Foals given more pasture time and later weaning earn more money
Veterinary researchers in the UK have given a new insight into the demanding husbandry needed to transform thoroughbred foals into racehorses. Picture: Healy Racing
Stud farms with their fine houses, post-and-rail paddocks, beech hedges, and state-of-the-art equestrian facilities and stables may seem far removed from the ups and downs of farming. However, veterinary researchers in the UK have given a new insight into the demanding husbandry needed to transform thoroughbred foals into racehorses.
The reality, according to industry-level analyses, suggests that one third of the UK and Ireland thoroughbred foal crop fails to enter racehorse training, raising concerns around wastage of these valuable blue-blooded animals.
To investigate this wastage, researchers looked at births on stud farms across the UK and Ireland in 2019 and 2020. From 272 live-born foals, 262 were alive at the end of their second year. Of these, 94.7% (248 foals) were registered with a licensed racehorse trainer, and 79% had raced at least once.
Of the 41 failing to race, 14 had left the industry, 12 remained in training, eight died, and seven were at stud.
Of the 14 failing to enter training, three were at stud, two died, and one was in pre-training.
This left just eight individuals, all sold as foals or yearlings, of which five had been named, and three were exported with no traceable fate or destination.
The research was carried out by experts at the UK’s Royal Veterinary College and the Baker Institute for Animal Health in the College of Veterinary Medicine in Cornell University, USA. The findings were welcome in suggesting that wastage may be lower than the industry-level figures suggest.
And the researchers went on to closely follow the careers of 129 flat race bred thoroughbred foals on six stud farms across the UK, from birth into training for racing.
Their main finding from this comprehensive evaluation was that thoroughbred foals given extensive turnout in larger pastures during their first six months of life, and those weaned later, are more likely to go on to race, compete more often, and earn more prize money.
Race performance records up to the end of their fourth year of life were used to arrive at this conclusion.
The investigation started with each dam’s reproductive history, and collecting details of her health and management during pregnancy, along with daily records of the foal’s health and management from birth until they left the stud farm.
Training, race performance, sales and export data, and reasons for individuals failing to meet career milestones were collected from stud and veterinary records, follow-up with owners and trainers, stud book and racing authorities’ databases, and publicly available data.
Published in the , the findings demonstrate that the first six months of life is a critical period of development in thoroughbreds, during which it is essential that turnout and weaning practices provide sufficient opportunity for positive tissue adaptation and optimal development.
Breeders are therefore encouraged to maximise turnout whenever possible, and to consider weaning after this critical period.
Rebecca Mouncey, a veterinary surgeon and post-doctoral research fellow at the RVC, said: “This study is the first of its type to evaluate the effect of early-life experiences on later-life performance in thoroughbred racehorses”.
The findings will help stud farms to retain thoroughbreds within the industry and achieve their maximum athletic potential.
The key findings include that: Foals that spent more time turned out at pasture in the first six months of life, and foals that were weaned at an older age were more likely to race at least once by the end of their fourth year of life.
The older the foals were at weaning, the greater the number of race starts they made.
Foals that were turned out in larger paddocks during the first six months of life earned more prizemoney.
