Early Exercise and Career Length in Thoroughbred Racehorses

New research suggests that exercise early in life has a positive effect on musculoskeletal health and may have a positive impact on the future racing careers of Thoroughbreds.
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New research suggests that exercise early in life has a positive effect on musculoskeletal health and may have a positive impact on the future racing careers of Thoroughbreds.

The study, which was carried out at the Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences at New Zealand's Massey University, looked at the association of 2-year-old training milestones with career length and racing success in a sample of 4,683 Thoroughbred horses in New Zealand.

Retrospective data were obtained from the Thoroughbred foal crop born in 2001-02 and three training milestones were observed: registration with a trainer, training to assess race potential, and racing. The association of the training milestones with career length was measured by assessing the number of race starts and the number of years raced.

The research team found that horses that raced as 2-year-olds had significantly more race starts during their careers from 3-years-old onwards than those first raced as 3-year-olds or older. Horses that raced as 2-year-olds had significantly more years racing. Horses registered with a trainer, trained, or raced as 2-year-olds were more likely to have won or been placed in a race than those that achieved these milestones as 3-year-olds or older. In addition, horses that first trialled and raced as 2-year-olds had greater total earnings than those that first trialled or raced at a later age

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