Seasonal fluctuations in body weight during growth of Thoroughbred racehorses during their athletic career

BMC Veterinary Research

Table 1 Distribution of horses by age and sex competing in Japan Racing Association races, by month

Age (y)	Sex	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December
2	Male						1480	4378	6067	7037	9303	12,702	13,493
	Gelding						(14) ^a	(40)^a	(51)^a	(53)^a	102	174	218
	Female						1121	3218	4632	5160	6436	8816	9283
3	Male	14,801	13,914	17,045	16,342	17,386	14,659	13,957	13,166	11,475	8600	6948	6797
	Gelding	281	291	435	435	551	505	553	605	493	333	225	273
	Female	10,311	9729	12,636	12,262	13,059	11,139	11,905	12,043	10,003	5860	4194	3764
4	Male	6699	5893	7353	6775	6925	6052	6233	5683	5104	5876	5957	5598
	Gelding	278	279	375	344	375	348	369	374	334	408	399	423
	Female	3471	3144	4025	3702	3957	3430	4117	4044	3308	3421	3303	3089
5	Male	5326	4725	5623	4872	5078	4033	3811	3250	3071	3808	3850	3744
	Gelding	362	347	392	394	456	339	324	350	320	397	381	373
	Female	2602	2358	2790	2470	2631	1967	2161	2190	1782	1888	1803	1690
6	Male	3299	2889	3219	2857	2914	2211	2218	1857	1539	1939	2036	1936
	Gelding	289	260	324	276	293	256	271	253	205	253	230	255
	Female	1309	1159	1193	796	752	573	632	618	536	554	510	451
7	Male	1635	1423	1548	1366	1391	1081	1019	853	654	854	883	791
	Gelding	187	151	212	162	157	136	133	118	97	122	129	116
	Female	339	261	271	194	191	136	171	150	101	118	113	97

^aThe data for 2-year-old geldings between June and September were not used for the seasonal-trend decomposition analysis because of the small sample size

ISSN: 1746-6148