus is a friend of mine, and he has just started the process of training Snapper to be his lead outrider pony. We hope to see him out there at Del Mar for the Breeders' Cup."

Camacho said he works with Snapper Sinclair at his house, where he is getting him accustomed to being in close contact with other horses and not act like a stallion. 

"He has already worn a Western saddle and gotten used to having a different bit in his mouth," said Camacho. "It is going slow because he used to be a stallion but mentally he needs time. All he needs is time."

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