Breeding | Horse Racing Free Tips

IFHA: Owners A Chief Concern Internationally As COVID-19 Pandemic Continues

As racing jurisdictions around the world continue to wade through the complexities of the COVID-19 pandemic, international authorities agree that one of the biggest concerns they have is keeping owners engaged during this unpredictable time.

The 54th International Conference of Horseracing Authorities concluded last week with its fourth and final digital session asking racing authorities to look to the future after a rollercoaster year that saw racing suspended or altered in most places.

The biggest theme across two virtual panels was a concern about whether owners would remain engaged during a time when their ability to attend races or workouts has been limited in most places. Economic hardship has come to many people of course, which may also factor into a reduced interest in spending money buying, racing, or breeding horses.

A shrinking international foal crop was already a worry, especially for places like Hong Kong, which relies completely on imports to sustain its racing population. The pandemic has put a more glaring spotlight on the potential ramifications of this continued shrinkage. Of course, the full effects of the pandemic can't be felt for several more years, and panelists said they didn't necessarily expect to see drastic changes for the 2021 foal crop. As the years go on however, tracks and regulatory authorities will need to make changes to keep field sizes sustainable and the wagering product attractive if the population shrinks.

Tracks which rely on high-attendance events should be particularly cautious of the future, also — it's possible that even once a vaccine is developed for the novel coronavirus, some people may be wary of gathering in groups of thousands. Panelists from Britain and Hong Kong agreed that in the meantime, they believe it's important to show customers stuck at home that they take public health seriously and to instill a sense of trust before they actually ask them to come back to the facility in large numbers.

Catch a replay of the two panels below.

The post IFHA: Owners A Chief Concern Internationally As COVID-19 Pandemic Continues appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

The Need For Speed: Genetic Editing Can Create Faster Horses

Argentinian researchers have created horse embryos after editing a specific speed gene with CRISPR/Cas9 technology. Drs. Lucia Natalia Moro, Diego Luis Viale, Juan Ignacio Bastón, Victoria Arnold, Mariana Suvá, Elisabet Wiedenmann, Martín Olguín, Santiago Miriuka and Gabriel Vichera are hopeful that the new technology will create horses with improved athletic ability; it could also be used to correct genetic defects that cause equine disease.

The scientists were successful in removing the myostatin gene, which inhibits skeletal muscle mass development. This gene plays a significant role in gene-based distance aptitude of racehorses. Their gene editing techniques achieved 96.2 percent efficacy.

The team noted that additional research to determine an efficient manner of editing embryos was needed before this technique could be used to improve the athletic performance of horses. The team's long-term goal is to identify alleles that give a horse a natural sporting advantage and then incorporate them to allow other horses the same characteristics. They consider this technique a precision breeding strategy as it can deliver results to only one generation.

Read the full study here.

Jockey Club Projects Foal Crop of 19,200 in 2021

The Jockey Club is estimating that the 2021 North American Foal crop will be 19,200, which would mark the first time since 1965 that the number has been below 20,000.

The Jockey Club released the projections Wednesday, some three weeks later than normal. The delay was to allow farms that have been affected by the coronavirus more time to submit their reports of mares bred.

The North American foal crop hit an all-time high in 1986 when 51,296 horses were born. By 2006, it was down to 38,104 and with the exception of 2015, when there was a slight uptick in the numbers, the foal crop has declined every year since. Based on the Jockey Club’s projections, the foal crop in 2021 will be about half of what it was in 2006.

Wirth the 2020 foal crop estimated at 20,500, the 2021 number equals a decline of 7.3%.

The North American foal crop numbers include horses bred in Puerto Rico and Canada. The Jockey Club did not release a separate number for the U.S. foal crop, which was estimated to be 18,950 on 2020.

The post Jockey Club Projects Foal Crop of 19,200 in 2021 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Is Racing ‘Natural?’ Industry Participants And Animal Advocates Respond

Thoroughbred industry participants and animal welfare advocates often have differing views over how natural racing truly is. Those involved in the racing industry often say that “horses love to race,” even when presented with equine behaviors that don't support this idea. Industry enthusiasts also tend to claim that horses are hardwired to run if given the opportunity. This claim is unsubstantiated as horses in the wild spend the majority of their time grazing and walking, rarely galloping, researchers report.

University of Sydney researcher Dr. Iris Bergmann notes that the equation between horses moving freely and the regimented training protocol many racehorses undergo seems to be flawed. Bergmann created a study, recently published in the peer-reviewed, open-access journal Animals, in which researchers interviewed nine Thoroughbred senior and executive-level industry participants from the United States and Australia, as well as from one international organization. Seven people affiliated with animal advocacy groups also participated. They were from Australia, Britain and the United States.

Bergmann showed each participant four racing-related images (which can be seen here) and sought their opinions. She found that the people involved in the racing industry used assumptions of Thoroughbred nature as explanations for their expressions and behaviors; for example, that the horses are “hot” and needed various methods and means to control them.

For Bergmann, this implies that those involved in the industry normalize and occasionally downplay the behavior and expression of Thoroughbreds. Industry participants viewed the images they were shown more as visual issues than equine welfare problems, holding to the idea that the horse is actually excited and ready to race. Bergmann notes that this reaction is consistent with the view that racing is a natural activity for Thoroughbreds.

Study participants from the animal welfare organizations felt that Thoroughbreds have become a product of human breeding. These individuals viewed the images as expressions of stress and anxiety. They reported that they felt these horses were “hot” because of the practices used on them to encourage them to race. These advocates also cited a problem with the images, but they feel it involved the lack of public visibility of other welfare issues facing racing Thoroughbreds.

Bergmann's study concluded that the way “naturalness” for horses is viewed directly impacts the welfare of racing Thoroughbreds; the problem is much broader than what those involved in the industry consider attention-worthy. Bergmann believes that the industry's limited interest in addressing common handling, training and racing practices poses significant threats to Thoroughbred welfare and questions the legitimacy of the industry as a whole.

Read the full study here.