Champagne: look at the skin and eyes too
The SLC36A1 gene and its Champagne version, Ch
Champagne lightens red and black pigment and also affects skin and eye color. A golden body alone is not enough to identify it.
Explanations and diagrams reviewed on 3 November 2026
How the base changes the result
On a chestnut base, Champagne often produces golden tones. Bay tends toward amber and black toward brown or taupe. The usual names are gold, amber and classic Champagne: they describe different bases, not three separate Champagne genes.
Adults often have pink-lavender skin with darker freckles and amber or hazel eyes. Foals can look different from adults. These clues help compare Champagne with other dilutions, but appearances overlap.
What Ch and N describe
SLC36A1 is the scientific symbol for the gene involved. The Champagne version, written Ch, changes one amino acid—a building block of the protein made from the gene’s instructions. This kind of DNA change is called a missense variant.
A horse receives one version from each parent. In this test, N means no detected Champagne variant on that copy. N/N has none, N/Ch has one and Ch/Ch has two. One Ch is enough for the dilution to appear: that is what dominant means here. N does not mean that the gene itself is absent.
Example: how a parent passes Ch
A tested N/Ch parent can pass N or Ch. With an N/N mate, every foal has a 50% chance of N/Ch and 50% of N/N. A Ch/Ch parent passes Ch to every foal.
With two N/Ch parents, the chances are 25% N/N, 50% N/Ch and 25% Ch/Ch at each conception. The figures do not promise an exact distribution among four foals, or a particular adult shade, pattern of freckles or eye color.
When another dilution is present
Cream, Dun or white spotting can coexist with Champagne and change what you see. An ambiguous pale coat is best interpreted by considering the base and plausible dilutions together.
The DNA test identifies the Champagne variant it examines. It does not explain every detail of the horse’s appearance or rule out other color variants.
An example: what could this foal inherit?
SLC36A1
Both demonstration horses have the exact pair shown. These examples explain inheritance; they do not use the mare and stallion entered in the calculator.
MareN/Ch
StallionN/Ch
All possible pairs at each conception
- N/N25%
Two copies of N
- N/Ch50%
One N and one Ch
- Ch/Ch25%
Two copies of Ch
Where the explanations come from
Laboratory resources explain which variants are tested and how to read their results. Research papers describe the evidence, discoveries and remaining uncertainties. Each article links its explanations to the relevant sources. Published titles stay in their original language so you can find the exact work.
1 · Laboratory explanation
UC Davis VGL — Champagne2 · Research paper
Cook et al. (2008) — SLC36A1 and champagne dilution