Does a tattoo on the lip of a TB mean it has raced, or are some TBs tattooed even if they have not raced?

Question

Does a tattoo on the lip of a TB mean it has raced, or are some TBs tattooed even if they have not raced?

Answer 1

it can mean that they were raced or planed to race or just registered tb but you can probably track down the history with it and find out exactly if it did race and how it did

Answer 2

Well, they have to be tattooed to race.

However, I believe some horses go to the track, get tattooed, then don't run well enough in workouts to ever start in a race... or get hurt before they start in a race.

The vast majority of tattooed thoroughbreds started in a race, but undoubtedly, there are some out there that didn't manage to start in a race.