Barriers to entering race training before 4 years of age for Thoroughbred horses born in the 2014 Australian foal crop

Abstract

Currently, there is a paucity of data on the barriers for Australian Thoroughbred horses transitioning from stud farm to racetrack. This paper reports the reasons why horses failed to enter race training and documents their exit destinations. Biographical records of Australian Thoroughbred horses born in 2014 were investigated to determine the number of horses that had not officially entered race training by the start of the 4-year old racing season (1 August 2018). Of the 13,677 foals born in 2014, 66% had commenced training and 51% had raced before the beginning of their 4-year-old season in Australia. A sampling frame based on the post code of the premises where foals were born and records from Racing Australia were used to select a geographically representative sample of the 2014 Australian Thoroughbred foal crop (n = 4,124). From the population eligible for sampling 1,275 horses that had not entered training were enrolled in the survey and their breeders were sent an online questionnaire with follow-up phone calls for those who had not responded. Of the 633 responses (50% of 1275) the most frequent outcomes for horses were: death (38%, n = 239), participation in the racing industry in their 4-year old racing season (24%, n = 154) and retirement (16%, n = 100) either as Australian Stud Book (ASB) bloodstock (n = 17), or as horses rehomed outside the Thoroughbred industry (n = 83). Illness or injury was the most frequent reason for horses not entering race training that were ASB bloodstock, rehomed or deceased. There was a loss of traceability at the point of sale with most horses sold at 1 year of age. This study provides important information on the reasons, alternative outcomes and gaps in traceability for horses not entering training prior to the 4-year-old racing season.

Inbreeding depression and the probability of racing in the Thoroughbred horse

“…There are many reasons that a foal may not become a viable racehorse [18][19][20]. However, musculoskeletal fractures are the most common cause of death at all stages of development, training and racing [19], and are a major concern for racehorse welfare.…”

“…In Thoroughbreds, a lower-than-expected mutational load has led to the hypothesis that existing selection processes are effective in purging deleterious mutations [7]. This may be facilitated by the unusually large census population size relative to the effective population size [5]; for instance, although racing is the breeding goal, a high proportion (35-50%) of foals born never race [18][19][20][21][22] and a small proportion enter the breeding population (less than 5% of males and 50% of females). While this selection may purge large-effect mutations it is expected that even at low frequencies, segregation of deleterious alleles within a population with a low effective population size will have consequences for some aspects of population viability [8] and inbreeding depression is likely to be persistent even with ongoing purging [15].…”

Drivers of exit and outcomes for Thoroughbred racehorses participating in the 2017–2018 Australian racing season

“…The welfare of the horses in the care of the TB industry is of considerable interest to the general public, particularly issues related to the reasons that horses remain unraced, the racing of two-year-old horses and the outcomes for horses once they have retired from racing. In Australia, the most commonly reported barrier to entering racing was death which occurred most frequently before 1 year of age [ 8 ]. An Australian study conducted in 2014 investigated destinations and reason for horses leaving the racing stable [ 9 ] finding that 40% of horses left the stable in a year, however some of these exits were likely to be temporary such as spelling or transferred to another trainer.…”

Factors associated with racing performance and career duration for Victorian‐born Thoroughbreds

“…[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Recent Australian studies have quantified the number of TBs born that progress to racing and training, the fate of horses leaving the racing industry and the barriers preventing them from making the transition from the stud farm to racetrack. 16,17 Despite studies reporting a positive association between an earlier onset of racing and an increased racing career duration 7,10,18 there remains opposition to 2-year-old racing and the perception that horses that begin their careers at 2-years of age are too immature to begin racing, or that racing as a 2-year-old reduces the duration of the horse's racing career. 6,15,19 'Poor performance' has been identified as the most frequent reason that horses exit the racing industry.…”