Browsing by Author "Gee EK"
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- ItemA Bioeconomic Model for the Thoroughbred Racing Industry-Optimisation of the Production Cycle with a Horse Centric Welfare Perspective(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2023-01-30) Legg KA; Gee EK; Breheny M; Gibson MJ; Rogers CWThe Thoroughbred racing industry faces new and competing pressures to operate within a modern, changing society. Three major moderators drive the focus and productivity of the industry worldwide: economic sustainability, horse biology and social licence to operate. This review proposes that despite the apparent homogeneity in the structure of racing across jurisdictions due to international regulation of the sport, there are significant differences within each jurisdiction in each of the three moderators. This creates challenges for the comparison of injury risk factors for racehorses within the industry across different jurisdictions. Comparison of the relative distribution of racing and gambling metrics internationally indicates that the Asian jurisdictions have a high focus on gambling efficiency and high economic return of the product, with a high number of starts per horse and the highest relative betting turnover. In contrast, the racing metrics from the USA have proportionally low racing stakes and fewer horses per race. These differences provide insight into the sociology of horse ownership, with a shift from the long-term return on investment held by most jurisdictions to a short-term transitional view and immediate return on investment in others. Wastage studies identify varying risks influenced by the predominant racing culture, training methods, production focus and environment within individual jurisdictions. Increasing societal pressure to maintain high racehorse welfare and reduce the negative impact of gambling poses fluctuating risks to each jurisdiction's social licence to operate. Based on the data presented within this review, the authors propose that the use of a bioeconomic model would permit consideration of all three moderators on industry practice and optimisation of the jurisdiction-specific production cycle with a horse-centric welfare perspective.
- ItemPreliminary Examination of the Biological and Industry Constraints on the Structure and Pattern of Thoroughbred Racing in New Zealand over Thirteen Seasons: 2005/06-2017/18(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2021-10) Legg KA; Gee EK; Cochrane DJ; Rogers CW; Peterson MThis study aimed to examine thirteen seasons of flat racing starts (n = 388,964) in the context of an ecological system and identify metrics that describe the inherent characteristics and constraints of the New Zealand Thoroughbred racing industry. During the thirteen years examined, there was a 2-3% per year reduction in the number of races, starts and number of horses. There was a significant shift in the racing population with a greater number of fillies (aged 2-4 years) having a race start, and subsequent longer racing careers due to the inclusion of one more racing preparation post 2008 (p < 0.05). Additionally, there was an increasingly ageing population of racehorses. These changes resulted in more race starts in a career, but possibly because of biological constraints, there was no change in the number of race starts per season, starts per preparation, or days spelling between preparations (p < 0.05). There was no change in the proportion of horses having just one race start (14% of new entrants), indicating that the screening for suitability for a racing career remained consistent. These data identify key industry parameters which provide a basis for future modelling of intervention strategies to improve economic performance and reduce horse injury. Consideration of the racing industry as a bio-economic or ecological model provides framework to test how the industry may respond to intervention strategies and signal where changes in system dynamics may alter existing risk factors for injury.
- ItemReproductive production constraints within the New Zealand racing industry(2016) Rogers CWW; Gee EK; Bolwell CFThe New Zealand Thoroughbred industry has seen rationalisation in response to changes in the domestic market and more recently the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). To quantify changes in production, end-of-season reproductive data for active Thoroughbred sires were extracted for the 1989/90 to 2011/12 breeding seasons. There were reductions in the numbers of mares bred and foals produced (10,176 mares & 5,882 foals vs. 5,826 mares & 3,927 foals, respectively in 1989/90 and 2011/12 seasons) resulting in a greater relative proportion of foals registrations (57% vs. 67%). During this period, the number of active sires decreased (265 vs. 94) and number of mares per sire increased (33 IQR 18-53 vs. 49 29-91). The 2007/08 season (GFC) was associated with an acute reduction in the number of shuttle stallions imported for breeding (from 23% in 2006/07 to 11% of active sires in 2007/08), and a temporary increase in number of mares bred (13%), in response to the 2007 Equine Influenza outbreak in Australia. The proportion of sires covering >100 mares per season increased from 6% (1989/90) to 25% (2011/12). Despite the reduction in active broodmares during the same period (43%), there has not been a proportional decrease in export numbers (24%) or domestic numbers of horses racing (6.5%).
- ItemThe Reporting of Racehorse Fatalities in New Zealand Thoroughbred Flat Racing in the 2011/12-2021/22 Seasons(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2023-02-09) Gibson MJ; Legg KA; Gee EK; Rogers CW; Hitchens PL; Morrice-West A; Wong ARace day fatalities as a consequence of catastrophic musculoskeletal injury and cardiac failure are both a welfare concern and provide a challenge for the social perceptions of equine welfare within the racing industry. To reduce race day fatalities, the risk factors under New Zealand racing conditions need to be identified. The aim of this study was to examine race and horse-level risk factors for fatalities in New Zealand Thoroughbred flat racing using retrospective race day data from the 2011/12-2021/22 racing seasons. Horse and race-level factors associated with a suspected cardiac failure and fatal fracture were identified by merging fatality data with the master race dataset for the corresponding seasons. Most fatalities were associated with fatal fracture (0.4 per 1000 starts, 95% CI 0.4-0.5). Horses which raced over distances > 1600 m were 1.7 times (95% CI 1.2-2.5) more likely to sustain a fatal fracture than horses racing ≤ 1600 m. Male horses and firmer track conditions were also associated with an increase in the risk of fatal fracture. Horses aged 5 years and older were 2.1 (95% CI 1.1-4.6) times more likely to suffer a suspected cardiac failure than younger horses. Changes in the industry reporting system improved the level of detail provided for fatalities, enabling the identification of specific risk factors.