Carotene

The term carotene (also carotin, from the Latin carota, "carrot") is used for many related unsaturated hydrocarbon substances having the formula C₄₀H_x, which are synthesized by plants but in general cannot be made by animals (with the sole known exception of some aphids and spider mites which acquired the synthetic genes from fungi). Carotenes are photosynthetic pigments important for photosynthesis. Carotenes contain no oxygen. They absorb ultraviolet, violet, and blue light and emit orange or red light, and (in low concentrations) yellow light.

Carotenes are responsible for the orange colour of the carrot, for which this class of chemicals is named, and for the colours of many other fruits and vegetables (for example, sweet potatoes, chanterelle and orange cantaloupe melon). Carotenes are also responsible for the orange (but not all of the yellow) colours in dry foliage. They also (in lower concentrations) impart the yellow coloration to milk-fat and butter. Omnivorous animal species which are relatively poor converters of coloured dietary carotenoids to colourless retinoids have yellowed-coloured body fat, as a result of the carotenoid retention from the vegetable portion of their diet. The typical yellow-coloured fat of humans and chickens is a result of fat storage of carotenes from their diets.

Carotene (horse)

Carotene (foaled 1983 in Ontario) is a Canadian Thoroughbred Hall of Fame racehorse who holds the filly or mare record for winning the most Sovereign Awards. Bred by David Willmot's Kinghaven Farms, she was a daughter of the British sire Great Nephew, who also sired Epsom Derby winners Grundy and Shergar. Carotene's dam was Carrot Top, a mare David Willmot purchased in foal from the Whitney family at the 1982 dispersal sale of their bloodstock in the United Kingdom.

Racing career

1985 & 1986 Racing Seasons

Carotene was trained by Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee Roger Attfield and raced from a base at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto. In 1985, the two-year-old filly won her only start. The following year, she won the Toronto Cup Stakes, and the Wonder Where Stakes. She ran second in the 1986 E. P. Taylor Stakes and after going to California to race, finished third in the Yellow Ribbon Stakes at Santa Anita Park.

In the 1986 Canadian Triple Crown races for three-year-olds dominated by males, she finished second to Golden Choice in the Prince of Wales Stakes on dirt, then under jockey Richard Dos Ramos won the third and longest leg of the series run on turf, the 1½ mile Breeders' Stakes. Sent to Japan for the 1986 Japan Cup, Carotene finished ninth to winner Jupiter Ireland.