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Heritability of racing performance in the A ustralian Thoroughbred racing population
Author(s) -
Velie B. D.,
Hamilton N. A.,
Wade C. M.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
animal genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.756
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1365-2052
pISSN - 0268-9146
DOI - 10.1111/age.12234
Subject(s) - heritability , biology , population , earnings , race (biology) , trait , selection (genetic algorithm) , microbiology and biotechnology , demography , zoology , genetics , economics , accounting , botany , artificial intelligence , sociology , computer science , programming language
Summary 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 asreml ‐ r . 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 ( P < 0.001) for all performance traits aside from LCE ( P = 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.