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Home / Equine Research Bank / PLoS One / Influence of broodmare aging on its offspring’s racing...
PloS one2022; 17(7); e0271535; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271535

Influence of broodmare aging on its offspring’s racing performance.

Abstract: Maternal aging has negative influences on the development and racing performance of their offspring in racehorses. However, the mechanism by which pregnancy at old age reduces the race performance of the offspring is unknown. Here, two hypotheses were posited: 1) Foals born to older mares are more likely to have muscular, skeletal, and cognitive disadvantages (direct effects). 2) Foals born to older mares are more likely to be affected by non-physiological factors correlating with the mare's age, such as the quality of sires (e.g. low-quality sires are likely to be chosen as partners of older broodmares). To test these hypotheses, the effect of the broodmare's age on the offspring's racing performance was examined, while controlling for the effects of the stallion's quality, age, and ID, offspring's sex, trainer, and the location of the training center. Information of racehorses registered to the Japan Racing Association were collected from the Japan Bloodhorse Breeders' Association website. Overall, results showed that the racing performance of horses born from older mares was lower than that of horses born from younger mares. However, generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) indicated that the quality of sires was significantly associated with the offspring's racing performance, rather than the broodmare's age itself. Furthermore, the age of broodmares was negatively correlated with the quality of sires, although the variance inflation factor was low. Therefore, the effect of maternal aging was negligible or only limited, and rather, the sire's quality had an important influence on the offspring's racing performance. Low quality sires, or cheap stallions in other words, are likely to be chosen as partners of older blood-mares, which may have reproductive risks such as lower fertility and higher rate of miscarriages. The present study suggests that the conventional belief that racehorses born from older mares show lower performance may not always be accurate.
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Publication Date: 2022-07-21 PubMed ID: 35862341PubMed Central: PMC9302849DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271535Google Scholar: Lookup
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  • Journal Article
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  • Non-U.S. Gov't

Summary

This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.

This study explores the impact of the age of racehorse broodmares on the racing performance of their offspring, suggesting that while offspring of older mares may have lower performance, it is more likely due to non-physiological factors, like the quality of the sire, rather than the age of the motherhorse itself.

Hypotheses and Methodology

  • The researchers had two main hypotheses. The first suggested that foals born to older mares might have physiological disadvantages (e.g., muscular, skeletal, and cognitive issues), caused by the mother’s age. The second posited that non-physiological factors correlated with the mare’s age, such as the quality of sires, might affect the foals’ racing performance.
  • Data for the study were collected from racehorses registered to the Japan Racing Association, sourced from the Japan Bloodhorse Breeders’ Association website. The analysis considered various factors, such as the quality and age of the stallion, the offspring’s sex, trainer, and the location of the training centre, to isolate the effect of the mare’s age on the offspring’s racing performance.

Findings

  • The overall results indicated that racehorses born from older mares performed poorer than those from younger mares. However, when the researchers used generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) for the analysis, they found that the quality of the sire had a significant impact on the offspring’s performance, rather than the age of the broodmare.
  • The researchers also discovered a negative correlation between the age of the broodmares and the quality of the sires, although the variance inflation factor was low. This could be due to the fact that older mares might be paired with lower quality (cheaper) stallions which could also have reproductive risk factors, such as lower fertility and a higher rate of miscarriages.
  • Overall, the impact of maternal aging appeared to be negligible or only limited, and the sire’s quality seemed to be more influential on the offspring’s racing performance.

Conclusions

  • The study concludes that the common belief that older mares produce lower performing offspring might not always be accurate. Instead, other factors such as the quality of the stallions selected to breed with older mares, may have a more significant influence on offspring performance.
  • Therefore, the findings caution against attributing poor offspring performance primarily to broodmare aging.

Cite This Article

APA
Inoue S. (2022). Influence of broodmare aging on its offspring’s racing performance. PLoS One, 17(7), e0271535. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271535

Publication

PloS one
ISSN: 1932-6203
NlmUniqueID: 101285081
Country: United States
Language: English
Volume: 17
Issue: 7
Pages: e0271535
PII: e0271535

Researcher Affiliations

Inoue, Sota
  • Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan.
  • Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.

MeSH Terms

  • Aging / physiology
  • Animals
  • Female
  • Fertility
  • Horses
  • Japan
  • Male
  • Pregnancy

Conflict of Interest Statement

The author have declared that no competing interests exist.

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