It's a common misconception that Thoroughbred mares lose their ability to produce successful offspring as they age. Dr. Inoue from Nagoya University conducted a study which suggests that this might not be because the mares are getting older, but because they're often bred to lower-quality or cheap stallions as they age.
Inuoe examined the effect of broodmare age on their offspring's racing performance through two possible lenses: that foals born to older mares are more likely to have skeletal, muscular and cognitive disadvantages (direct effects); or that foals born to older mares are more likely to be affected by the quality of their sires.
Inuoe used the Japan Bloodhorse Breeders' Association website to collect data on 17,885 horses. Information gathered included sex, trainer, training location, breeding farm, breeding farm location, birth year of sire and dam, races, races won, earnings and quality of sire. Sire quality was determined using the average earnings index (AEI) that calculates the average earning of its offspring.
Results showed that the racing performance of horses born to older mares was lower than that of horses born to younger mares, Inuoe said. However, statistical modeling showed that sire quality was significantly associated with the offspring's racing performance – and that broodmare age was not.
The analysis also showed that older broodmares were often bred to stallions of lesser quality.
Inuoe concluded that the sire's quality had an important influence on the offspring's racing performance and that the effect of maternal aging was negligible. The findings suggest that the age of the broodmare did not directly influence the racing performance of offspring and is not reliable for racing predictions.
Read the study here.
Read more at HorseTalk.
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