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The aim of the study is to investigate the effects of age, sex, running distance and origin of horse on racing speed for Thoroughbred Arabian horse in Tunisia. Although the occidental type is known to be more successful in racing than the Tunisian type, we undertook this study to try to confirm or deny this supremacy for a sample of racehorses born in Tunisia from occidental father. A total of 333 racing records were considered for race performance. The effects of environmental factors on (sex, age, father’s origin, race distance, number of race seasons) race performance were analyzed using the least-squares method(LSM).The racehorses studied were all Arabian Thoroughbred horses in operation at the racecourse of Ksar Said from 2010 to 2020. They are 180 horses, 90 horses born of a Tunisian father, and 90 horses born in Tunisia ofthe occidentalfather. These horses are the best and most successful in their category. The study revealed that the gender and age effectswere statistically insignificant onracingperformance. Race performance was significantly influenced by the distance and the origin of the father which affirms the improving role of the occidentalhorse in the Tunisian population.

A consistently high level of stallion fertility plays an economically important role in modern horse breeding. To better understand the factors affecting variation in stallion fertility, we have performed a statistical analysis study on some breeding factors: year of breeding, stud farm, age of the stallion, number of covered mares per stallion, reproduction methods, and age of the mare. This work was conducted on 94 purebred Arabian stallions in four different regions of Tunisia. The results showed an increase in the number of stallions during the study period, ranging from 11.33% in 2011 to 13.29% in 2018. Sidi Thabet’s stud farm contained the highest number of purebred Arabian stallions. The majority of stallions were between 15 and 21 years old and had covered 1 to 20 mares; 95.19% of stallions were used in natural mating (Nat); 50.36% had low fertility, 17.69% had medium fertility, and 32.3% had excellent fertility according to fertility standards. Depending on the year and stud, there was a variation in fertility per cycle (FERPCE) and end-of-season fertility (FERPSE) of the stallions. The highest average FERPCE and FERPSE values were obtained using artificial insemination with fresh semen (AIF). Analysis of FERPCE and FERPSE showed that the model used in our study explained 40.21% of total variability observations for FERPCE and 42.1% for FERPSE. The used statistical model showed that the breeding year, the stud, the age of the stallion, the number of covered mares by stallions and the method of reproduction significantly affected both FERPCE and FERPSE (with p = 0.001). Low to moderate heritability estimations for FERPCE (hs2 = 0.08) and FERPSE (hes2 = 0.36) were obtained.