Heritability of racing performance in the Australian Thoroughbred racing population. (13th November 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Velie, B. D.; Hamilton, N. A.; Wade, C. M.
• Is Part Of: Animal genetics. Volume 46:Number 1(2015:Feb.)
• Page Start: 23
• Page End: 29
• Publication Date: 2014-11-13
• Subjects: Animal genetics -- Periodicals; 572.8
• DOI: 10.1111/age.12234
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0268-9146

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="age12234-abs-0001"> <title>Summary</title> <p>Performance data for 164 046 Thoroughbreds entered in a race or official barrier trial in Australia were provided by Racing Information Services Australia. Analyses estimating the heritability for a range of racing performance traits using a single‐trait animal model were performed using <sc>asreml</sc>‐<sc>r</sc>. Log of cumulative earnings (LCE; 0.19 ± 0.01), log of earnings per race start (0.23 ± 0.02) and best race distance (0.61 ± 0.03) were all significantly heritable. Fixed effects for sex were significant (<italic>P </italic>&lt;<italic> </italic>0.001) for all performance traits aside from LCE (<italic>P </italic>=<italic> </italic>0.382). With the exception of annual earnings, trainer was also significant for all performance traits. As the application of modern genetic selection methodologies continues to gain popularity in the racing industry, contemporary heritability estimates from the current population of Thoroughbreds will play a vital role in identifying which traits are better suited to selection and in the development of more accurate genomic evaluations for racing performance.</p> </abstract>