Dataset Information

Longitudinal trends in the frequency of medium and fast race winning times in Australian harness racing: Relationships with rules moderating whip use.

ABSTRACT: The use of whips in racing is subject to current debate, not least because the prospect that fatigued horses cannot respond renders the practice futile and inhumane. The racing industries maintain whip use is a form of encouragement and that the rules of racing that govern whip use safeguard horse welfare. The current study examined longitudinal trends in the frequency of medium and fast race winning times in Australian harness racing between September 2007 and August 2016 to explore relationships with a series of changes that moderated whip use. The first change, introduced January 2010, moderated whip action so that horses were struck with less force. Subsequent amendments reversed this change for the final 200m of the race except in one racing jurisdiction. However, those amendments were eventually reversed, restoring the first rule change in all geographic locations. Despite whip use being regulated from January 2010, a long-term trend of increased frequency of both fast and medium winning times over 1609m (~1 mile) was noted. Even after adjusting for this trend, all whip handling codes were associated with greater odds of winning times being less than 1:55 minutes compared with the pre-2010 period. A similar finding for times less than 2:00 minutes did not reach statistical significance. Additionally, the periods immediately before and after introducing the most stringent regulations were compared. This revealed that, when introduced in 2010, these regulations were associated with faster winning times. Their re-introduction in 2016, was associated with no significant differences. Despite concerns that tightening of whip regulations might reduce performance, none of our analyses revealed any significant reduction in either fast or medium winning times in races following the tightening of regulations governing the use of the whip. These findings question the putative need for whips to improve racing performance.

SUBMITTER: Wilson B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5841648 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Longitudinal trends in the frequency of medium and fast race winning times in Australian harness racing: Relationships with rules moderating whip use.

Wilson Bethany B Jones Bidda B McGreevy Paul P

PloS one 20180307 3

The use of whips in racing is subject to current debate, not least because the prospect that fatigued horses cannot respond renders the practice futile and inhumane. The racing industries maintain whip use is a form of encouragement and that the rules of racing that govern whip use safeguard horse welfare. The current study examined longitudinal trends in the frequency of medium and fast race winning times in Australian harness racing between September 2007 and August 2016 to explore relationshi ...[more]

PMID: 29513660

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundFor medication control in several jurisdictions, withdrawal time is the period of refrain from racing after drug administration. It is set by adding a safety period to an experimental detection time. However, there are no reports of statistical analyses of detection time for the determination of withdrawal time in flunixin meglumine-treated horses.ObjectiveTo analyse the population pharmacokinetics of flunixin in horses through the generation of a dataset for detection time statistical analysis and predictions via Monte Carlo simulation.Study designExperimental study.MethodsDrug plasma and urine concentrations following single intravenous administration of flunixin 1.1 mg/kg bodyweight (BW) in 10 horses and multiple administration of q 24 hours for 5 days in 10 horses were measured using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Data were modelled using a nonlinear mixed effect model followed by Monte Carlo simulation. Irrelevant plasma concentration (IPC) and irrelevant urine concentration (IUC) were calculated using the Toutain approach. Detection times were obtained considering the time after the last administration for selected quantiles of 5000 hypothetical horses under the international screening limit (ISL) proposed by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (plasma: 1 ng/mL, urine; 100 ng/mL).ResultsFor a regimen of 1.1 mg/kg BW q 24 hours, the IPC and IUC values were 2.0 and 73.0 ng/mL respectively. Detection times in plasma above the ISL for 90% of simulated horses were estimated as 74 hours after a single 1.1 mg/kg dose administration, 149 and 199 hours after multiple doses over 5 days at either 24- or 12-hour intervals respectively. Corresponding detection times in urine were 46, 68 and 104 hours respectively.Main limitationOnly female horses were investigated.ConclusionsStatistical detection times for different flunixin meglumine regimens indicated a delay of detection time in plasma after multiple administrations under ISL.

Dataset Information

Longitudinal trends in the frequency of medium and fast race winning times in Australian harness racing: Relationships with rules moderating whip use.

Publications

Longitudinal trends in the frequency of medium and fast race winning times in Australian harness racing: Relationships with rules moderating whip use.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets