Racetrack Condition Affinity: A Heritibility Estimate within the Australian Thoroughbred Racing Population

The ability of a racehorse to consistently perform under varied conditions undoubtedly plays a significant role in the success it will have on the racecourse. As such, racetrack conditions not only influence betting behaviour, but over time have also led to the adoption of certain labels (e.g. mudder, swimmer) to describe horses that perform well under wet racing conditions. In some instances horses have even been branded with these labels based solely on their pedigree. In this study we explore the validity of assigning wet racetrack affinity based on pedigree alone using a sample of horses from the Australian Thoroughbred racing population (n = 31,441). Through the application of an animal model, we estimate the heritability of three traits associated with racetrack condition affinity and explore the effects of gender and trainer on these traits. Our presentation will describe how the three racetrack affinity traits were assessed as well as report the estimates of genetic parameters for these traits.