Background: There are no reports on the number of fatalities or causes of death in the Norwegian and Swedish harness racehorses.
Objectives: The incidence rates (IRs), risk factors, and postmortem findings in horses that died or were euthanized associated with racing between 2014 and 2019 were investigated.
Animals: Thirty-eight Standardbreds and 10 Norwegian-Swedish Coldblooded Trotters died or were euthanized associated with racing.
The Swedish-Norwegian Coldblooded trotter (CBT) is a local breed in Sweden and Norway mainly used for harness racing. Previous studies have shown that a mutation from cytosine (C) to adenine (A) in the doublesex and mab-3 related transcription factor 3 (DMRT3) gene has a major impact on harness racing performance of different breeds. An association of the DMRT3 mutation with early career performance has also been suggested.
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