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DRF Article - By Jay Privman
Below is an article from DRF.COM discussing the companies that helped choose the Blue Grass Stakes winner, Dominican. The company mentioned, Equix, is a sister company of CASETHERACE.COM.
Article reprinted courtesy of The Daily Racing Form
When Dominican ran last Saturday in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, handicappers were trying to assess whether he measured up. Those closest to him already knew he did.
Dominican was purchased 13 months ago at a 2-year-olds in training sale in Ocala , Fla. , in large part because of the work of Equix Biomechanics, a Lexington, Ky.-based company that uses measurements of horses as part of its repertoire for helping clients select racehorses and matches for breeding stock. At that sale, owners Bonnie and Tommy Hamilton - who race as Silverton Hill Farms - and their private trainer, Darrin Miller, used Equix's recommendations when purchasing Dominican.
"He was one of our highest-rated horses in that sale," said Suzanne Smallwood, the vice president and senior analyst for Equix. "He was athletic. Not big and strong, but racy. Proportionally, he was extremely racy and well-balanced. He met or exceeded what we want to see for stride balance and efficiency. And Darrin really liked him."
According to Smallwood, who has been with the company for 20 years, Equix has a multi-pronged, high-tech approach at 2-year-old sales that involves measuring horses and evaluating their strides in presale workouts via its proprietary EquiTrax video.
"EquiTrax uses a high-speed motion-sensor camera to track a horse down the stretch," Smallwood said. "It gives a precise view of stride length and efficiency, how they're traveling. The camera records 150 frames per second, so we can evaluate their landing and their foot strikes, all in slow motion. Based on that, we eliminate about 75 percent of horses from a breeze show. We then concentrate on horses that we like to say have exhibited grace under pressure."
At the sale where Dominican was purchased, Smallwood worked in concert with another analyst, Bill Hickey, and two other employees - Kristi Fly and Randy Thayer - who evaluated the video stride analysis. After they watched the video and determined which horses they were interested in, each prospective
purchase was measured back at the barn, a process that takes about 10 minutes per horse, Smallwood said.
"We take 38 body measurements and apply growth rates," Smallwood said. "We grow a horse out to maturity, looking at patterns of development that relate to a higher level of performance. We also ultrasound their heart to get an expression of their heart capacity. We do the same things with yearlings. The only difference at the 2-year-old sale is we also add the video analysis."
Dominican, a son of El Corredor, "was one of the best when we looked at the stride data," Smallwood said.
"We then examined him for conformation and soundness, and he passed that," she said. "And then we did the body measurements and the heart ultrasound."
When Dominican went through the sales ring, the Hamiltons were able to acquire him for $150,000. Dominican subsequently was gelded.
"He was a ridgling," Miller said. "He had an undescended testicle that made him uncomfortable, so we needed to do it. He's still a very aggressive horse. That hasn't changed."
With his win in the Blue Grass, worth $465,000, Dominican has now earned $586,259, as well as a trip to the Kentucky Derby on May 5.
Miller and the Hamiltons have another Derby prospect in Sedgefield, who was second in the Lane's End Stakes at Turfway Park before a fourth-place finish in the Transylvania Stakes at Keeneland two weeks ago.
"I'm going to train him on dirt and see what we've got," Miller said. "I need to see how he works on that."
Sedgefield has never raced on conventional dirt. He has raced twice on Polytrack and five times on turf, an obvious choice considering that he is a full brother to the top turf runner English Channel. Like Dominican, Sedgefield was purchased on the recommendation of Equix. He sold for $300,000 one year ago at Keeneland's 2-year-olds in training sale.
"We have to make adjustments for each sale, because there's a difference in how a 2-year-old looks in February than in April, or how horses move on Polytrack at Keeneland as opposed to dirt at Ocala or at Barretts in California," said Smallwood, who estimates she attends 15 to 20 sales per year from coast to coast.
Prior to Dominican and Sedgefield, Equix's best finds were the top older horse Behrens; Steppenwolfer, who was third in last year's Kentucky Derby; and most of owner Eugene Melnyk's top horses, including Flower Alley, Harmony Lodge, and Strong Hope.
Equix's president is Todd Stewart, and the company is owned by Dr. Gary Knapp, whose farm, Monticule, last September sold a Danzig yearling colt at Keeneland for $9.2 million. That colt was a case of Equix putting its money where its mouth is, because Knapp used his company's OptiMatch mating system to produce the Danzig colt.
"We advise clients on purchasing and breeding horses based on analyzing the structure of the horse," Smallwood said. "For breeding stock, we take measurements of broodmares, and we measure stallions. The computer then seeks out good matches.
"What I like about what we do is any agent can look at a horse and tell you what they think. But we have the data to back it up."
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The Rassilon Imprimatur was linked to (or a part of) the symbiotic nuclei which allowed a Time Lord access to time travel and in particular temporal vessels such as TARDISes.
The Sixth Doctor once claimed that TARDISes (or other time machines) had to be primed with a Rassilon Imprimatur to enable them to travel safely in time. He said this knowing Stike was nearby, to fool him into letting the Doctor go for a trip in the Sontarans' Kartz-Reimer module. (TV: The Two Doctors)
The Imprimatur mapped Time Lords onto the time vortex as pure mathematics. (PROSE: Interference - Book One)
When a Gallifreyan was granted the rank of Junior Time Lord in the Time Lord Academy, they received their symbiotic nuclei. (PROSE: Interference - Book One)


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This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
Breastfeeding is associated with numerous health benefits to offspring and mothers and may improve maternal-infant bonding. Ample evidence suggests breastfeeding can improve child neurodevelopment, but more research is needed to establish whether breastfeeding is linked to the development of child psychopathology. This paper aims to explore the effects of both breastfeeding and mother-child interactions on child behavioral outcomes at a later age. Children from the China Jintan Child Cohort Study (
Breastfeeding is associated with a wide range of positive health outcomes in children and mothers. For example, a systematic review and meta-analysis of approximately 400 studies found that breastfeeding was related to a reduced risk of acute ear infections, respiratory tract infections, asthma, obesity, type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus, and childhood leukemia [
One particular outcome of interest is that of cognitive development in breastfed children. Breast milk is rich in vital nutrients, such as essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, that are associated with improved cognitive functioning [
Although previous studies have indicated a wealth of nutritional, physiological, and cognitive benefits to children from breastfeeding, little has been done on emotional development and regulation. It is known that childhood internalizing disorders, including depression and anxiety, can affect up to about 20% of children and adolescents [
The purpose of this study is to examine whether breastfeeding was related to fewer internalizing disorders later in childhood in a large, community-based sample of Chinese children and parents, and to understand whether breastfeeding and active bonding (
The current study was part of a larger population-based community cohort study of 1656 Chinese children (55.5% boys, 44.5% girls) initially recruited from four preschools in the town of Jintan, located in the southeastern coastal region of Mainland China. Briefly, all children and parents taking part in the original cohort study were invited to participate for assessment of children's behaviors while the children were in the final few months of their senior year in preschool (Spring 2005 to Spring 2007). At that point, some children dropped out of the study because of changing schools or because bio-markers were not obtained originally; therefore, only 1419 children in the original sample were followed up in the later waves. Detailed sampling and research procedures of this larger cohort study have been described elsewhere [
We excluded the cases where the children are over six years old (there are quite a few because it was late in the school year) for the purpose of this analysis because we are using Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) 1.5 to 5 to measure behavioral outcome. We performed a comparison on measures such as mother's age when the children were born, neighborhood problems, gender, parent's education and occupation prestige, as well as whether parents are separated or divorced, and found there is no difference except the older children tend to be boys and have parents who are less educated. We acknowledge that Chinese tradition prefers to hold boys back in the earlier years of education because of the cultural belief that boys develop and mature later than girls, and that more educated parents would want to place their children in school as early as possible.
The analysis sample consists of 1267 complete data. The mean age of the analysis sample was 66.6 months (SD = 5, range = 50.0–71.9). This is close to the common kindergarten age in the US.
We used the Internalizing Behavior scale from the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL)/1.5-5 as the measure for the dependent variable. The factor structures of CBCL/1.5-5 have been validated in our previous study [
Mothers completed a retrospective questionnaire that asked whether they breastfed (78.3%), used formula (5.6%) or both (16%). In this study, we define exclusive breastfeeding as exclusive for a period of time with a minimum of one month. Non-exclusive breastfeeding is defined to include formula only or mixed methods. Mothers were also asked to report breastfeeding duration in months (mean = 8.79, range 0–24). Duration was categorized into three levels: less or equal to 7 months (25%), between 7 and 10 months (51%) and greater or equal to 10 months (24%).
Mothers were asked a follow-up question for (breast) feeding: "Did you talk to the child while (breast) feeding in the first two years" These responses were: 1 = Never, 2 = Sometimes, 3 = Always. In our study, not all mothers were always talking to the child while breastfeeding. We combined the two measured into one and named it "Feeding types and bonding", reflecting the beneficial effects of both nutritional and active communication. In our sample, we identified four groups. 34.8% of the mothers who always use breast milk and always talk to the child while feeding were classified into Breastfed and Active bonding (group 1); 43.5% who never talk to the child even when they used breast milk were assigned into Breastfed and no Active Bonding (group 2); 9% of the mothers were in the group of Non-breastfed and Active Bonding (group 3), and the final 12.7% in the Non-breastfed and no Active Bonding (group 4).
Parents were asked to fill in a sociodemographic questionnaire at the same time they completed the CBCL when children were six years old. A number of researchers have demonstrated the utility of combining of several individual measurements of psychosocial risk factors in studying child behavior problems [
To test whether there is any social adversity or internalizing behavior score differences between exclusive and non-exclusive breastfeeding groups, independent
To test for the combined effects of feeding and bonding types on internalizing behaviors, a series of analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed. "Feeding and bonding types" was a new variable (four groups defined in the method section) created from the two independent binary variables. It was the grouping variable in ANOVA, and the dependent variables were emotionally reactive, Anxious/Depressed, Somatic Complaints, Withdrawn and total internalizing problems respectively. Omega squared
To test for the effect of social adversity as a potential confound, general linear models were fitted with adversity entered as covariate. The effect moderator of sex was assessed by entering the measure as a factor alongside feeding and bonding type. Gender × breastfeeding and bonding types interaction term was included in the model as well. The interaction effect of breastfeeding types and bonding types was tested in the models besides including these two variables independently in the models. To test for a dose-response relationship between breastfeeding duration and internalizing behavior, the grouping variable of duration took on three levels (≤7 months, 7–10 months and ≥10 months) for univariate ANOVAs. All results were considered significant if
Of the 1267 participants with completed data, 77% exclusively breastfed their babies and 43.4% always talk to their babies while feeding. Mean (SD) scores, effect sizes (Cohen's
ANOVA results showed significant group differences on mean behavior scores for total internalizing (
Demographic and social variables are known to influence breastfeeding and children's behavior. Our study showed that boys were more likely be fed by formula or a mixed method rather than pure breast milk (χ2 = 2.17;
There was no interaction between breastfeeding and bonding grouping and gender (
Univariate ANOVAs (with three groups: 0–7 months, 7–10 months and 10 months duration levers) were conducted on each syndrome and total internalizing scores. Results showed significant main effect for breastfeeding duration on anxious/depression (
Three key findings emerged from this study. First, compared to children whose mothers breastfed them, children who were not breastfed showed an increased number of internalizing behavioral problems, particularly anxious/depressed and somatic symptoms. Second, the group of children whose mothers both breastfed and actively interacted with their infants had the least likelihood of displaying internalizing problems. Children who were not breastfed but whose mothers still engaged in active interactions displayed the next-lowest risk, while being neither breastfed nor exposed to active bonding had the smallest effect on internalizing behaviors. Finally, a duration effect (dosage effect) appeared such that breastfeeding for 10 months or longer had the strongest impact on reducing anxious/depressed and somatic symptoms in children.
Breastfeeding confers a strong biological benefit to infants and their development [
Descriptives of the Breastfeeding and internalizing behavior Outcome (
|Breastfeeding type
|Active bonding
|Exclusive 77%
|Non-exclusive 23%
|Effect Size (Cohen's
|Always 43.4%
|Never/Sometimes 56.6%
|Effect Size (Cohen's
|Emotionally Reactive
|2.63 (2.39)
|2.85 (2.38)
|2.52 (2.30)
|2.82 (2.43)
|3.22 (2.28)
|3.43 (2.30)
|3.13 (2.17)
|3.44 (2.36)
|Somatic Complaints
|2.64 (2.47)
|3.01 (2.34)
|2.60 (2.33)
|2.86 (2.54)
|2.18 (2.34)
|2.43 (2.40)
|1.89 (2.19)
|2.52 (2.44)
|Total Internalizing
|10.66 (7.64)
|11.7 (7.53)
|10.14 (7.05)
|11.63 (7.94)
|Boy %
|Social Adversity
|3.53 (2.03)
|3.48 (2.11)
|3.17 (1.83)
|3.77 (2.15)
Note: significant results were highlighted in bold; \ not available.
Combined Effect of Breastfeeding and Active Bonding on Behavior Problems from ANOVA.
|Group 1
|Group 2
|Group 3
|Group 4
|Exclusive Breastfeeding with Active Bonding 34.8%
|Exclusive Breastfeeding without Active Bonding 43.5%
|Non-exclusive Breastfeeding with Active Bonding 9%
|Non-exclusive Breastfeeding without Active Bonding 12.7%
|Effect Size (omega squared
|Emotionally Reactive
|2.48 (2.30)
|2.73 (2.45)
|2.62 (2.22)
|3.07 (2.50)
|3.11 (2.17)
|3.30 (2.34)
|3.15 (2.15)
|3.71 (2.41)
|Somatic Complaints
|2.56 (2.39)
|2.70 (2.53)
|2.72 (2.14)
|3.27 (2.50)
|1.87 (2.20)
|2.40 (2.41)
|2.13 (2.22)
|2.73 (2.53)
|Total Internalizing
|10.01 (7.21)
|11.12 (7.90)
|10.61 (6.66)
|12.79 (8.14)
Note: significant results were highlighted in bold.
General linear model statistics of breastfeeding type and bonding against internalizing problems, controlling for gender and social adversity.
|Dependent Variables
|Type III Sum of Squares
|Mean square
|Emotionally Reactive
|3, 1255
|3, 1257
|Somatic Complaints
|3, 1258
|3, 1258
|Total Internalizing
|3, 1258
Note: significant results (
Dose-response Relationship between duration of breastfeeding and internalizing behavior. (
It may be that the biological benefit offered to breastfed infants plays a role in healthy cognitive maturation which in turn lowers their risk for psychopathology [
Breastfeeding also provides a biological benefit to the mother by reducing blood pressure and pain [
The attachment aspect of breastfeeding underscores the need to consider its potential mental health benefits. Psychologically, breastfeeding may enhance the mother-infant bonding process via active talking, eye contact, and skin-to-skin touch. This may help mothers form stronger attachments to offspring and improve maternal sensitivity [
Infants may similarly derive a mental health benefit from being breastfed, including development of more secure attachments and reduced negative temperament [
Taken together, these findings underlie a biopsychological aspect of breastfeeding wherein the physiological benefits of breastfeeding (e.g., pain reduction, stress reduction, healthy cognitive development) coupled with improved pair bonding and mother-infant attachments may provide protective effects against the formation of child internalizing behaviors The biopsychosocial interaction may also provide indirect benefits that operate through mediating or moderating variables [
In this study, breastfeeding for a longer duration (at least 10 months) had the greatest effect on reducing internalizing symptoms. This is consistent with other authors who report that longer duration of breastfeeding was associated with greater protection against child mental health problems at age five years [
Some important limitations on the present study's findings exist. First, the use of retrospective data may involve recall bias. However, in the current literature, it is not rare for studies examining breastfeeding practices to use maternal recall data after much longer periods. For example, a study by Promislow looked at maternal recall of breastfeeding duration of elderly US women from 34 to 50 years ago [
These results indicate that children who were breastfed and exposed to active bonding during feeding displayed the lowest risks of internalizing behavior problems at age six years. Increased duration of breastfeeding (≥10 months) could also help lower internalizing problems in children (
This study was supported by funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences/NIH/NIEHS 1-K02-ES-019878 and 1-R01-ES-018858. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.