Risk factors for interruptions to training occurring before the first trial start of 2-year-old Thoroughbred racehorses.

The research focuses on determining the cause of interruptions in the training of two-year-old Thoroughbred racehorses before their first trials. The study found a correlation between certain risk factors including horse age, days off during training, and gender with the likelihood of interruptions, but the number of high-speed events was not connected with either voluntary or injury-related interruptions.

Research Methodology

• The researchers adopted a prospective cohort study approach and gathered data on two-year-old racehorses over two racing seasons from 14 trainers in New Zealand’s Central and Northern Districts.
• They maintained daily training records for each horse, documenting distances worked at a canter, degree of high-speed exercise, and reasons for breaks in training. The researchers aimed to find associations between these parameters and interruptions in training.

Results

• 205 horses were involved in the study, accumulating 11,051 training days at risk of interruption before the first trial.
• Interruptions occurred in 134 (65.4%) of horses, with 85.8% being voluntary interruptions and 14.2% resulting from musculoskeletal injuries.
• In the final regression model, the researchers found there was a lower risk of voluntary interruptions as the racehorse’s age at the start of training increased. Additional days off during training, however, increased this risk.
• Female gender was shown to lower risk of interruptions due to musculoskeletal injury in comparison to their male counterparts.
• Surprisingly, the number of high-speed events in training showed no association with either voluntary or injury-related interruptions.

Conclusions

• The study successfully identified various horse and training risk factors contributing to interruptions in the training, such as the horse’s age at training inception, the number of off days, and horse gender.
• By bringing to light these modifiable factors, trainers may be better equipped to mitigate the interruptions, which are detrimental in lost training days and related costs.