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welfare. While many horses in other disciplines do not start ridden work until they are around three or four years old, Thoroughbred racehorses are often introduced to training much earlier. A recent study using data from German Thoroughbred racing has explored whether starting training and racing at a young age affects a horse’s racing career.
The research, led by Mailin Hein and colleagues at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover in collaboration with Dr Monica Venner from the Equine Clinic Destedt, analysed historical racing data to investigate whether early training leads to shorter or less successful careers. The team used records from the German Racehorse Association, examining the racing histories of 600 Thoroughbred horses.
Racehorses typically begin training at 18–24 months of age and may race as two-year-olds. However, horses do not reach full skeletal maturity until around six to eight years of age, meaning their bones and joints are still developing during early training. Because of this, some experts question whether starting intense work too early could increase injury risk or shorten a horse’s racing career.
The debate is particularly relevant in Germany. German animal welfare legislation generally prohibits training or competing with horses younger than 30 months, although Thoroughbred racing is currently exempt while researchers investigate the welfare implications of early training.
The researchers carried out a retrospective study, meaning they analysed existing records rather than conducting a new experiment. The 600 horses in the dataset were divided into three groups depending on when they began training and racing:
- Early training / early racing – horses that entered training between 16 and 24 months and raced as two-year-olds
- Early training / late racing – horses trained early but did not race until after the age of two
- Late training – horses that began training later, between 25 and 30 months
The researchers compared several indicators of racing success between the groups. These included career length, performance ratings, total number of races, and lifetime earnings.
One interesting finding was that sex influenced career length. Geldings (castrated male horses) tended to have longer racing careers than other horses. This is likely because stallions and mares may retire earlier to enter breeding programmes, while geldings do not have this option. Because of this difference, the researchers looked at geldings as a separate group.
Among geldings, horses that started racing at two years old achieved higher maximum performance ratings than those that first raced at three years of age or later. Importantly, the early-racing group did not show shorter racing careers compared with horses that started racing later.
Overall, the study found no evidence that early training or racing at two years old had a negative effect on career length or performance in the horses analysed.
The findings suggest that, at least in this group of German Thoroughbreds, beginning training and racing at a young age did not appear to reduce racing success or shorten careers. However, the researchers emphasise that the results should be interpreted carefully.
Because the study used historical data, it cannot fully explain why some horses started racing earlier than others. For example, horses that mature physically earlier may naturally be selected to race sooner. Horses with health problems may also leave training early and therefore not appear in racing records.
The researchers suggest that future studies should include veterinary records, training information, and management factors, such as housing conditions and workload. Understanding these factors could help scientists evaluate how a horse’s physical development, health, and mental wellbeing influence its ability to cope with early training.
Ultimately, research like this aims to improve the welfare and management of racehorses, helping trainers and veterinarians make evidence-based decisions about when young horses should begin their athletic careers.
For more details, see:
Hein, Mailin, Nina Volkmann, Jeanette Probst, Nicole Kemper, and Monica Venner. 2026.
Thoroughbred Geldings′ Career: Influence of Age at the Start of Training and Racing
Animals 16, no. 4: 576.
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