EQUINOME, the Irish company which developed the speed gene test for racehorses, says it has six new DNA-related tests in development, which it intends to launch over the next two years.

The UCD spin-out company, co-founded by Emmeline Hill and trainer Jim Bolger, also has plans to open an office in the USA next year, having already opened one in Australia.

News that Equinome’s workforce will double to 20 over the next year was released at a ceremony this week in UCD where Dr Hill was presented with the 2014 NovaUCD Innovation Award. The annual award was established in 2004 to highlight the university’s commitment to innovation. The award acknowledges the success of Equinome internationally.

It was Dr Hill’s research which led to the launch in 2010 of the ‘speed gene’ test, a test which identifies whether a young thoroughbred is ideally suited to racing over short, middle or long distances.

Since 2010, the firm has launched two additional tests. The Equinome elite performance test is used to identify horses with the greatest potential for racecourse success while the Equinome projected height test can be used to predict the mature height of a thoroughbred with a high degree of accuracy.

Dr Hill said: “To date thousands of samples from past and future champions have passed through Equinome’s laboratories at UCD on their way to the winning post and I look forward to expanding the use of genetic testing in the global thoroughbred industry in the years ahead.”