Heart Rates and Blood Lactate Response in Thoroughbred Horses during a Race

Abstract

We measured the heart rate before, during and after a 1200-m race, and blood lactate concentration at 10 min after a race in 23 Thoroughbred horses. The heart rate increased when horses were walking through the underground passage and after the jockeys mounted them in the paddock, even though there was no increase in exercise intensity. During the canter from the exit of the underground passage to the starting stalls, the heart rate increased to a peak value of 194.0 ± 2.0 (mean ± SE) beat/min, which was equivalent to 91.1 ± 0.8% of the maximal racing heart rate. In the starting stalls immediately before the start of the race, the heart rate was 171.4 ± 5.3 beat/min. The peak value of the heart rate (HR peak ) during the race was 213.6 ± 1.7 beat/min, and the time taken to reach 95% of HR peak was 12.4 ± 1.8 sec. The blood lactate concentration after the race was 22.5 ± 0.6 mmol/l. The mean speed of the horses was 15.9 ± 0.0 m/s, which was similar to those of 3-year-olds in maiden races. These data could be useful for planning training strategies for Thoroughbred horses.

Distance exercised during submaximal training on race winnings for Thoroughbred racehorses

“…During exercise, lactate increases in the blood stream once the production exceeds its utilization and elimination (FERRAZ et al, 2008). The lactatemia observed in the present study was lower than the concentration found by MUKAI et al (2007), who evaluated exercise intensity in simulated races of 1200m on a sandy track with mean velocities of 15m s -1 and lactatemia of 22.5±0.6mmol L -1 .…”

The workload and plasma ion concentration in a training match session of high‐goal (elite) polo ponies

“…In comparing the effort exerted by horses in this training session of elite polo with other equestrian modalities and pointing out the changes in some variable such as pH, PCO 2 , lactate and glycaemia, similarities are noted with 3‐day event horses (Foreman et al . 1999) and racehorses (Davie and Evans 2000; Mukai et al . 2007).…”

Effects of three warm‐up regimens of equal distance onV̇o2kinetics during supramaximal exercise in Thoroughbred horses

“…2000). However, warm‐up routines usually performed in conjunction with Thoroughbred races in Japan, which increase heart rates ( HR ) of racehorses over 90% of their maxima (Mukai et al . 2007), are typically more intense than those described in previous studies of warm‐up effects (McCutcheon et al .…”