Science colleagues found that horses with the myostatin gene combination designated as C/C are better suited to fast, short races; those with the C/T variation tend to compete better over middle distances; and T/T animals have more stamina. C/C and C/T were more successful 2-year-old racehorses, earning an average of 5.5 times more prize money than T/T horses, the authors said.

For bettors, the genetic information isn’t likely to yield any advantage anytime soon.

“This information is for owners only,” Hill said. “If anyone wants to reveal the genetic type of their horse, then that’s at their discretion.”

A speed gene in horses is enabling thoroughbred owners to sort would-be sprinters from plodders from just a teaspoonful of the galloper’s blood.

Scientists at University College Dublin matched the genetic code of 179 race winners with performance on the track to identify variants of the muscle mass-regulating myostatin gene that predict a horse’s optimum racing distance.

The research, published Jan. 20 in the Public Library of Science Journal PLoS ONE, is the first known characterization of a gene contributing to a specific athletic trait in thoroughbreds, the authors said. Commercialization of the test may alter the course of a multibillion-dollar horse industry whose breeding practices have remained little changed for centuries.

“Breeders currently rely on combining successful bloodlines together, hoping that the resulting foal will contain that winning combination of genes,” said Emmeline Hill, 36, a geneticist at the university and the study’s lead author. “Whether those winning genes have or have not been inherited could only be surmised by observing the racing and breeding success of a horse over an extended period of years.”

The research was funded by Science Foundation Ireland, according to the study.

$1,400 Test at http://www.equinome.com