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Background: Certain stride characteristics have been shown to affect changes in biomechanical factors that are associated with injuries in human athletes. Determining the relationship between stride characteristics and musculoskeletal injury (MSI) may be key in limiting injury occurrence in the racehorse. Objectives: This study aimed to determine whether changes in race day speed and stride characteristics over career race starts are associated with an increased risk of MSI in racehorses. Study design: Case–control study. Methods: Speed, stride length, and stride frequency data were obtained from the final 200 m sectional of n = 5660 race starts by n = 584 horses (case n = 146, control n = 438). Multivariable joint models, combining longitudinal and survival (time to injury) analysis, were generated. Hazard ratios and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) are presented. Results: The risk of MSI increased by 1.18 (95% CI 1.09, 1.28; P < 0.001) for each 0.1 m/s decrease in speed and by 1.11 (95% CI 1.02, 1.21; P = 0.01) for each 10 cm decrease in stride length over time (career race starts). A more marked rate of decline in speed and stride length was observed approximately 6 races prior to injury. Risk of MSI was highest early in the horse's racing career. Main limitations: Only final sectional stride characteristics were assessed in the model. The model did not account for time between race starts. Conclusions: Decreasing speed and stride length over multiple races is associated with MSI in racehorses. Monitoring stride characteristics over time may be beneficial for the early detection of MSI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: With each stride, galloping horses generate large skeletal loads which influence bone physiology, and may contribute to musculoskeletal injury. Horse speed and stride characteristics are related, but the usefulness of using horse speed and distance travelled as a proxy for stride characteristics is unknown. Objectives: We aimed to determine stride characteristics, their variance and their relationship with speed in horses performing maximally. Study design: Retrospective cross‐sectional analysis of archived data. Methods: Stride characteristics obtained using GPS and inertial sensors in Thoroughbred horses were retrieved. Data per 200 m race segment ('sectionals') for horses competing in races (N = 25,259 race starts) were analysed to determine if speed predicted stride parameters. Multivariable mixed‐effects linear regression models were fitted. Results: Mean (±SD) stride length, stride count (number of strides per 200 m), duration and speed were 7.08 ± 0.39 m, 28.32 ± 1.56 strides/200 m, 0.43 ± 0.02 s/stride and 16.63 ± 1.04 m/s across all sectionals and starts. Speed and stride length decreased, and stride count increased with race progression (P < 0.001). Male sex, greater race distance, better finishing position and firmer track surfaces were associated with less strides per 200 m and longer stride durations. Main limitations: Lack of an independent party validation of the measurement system used in this study. Conclusions: There was a substantial inter‐horse variation in stride parameters, with speed predicting half or less of this variation. Speed alone does not fully explain stride characteristics in horses. Future studies aimed at investigating the impact of gait on bone biology and pathology would benefit from accounting for stride characteristics (eg length and duration). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Training workloads influence the risk of injury for racehorses, but veterinary advice to trainers is unlikely to be followed if it is associated with reduced racehorse performance, and thus their profitability. We therefore investigated whether the intended training programs for healthy horses was associated with the rate of wins, places and prizemoney earnt per start for Thoroughbred trainers in Victoria, Australia. Intended training workload was not associated with trainer prizemoney when other factors were taken into account, but more frequent rest breaks were associated with greater prizemoney per start earnt in the previous season. Intended trainer programs with moderate galloping distances as horses gain fitness for racing (i.e., not too high or too low compared to their peers), and moderate time between race starts were associated with better rates of wins and places. Workload associations with injury risk warrant further investigation, but these finding suggest that there is considerable scope for future modification of training workloads without negatively impacting trainer success rates and prizemoney earnings. Understanding the relationship between the training practices of Thoroughbred racehorses and race performance is important to ensure advice given to trainers for injury prevention or management is practical and consistent. We assessed associations between intended volume and speed of gallop training (i.e., typical workloads for horses free of injury or other performance limiting conditions) and rest practices on official trainer career and previous season success rates (rate of wins and places, prizemoney per start). Sixty-six Australian Thoroughbred trainers were surveyed. Multivariable negative binomial regression models were employed for the outcomes career and previous season wins and places, and linear regression models for prizemoney per start. Intended training workload was not associated with prizemoney. Pre-trial total galloping distances (≥13.3 m/s) between 7500 m and 15,000 m were associated with a higher rate of career wins, and previous season wins and places per start (p < 0.05). Slow-speed (13.3–14.3 m/s) galloping distance to trial between 5000 m to 12,500 m was associated with higher rate of career placings per start, with reduced performance over 12,500 m (p = 0.003). Greater time between race starts was associated with a greater rate of previous season wins and prizemoney per start until three weeks between starts, with decline in performance thereafter (p < 0.05). Greater frequency of rest breaks was associated with greater prizemoney per start earnt in the previous season (p ≤ 0.01). These results suggest that modifications to training programs aimed at injury prevention, such as avoiding long galloping distances, should not adversely affect trainer success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Musculoskeletal injury rates for Thoroughbred racehorses in training and racing differ between racing jurisdictions. The aetiology of these injuries is multifactorial, but one potentially important and modifiable risk factor is the track surface on which horses train. However, the extent to which different track surfaces are used by trainers has not been clearly established. Similarly, the extent of use of alternatives to ridden exercise between different jurisdictions is unknown. Trainers in Victoria, Australia, use a combination of turf, sand, synthetic and dirt training track surfaces. Sand or synthetic surfaces were most commonly used for slow workouts and turf or synthetic tracks for fast workouts. A high proportion of trainers raced horses on surfaces that were not regularly used for training, and 89% of trainers used alternative exercise methods in addition to overground ridden workouts. Determining types of surfaces and alternatives to ridden exercise used during training, and to what extent they are used, is the first step in understanding their association with the risk of injury. The future aim is mitigating injury risk by recommending safer track surfaces. Little is known about the types of surfaces used during training of Thoroughbred racehorses or methods of exercise used in addition to ridden track-work. Our aims were to (1) describe the types of surfaces used in the training of Thoroughbred racehorses and to (2) identify alternative approaches used to exercise horses in addition to, or in place of, ridden overground track-work. Information regarding surface and alternative exercise methods was collected as part of an in-person survey of training practices of 66 registered Thoroughbred trainers in Victoria, Australia. Sand and synthetic surfaces were used by 97% and 36% of trainers respectively for slow-workouts, with galloping on turf training tracks used in training regimens by 82% and synthetic by 58% of trainers. Of those trainers utilising turf tracks, only 34% of gallop training was completed on turf despite turf being the predominant racing surface. Almost 90% of trainers used alternatives to ridden exercise. There is substantial variation in training surface used and alternative types of exercise undertaken by Victorian trainers. Future research should focus on how such practices relate to injury risk, particularly as it relates to the importance of musculoskeletal adaptation to specific race-day surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]