Estimation of genetic parameters of racing performance in Iranian Thoroughbred horses

Assessment of non-genetic parameters of the racing performances of Arabian and Thoroughbred horses in Algeria

“…It is important to note here that the assessment of the genetic value of breeding animals has been applied to racehorses for many years and in many countries (Chico, 1994;Langlois, 1996;Belhajyahia et al, 2003;Langlois and Blouin, 2004;Sobczynska and Lukaszewicz, 2004;Svobodova et al, 2005;Bokor et al, 2007;Bakhtiari and Kashan, 2009;Orhan and Kaygisiz, 2010). In Algeria, no selection program has been put in place and no assessment of the genetic additive value of breeding animals based on the performance of horses has been carried out till now despite the availability of reliable performance data.…”

“…The selection of animals and the assessment of their breeding values are based on one or several measurable traits expressed during races. A great variety of performance measures have been studied for flat-racing: this includes race times Bakhtiari and Kashan, 2009;Orhan and Kaygisiz, 2010), weight handicap (Langlois, 1980;Tolley et al, 1985), the performance rate (Watanabe, 1974), the final ranking (Belhajyahia et al, 2003;Svobodova et al, 2005;Bakhtiari and Kashan, 2009) and the annual earning as well as the average earning per start (Langlois and Blouin, 1998;Belhajyahia et al, 2003;Svobodova et al, 2005). Estimates of the heritability of traits related to time have been generally low, varying from 0.01 to 0.11 (Chico, 1994;Orhan and Kaygisiz, 2010).…”

“…Estimates of the heritability of traits related to time have been generally low, varying from 0.01 to 0.11 (Chico, 1994;Orhan and Kaygisiz, 2010). Consequently, most recent studies have been centered around traits linked to earnings or rankings, for which heritability (after convenient mathematical transformations) is higher (varying from 0.10 to 0.34), (Belhajyahia et al, 2003;Svobodova et al, 2005;Bakhtiari and Kashan, 2009).…”

“…The raw measures are supposed to reflect not only the genetic potential of the horses but also the environmental conditions (non-genetic factors) in which these observations have been made. Numerous studies have shown that these non-genetic factors strongly influenced the earnings and ranking of horses in flatracing (Langlois and Blouin, 1998;Belhajyahia et al, 2003;Sobczynska and Lukaszewicz, 2004;Svobodova et al, 2005;Bokor et al, 2007;Bakhtiari and Kashan, 2009). In order to be able to estimate the genetic potential (breeding value) of the individuals, it is therefore important to determine the part played by the environment in the performances in the Algerian conditions.…”

Prediction Models for Racing Performance of Domestic Progeny of Thoroughbreds

“…There are many previous studies which estimate genetic parameters and evaluate fixed effects relative to racing performance (Lee et al, 1995;Park and Lee, 1999;Bakhtiari and Kashan, 2009). However, since those literatures focused on estimating the breeding values using animal mixed models, the proper use of statistical analysis has not been applied extensively to identifying the linkage of offspring with their parents for specific characteristics in individuals of differing phenotypes that most affect the progeny's racing performance.…”