BACK ON TRACK - THE LENGTHS RACETRACKS ARE GOING TO IN ORDER TO ENHANCE THE LIVE, IN-PERSON RACETRACK EXPERIENCE

WORDS - JENNIFER KELLY

As racetracks like Oaklawn Park, Del Mar, and others have seen an uptick in their on-track attendance, taking a look at the practices that have brought both new and core fans back for more reveals potential strategies for growing turnout everywhere.

From its height in the 1950s and 1960s-on-track attendance peaked at 42,839,379 in 1969-racing has seen its share of trackside fans shrink. Competition from other sports, available via television and other access points, as well as the growth in alternate forms of gambling like casinos and lotteries, and the advent of off- track betting via simulcasting and advanced deposit wagering services (ADWs) have diverted people and their discretionary income away from the ovals. By 2019, on-track numbers for the sport's big days, like the Kentucky Derby, which averages around 150,000 annually, remained strong, but attendance overall had dropped to 8-10 million. Yet wagering handle has stayed steady, with off-track betting at simulcasting locations and via ADWS bringing in the majority of the sport's income.

However, for racetracks, encouraging fans to attend (and wager) in person is more profitable overall than other sources. "Every dollar bet at the track is way more valuable to the track than anything away from the track. In fact, the further away you get from the track, the less productive it is for the track," said Alan Balch, Executive Director of California Thoroughbred Trainers and former Senior Vice President of Marketing at Santa Anita Park.

"With on-track betting, the wagered dollar does not have to be shared with so many other constituencies. The further you get away from the track, the more people are taking their cut along the way."

Thus, racetracks needed to prioritize attracting fans for a day at the races, but also those who wanted to wager off-track, while also competing with growing options for spending both free time and discretionary income. It was an across-the-board conundrum for all forms of entertainment, not just horse racing. Then 2020 happened.

The COVID-19 pandemic presented a unique challenge for racetracks everywhere: a sport already experiencing a decline in attendance had to adapt to a period where that element of their business was not an option. Would this be temporary, lasting only days or weeks, or would this stretch on for months and potentially have long-term deleterious effects?

With even its core supporters unable to be on track, the emphasis shifted even more to the convenience of wagering at home. While teaching fans, from the casual to the committed, to bet on their phones or their computers sustained them through the uncertainties of the pandemic, that shift also presented another set of challenges when the world was able to welcome fans back to the in-person experience once again: how to bring back the social experience of a day at the races in a post-COVID economy, where previous methods of outreach have given way to new ones as people shift how they prioritize and consume entertainment.

Not only is racing competing with the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, and their offshoots for in-person attendance, but also for media time. Fans can watch most of those sports on broadcast television on a regular basis, especially if professional sports teams are local to them, but their exposure to racing on major networks is limited to the three Triple Crown races and the Breeders' Cup.

Santa Anita

With cable or other paid services, fans can see racing via Fox Sports or Fan Duel. Streaming services increase access even more, but they also require a recurring subscription. Social media can play a role in attracting viewers, but a user's algorithm is going to target their interests, making it more challenging for racetracks to reach newer customers if they have not already indicated interest in racing. For racing to compete, it requires racetracks to buy in to what fans expect to a degree they may not have in previous eras.

"If you're going to try to motivate people to attend something, you have to have all the cylinders in the marketing engine working together. And that requires real investment, money investment, people investment, and experience investment," Balch observed.

"Any place where there's racing is a very competitive environment because there's a lot of entities competing for attention. And you can't compete for attention if you don't invest in it."

For Churchill Downs, which has properties in both major metropolitan areas and more rural settings, the competition for network time requires flexibility in a cutthroat sports media landscape. "Quite honestly, it's difficult to make inroads with some of the major sports franchises from my experience. In America, football is king and we have to figure out ways to work around their scheduling," said Gary Palmisano, Vice President of Racing. "It's up to the track to find ways to fit events around games."

With competition for both fans' attention and dollars evolving, racetracks must stay on top of what works now rather than falling back on past successes. The recent growth at tracks like Oaklawn and Del Mar offers the sport a blueprint for reviving the on-track experience for the sport's core and bringing in new faces everywhere.

Peruse a sports bucket list and you will find the signature big days of any sport: the Super Bowl, World Series, tennis's Grand Slams, The Masters, and the Kentucky Derby. Racing has cultivated an enduring audience for the Run for the Roses, but that singular day is built on the hundreds of race cards in between those big days.

Because the on-track experience yields more money for racetracks, both from wagering and from admission, food and beverage, and more, refocusing on the day at the races experience is a necessity for the sport's long-term health. "I'm a big believer in the live racing experience. ADW and simulcasting are where the super majority of the handle comes from, but if we don't have live racing, how are we going to create the future fans to do simulcast and ADW and come to our big days?" said Damon Thayer, former Kentucky state senator and senior advisor to the Thoroughbred Racing Initiative.

As the sport's most recognizable brand, Churchill Downs emphasizes investment in its properties, whether in metro areas like Louisville or New Orleans or more rural locations like New Kent, Virginia, and Florence, Kentucky, as one way to bring fans back for a day at the races. "We work very hard at all of our properties to improve the overall racing experience for fans and the horsemen," Palmisano shared. "Whether that be from capital projects enhancing the physical plant or strategic initiatives to better the racing product on the track itself. We are constantly innovating and trying to create new experiences whenever we can."

Colonial Downs

To do that, Churchill Downs Incorporated, the parent company behind its various Standardbred and Thoroughbred properties, will add new events to its traditional calendar in order to extend the opportunities to attract new and core fans: "In 2025 we created a brand-new Kentucky Derby prep race in March at Colonial Downs. Colonial's racing season is traditionally in July and August, so we had to create an experience from scratch. Over 8,000 people attended and we're nearly sold out again in 2026.

That's just one example of our efforts to think outside the box and push ourselves to improve." On top of looking for opportunities to add new must-see events, cultivating the experience of a weekday at the races is about "selling the sport of horse racing. It's not to gouge them with an expensive soda or hot dog," said Louis Cella, President of Oaklawn Racing and Casino, "It's the experiential part of the sport, which is so great. And if you can get them with that, they'll go all day long."

In areas like Los Angeles, where the options for entertainment include multiple sports teams, museums, the film and television industry, and more, Santa Anita Park works to hold its own with both its core fans and those new to the sport. "One way we do this is by cultivating and rewarding our core, by rewarding them with gifts, or free play, or special offers for free admission," said Andrew Arthur, the track's Senior Director of Marketing. "Our other attraction strategy is to bring new fans into racing, which I'm sure is something that you're more interested in. And how we do that is we add extra experiences."

The classic racetrack incorporates a wide- ranging calendar of events, including corgi races, special food and beverage vendors, and on-track attractions like its annual calendar giveaway on opening day, traditionally the day after Christmas. Additionally, they have wagering ambassadors who interact with newer fans one-on-one, taking them on tours of the track and teaching them about how racing and wagering work.

"We focus our marketing around our big days and then have a steady flow of marketing to promote those other smaller events that I talked about. And then our on-track experience, the wager investors, try to convert them into longer fans." Arthur added. "Once we get those customers, then we start getting them into our email funnels and our texting funnels and doing our best to make an offer to them to come back."

Located in San Diego, the Pacific Ocean a hop and a skip away, Del Mar faces similar challenges and yet has seen a similar increase in on-track attendance. "There's so much to do. We have a ton of competition in the area, especially during the summer," said Erin Bailey, the track's Vice President of Marketing. "You've got the beaches, the Padres, and more. So we firmly believe that we have to have a reason for people to choose us over all those other things."

Del Mar Racetrack

To do that, Del Mar emphasizes affordability and familiarity. "You can get in for $8, and you can bring a picnic, and you don't even have to buy our food and beverage," Bailey said. "You can bring in your own food, and you can just post up trackside on the apron or wherever you might want to land. If you want to have a very financially efficient day, you absolutely can."

Additionally, "we [at Del Mar] really work hard to find these familiar things to bring people to. So on Saturdays, for example, we will have a lifestyle event like a food or wine festival or a trackside bourbon tasting while also watching world-class racing. We use a lot of those types of experiences to bring people out, to get them with something that they already are doing and are used to."

While Oaklawn Park may not face the same competition for fans, its location inside a national park an hour outside of Little Rock, Arkansas, may not seem like a natural racing destination, but the Cella family's emphasis on customer service has helped make this century-old racetrack a destination for fans from all over the region. "There is a reason we average over 10,000 people a day, over a 65- day meet. And that is because we appreciate and we do everything in our power to help the fan," said Cella, who is the fourth generation of his family to helm Oaklawn. "The reason that's so important is you sell them the product of horse racing, and that's our business, selling the sport of horse racing, not gambling."

"And when we're successful at that, guess what? They're going to come back, they're going to place two bucks to show on the favorite, they're going to buy a hot dog, and all the other areas will start being successful."

Oaklawn does that through incentives like free admission, inexpensive programs, and on-track wagering benefits like their Show Bet Bonus, which rewards fans who place wagers at Oaklawn rather than through an ADW or off- track betting service. Like Santa Anita, the track also has ambassadors that wander through each day's crowd, offering answers to any questions fans may have and engaging with the public directly, reinforcing the track's emphasis on customer service. Additionally, Oaklawn's approach to concessions underscores its commitment to making the on-track experience an affordable one.

"Fans will never have to buy a $12 beer at Oaklawn. We are proud that it is affordable for families to bring the kids. We own our food and beverage vendors across the entire plant. And because we own it, we do not view food and beverage as a profit center. We view it as breaking even," Cella said. "If we break even, we can pass those savings on to our fans. So they come over and over and over because they know they're not going to be nickel and dimed at the concession stand. It's a very different view of a racetrack, especially on track."

That affordability is key to bringing fans back for the on-track experience as Nick Tammaro, Sam Houston’s Player Development Manager and track announcer, emphasizes: “One thing that I think we’re trying to capitalize on, that we could do better, everybody could do better, is that the entertainment dollar right now in this country is spread so thin because everything is so expensive. If we’re able to get people to understand that you could come out and bring your family of four and watch live racing and get a decent seat to do so and feed them for 60 bucks, in an area like Houston, that’s a good deal.”

Compare that cost to other major sports and racing’s advantage as an affordable sporting and social experience stands out. For the same family of four to attend an NFL game, including tickets, parking, and concessions, can cost from $600 to over $2,000. An MLB game could run $150-$300, while an NBA game might cost upwards of $1,000, and an NHL game hovers around $400-$500 on average. Those prices make a day at the races a much more affordable option, but as Balch points out, tracks have to invest in the marketing necessary to share that advantage.

“My opinion, number one, is that the most important thing is for track management and ownership to view marketing as an investment and not an expense. That is the critical component of getting people to come to the track,” he said.

Alongside marketing must come hospitality, including food, beverage, and facilities, the tangibles that help people create the social experience of a day at the races.

“The thing is, the consumer who spends discretionary money on sports and entertainment, they expect a certain level of hospitality when it comes to food and drink and seats and the overall experience,” Thayer observed. “That’s something racetracks are going to have to be cognizant of moving forward, especially if you’re trying to get 20-somethings and 30-somethings to come to the races. Those kinds of fans have high expectations.”

“The biggest salespeople for any entity, including a racetrack, are satisfied customers,”

Balch echoed. “People who go home from a day at the races and tell their neighbors, ‘We just went to the races today. We had a great time out there. God, it’s the most beautiful place. Oh, you’ve never been? Oh, really? Yeah. Let’s go together. I mean, that’s when you get your existing customers to be your sales force.’”

With that in mind, what can racetracks do in the 21st century to bring both new and core fans back for a day at the races?

“I fully subscribe to the idea that if you give people something known, something comfortable, something that they’re used to, and if you put that experience trackside, they want to stay. They want to experience what you have to offer in a day at the races,” Del Mar’s

Bailey said. Bring what fans enjoy about their social experiences—good food, comfortable settings, the sports and entertainment they seek out—and then put all of that within the setting of a racetrack, and a day at the races becomes a viable part of a fan’s sporting life. How a particular location can do that will depend on how much their operators are willing to invest in their individual communities. Though racing may be as simple as several horses competing over dirt or grass, a universal pursuit that transcends location and language, getting fans in the door means understanding what works locally and that takes investment.

“I firmly believe that you can’t create a new fan without them experiencing the actual life at the racetrack,” Tammaro said. “I will die on the hill that I’ve never taken anybody to the racetrack, and they haven’t had a good time.”

“Racetracks are fan incubator sites, and not only is it important to attract fans for today and that they have a good time, but also to create the fans of tomorrow,” Thayer observed.

“We’re also developing profits for the track operator and building purse money for the horsemen,” both important parts of keeping the sport going.

“We have to admit that most people are not walking out of there having won a bundle of money. But if they’ve had fun, that’s the thing. That’s what we’re selling. We’re selling fun, we’re selling entertainment, we’re selling a social experience that people at all different levels have,” Balch said. “And that’s, again, that’s another great aspect of the racetrack. Going to the races is fun.”

To do that means putting fans, both potential and existing, first. “If you build it, [they] will come,” the voice says in the movie Field of Dreams, and indeed the main character’s efforts are rewarded with a transformative experience, one that endures long past the film’s end. It is a lesson that racing can embrace not simply in the short term, but for years to come, no matter how much the cultural landscape changes: build a familiar and welcoming space, one where people want to congregate, with the elements that make them feel at home, and they will come back again and again.

How each racetrack will achieve that is a conversation the sport must continue to have with not only fans, but also with each other. The question is, how much is the industry willing to do to make that happen?

State Breeding Incentives for 2024 - on a state by state basis

Article by Ken Snyder

Nineteenth century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli gets credit for coining the phrase “there are lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

Jockey club statistics showing the 2022 foal crop to be 18,200 in the U.S.—down from 19,200 in 2021--might come under the heading of “damned lie.” (Numbers for 2023 aren’t in yet.) 

The phrase is a caveat or admonition to not jump to conclusions with questionable deductions and pronouncements to what, in truth, are damned lies. First, the industry isn’t going over a cliff with foal counts. It operates in a free-market economy. There are gains and losses, “bubbles” when artificially high prices exceed real value, and “corrections” when prices drop to what they should be. 

With foal count, horse population, and racing in general, there are positive, remarkable achievements. In Pennsylvania, the state has experienced increases in foal count and anticipates more. Okay, it’s one state, but it belies that belief that the sky is falling.

Here are the numbers for PA in registered foals: 2017-549; 2018-606; 2019-623; 691 in 2020. Yes, there was a dip in numbers when a former governor attempted to raid the Racehorse Development Trust Fund (2021-593; 413-2022). But, said Brian Sanfrantello, executive secretary of the PA Horse Breeding Association, the foal count has bottomed out and the breeding industry should return to increasing foal numbers with a new governor. Further, five new stallions have come to the state for breeding in 2024.

A Stallion Series is a crown jewel of a breeding program that makes Pennsylvania breeding and racing literally worthwhile. Launched in 2022 it offered $600,000 in purses for stakes races for PA-bred two-year-old colts and fillies over two days of racing. On the first race day, colts and fillies raced for $100,000-dollar purses each. On the second day, they ran for $200,000. The Series attacked one problem for PA breeders and appealed to those out of state. 

“It’s costing forty thousand to fifty thousand dollars from the time you breed the mare to the time the horse races,” said Sanfrantello. “We’re trying to get the money back to the breeder as fast as possible.” 

The means this year, in addition to this Series, are eight two-year-old stakes races, four of which are for PA breds. For non-Series and other races, breeder awards are 40% for PA-sired horses (compared to 20% for non-PA-breds). “If it’s a fifty-thousand-dollar race, the winner would get sixty percent of the purse or thirty-thousand dollars. Plus, if it’s an open race not restricted, there is a forty percent owner bonus added to the purse or twelve-thousand dollars for total earnings of forty-two-thousand dollars for owners. A breeder-owner would get an additional sixteen-thousand eight-hundred dollars. The total? Fifty-eight thousand, eight hundred dollars.

The stunner is what breeder awards have totaled. The most striking example? Uptowncharlybrown won two of thirteen starts  and $125,000 in his career but he has earned in breeder and stallion awards $869,080.

Virginia, with twenty-seven race dates in 2023 at the Commonwealth’s lone racetrack, Colonial Downs, is obviously at the other end of the spectrum from year-round racing in Pennsylvania and other states. However, the Virginia Thoroughbred Association, of which Debbie Easter is executive director, is outdistancing any other state in how fast they are growing their racing industry.

We said, ‘What the heck, we may not be the biggest breeding state any longer, but what we can do and what we do have are farms and the training centers to raise horses.”

Starting basically from scratch when Colonial Downs re-opened in 2019 after closing in 2013, the foal crops had gotten down to a rock bottom, one hundred. This year Easter projects the crop will be 160, a 60% increase. Small potatoes in the general scheme of things but not the only means of building racing. 

“Starting this year, we’re paying for first, second and third anywhere in North America if you’re a breeder and bred a horse in Virginia,” said Easter. “By us paying win, place and show in North America all year long, that makes our program year-round. That’s a big advantage, we think, over other breeding programs. You don’t have to race in our state to get our money.” The award is 34% of the earnings added to the purse. Historical Horse Racing (HHR) generates the award money, which has increased the breeding fund from $500,000 to $2 million dollars in five years. 

Virginia has also initiated a “Certified Program” which covers a horse registered by The Jockey Club and conceived and foaled outside of Virginia, but residing in the state for at least a six-month consecutive period prior to December 31st of its two-year-old year.

“Our Certified guys are averaging about eight months or so a year here. We’re bringing in almost nine hundred horses in a year. We’ve grown the population of Thoroughbred horses in the last five years faster than we could ever have done it breeding horses. It absolutely saved our farms and training centers and the infrastructure that supports those farms.,” said Easter.

The big development with New York is state-bred, 2024 foals will run for the same purse amounts as open-company races. This year at Saratoga, maiden races restricted to two-year-old New York breds ran for $88,000 compared to $105,000 for two-year-olds in open company maiden races. ”It’s something that breeders in NY and horsemen who compete with NY breds have been advocating for a long time,” said Najja Thompson, executive director of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders.

Thompson added that this year there are also increases for New York breds whether sired by state sires or sired outside the state. For 2024, breeder awards are 40% for first place, 20% for second place, and 10% for third place, with a $40,000 cap award. Last year’s awards were 30% for first place and 15% for place and show finishes. A cap per award remains at $40,000.

Maryland’s biggest innovation this year is a two-tiered system, one tier for Maryland-sired and Maryland bred horses, and a second tier for Maryland-breds only. The system will begin with 2025 foals. “We are going to have a two-tiered system to try and reward MD sires as they do in Pennsylvania and other states,” said Cricket Goodall, executive director of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association.

Maryland’s best days will be when the $385 million Pimlico project is completed to rebuild the track from the ground up and also add a training center, according to Goodall.

“I think that you have to have a look to the future to be competitive,” said Goodall. She compares the project, which is projected for completion In what Goodall projects as “four to five years” to New York’s investment in Belmont Park. “Maryland is looking to be one of the states that is investing in racing and breeding.

Meanwhile, Goodall said Maryland is one of the states where stallion books have gone up this year.

Kentucky, of course, is the kingpin of American Thoroughbred breeding. While foal crops nationally have declined, Kentucky, from 2012 to 2021 increased in registered foals by just under 10%. Of the five top states for registered foals—Kentucky, Florida, California, New York, and Louisiana—Kentucky was the only one without a decrease in those years.

Strangely, the number of yearlings sold in North America in 2023—8,303, increased from 8,061 in 2013. That doesn’t correspond to decreasing foal crops. 

The principal reason for the overall decline in foals is increasing expenses, according to Duncan Taylor, senior Thoroughbred consultant and co-owner with three brothers of Taylor Made Farm just outside Lexington, Kentucky. “Costs just keep increasing, and they increase for all horses the same. I’m talking about daily board rate in Kentucky. The last eight years, probably, it has gone from thirty-five thousand to forty-five thousand dollars.” 

Vet care has gone up as well. “I had a mare that had to have a C-section. My bill was twenty-two thousand dollars,” he added.

“People can’t stomach these expenses on a less expensive horse. You got a million-dollar horse, you think ‘I’ve got a shot at getting it back because I could sell a five-hundred thousand, six-hundred-thousand-dollar yearling out of that horse.’”

The upshot is competition for the better horses offered in sales--what Taylor calls “more supply of a higher quality.” But what that also means, he said, is “It pushes the people in the lower part of the market out.” Hence, fewer breeders and foals.

Kentucky is awash in cash, which Taylor believes could stem the trend toward continuing foal crop decreases nationally. “All the purse money that is available to race for now, if it stays as good as it is, I don’t think we’ll continue to decline.”

Societal and cultural issues—challenges beyond, perhaps, the reach of horse racing as a sport and industry—are also factors in foal crops. Times have changed.

“At one time in this country, most of the large racing stables were owned by the kings of industry, with the horses coming from their own farms,” said Kent Barnes, former stallion manager at Shadwell’s Nashwan Farm in Lexington who currently directs the stallion division of Spy Coast Farm also in Lexington. “Unfortunately, in many cases, successive generations have either not shared in the passion, or had the wealth to carry on with these large operations, and most of these stables have been either dismantled or severely diminished.“

Duncan Taylor echoes Barnes’ observation. “The underlying condition is not enough people are in love that much with horses to where they want to have a big farm and raise them and then sell them. The condition is less breeders and that goes along with the declining foal crop.”

Ideas abound, some feasible, some not, some fantasy for getting foal crops back up. 

Evan Ferraro, director of marketing for Fasig Tipton, sees a breeding counterpart to racing syndicates as a potential answer. Racing syndicates both large entities and small, are popular. If there’s a way to encourage breeding syndicates that spread risk, they could be appealing.

Breeding to sell rather than race could be incentivized, according to Barnes. “I believe financial obligations are the primary barrier preventing more breeders from racing their own product.  A few years ago, several stallion owners came up with novel approaches to help the breeder decrease their risk going into the sales. Perhaps this same approach could be extended to allow breeders who choose not to sell to mitigate some of their risk going into racing. Stud fees could be deducted from race earnings. To make it more attractive to the stallion owners, there could be a sliding scale where they earn a higher percentage based on the horse’s performance.”

No matter the challenges, there are obviously bright, experienced, and energetic people at the controls of parts of the racing industry—people like Evan Ferraro, Debbie Easter, Brian Sanfrantello, Kent Barnes, Duncan Taylor and many more.

There is another phrase that may have application from someone who quoted Disraeli‘s phrase about statistics: Mark Twain. He said famously, “Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”

Racing is not dying. It is changing. And in everything, change is inevitable.

Where do we go from here?

The strange, but positive thing encountered in examining the declining foal crop and reasons for it, is that everyone interviewed had a different response to this question: What is the first thing you would do if put in charge of the industry? There were no limits put on the responses; the answers ranged from the completely improbable to things right under the industry’s nose. Even better, they span most aspects of racing from fan development to breeding.

First things first: fans. Empty grandstands on race days are par for the course and maddeningly accepted. To drive on-track attendance, Evan Ferraro, offered a simple, but great idea for weekends. “Open up the infields. Let people come in there. Let them bring their own stuff.” Add musical entertainment and things like face-painting for children or pony rides, and …voila, a family event for Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Stack that up against a $15 beer, $10-dollar hot dog, and $10 parking for a major league baseball game. Throw in a premium—cap, cups, etc.--and a free afternoon picnicking at the racetrack looks like a great day out. For racetrack management resting on laurels and reluctant to loosen purse strings fattened by off-track wagering and purses funded from casinos or Historical Horse Racing (HHR) machines, they could find a sponsor to add their logo to the racetrack’s giveaways. 

Ferraro added a familiar lament to his idea: “I don’t think we market our sport well anymore.

“I don’t think you can promote ‘our safety numbers are better.’ You gotta sell the races. That’s what has to drive everything to me. Create some familiarity and give customers a good experience.”

Add to all these things a focus on the “stars.” As recently as the 1970s and 1980s National Basketball Association playoff games were tape delayed. The sport, quite simply, was “meh”… until Larry Bird and Magic Johnson came along. This past year Cody’s Wish provided the public a truly moving story both on the track and more important, off the track in the horse’s relationship with the late Cody Dorman. “There was never a story by the major networks about Cody’s Wish,” said Ferraro. Thoroughbred racing has been silent since “Go Baby Go” was seen and heard on televisions more than twenty years ago. “Public relations,” anyone? 

Kent Barnes, sees a connection between attracting fans and foal crops: “The only way we could ever consider increasing our foal crop is if we can somehow get more end-users involved in the racing game. There is more and more competition out there every year for the public’s entertainment dollar and somehow, we have to attract back the fans, which increases the handle, thereby increasing purses and attracting owners.”

On another subject, the failure of a 140-mare cap for stallions in the U.S. frustrated Barnes, a respected and published researcher on the demise of sire lines and resultant inbreeding. He said, “I was disappointed in their reversal of the cap decision because I feel that if we limit the number of mares bred to each stallion, this ensures that the top stallions are getting the very best mares and also allows second-tier stallions to prove themselves by getting an increased number of mares.  

“There is no doubt stallions that failed to make their mark could have done so with enough mares of quality to prove themselves.”

Bloodstock agent Clark Shepherd pointed out the obvious without a 140-cap limit: “We’re limiting the gene pool. I get handed these mares that are fantastic on the racetrack, and they [clients] want me to do a mating for them. But when I sit down and do a mating, the mare’s bred like a stallion. So now what? It limits my choices.”

Here’s where foal crop numbers really might be, as British Prime Minister Disraeli said about numbers and statistics, “damned lies,” at least according to Shepherd. “I don’t know that a declining foal supply is a bad thing just because of supply and demand,” he said. “For the last three years, I’ve been waiting on the shoe to drop, and we keep going on this upward trend. 

“To me, it’s supply and demand.”

One factor in decline in foal numbers is, Shepherd said, “mom-and-pop” breeders leaving the business unable to afford stud fees for what he called “ultra-stallions.” “They don’t have the mares good enough to get into first-year stallions.”

Whether good or bad, Shepherd points to what he believes is an issue and factor in foal declines. “There’s a lot of mares, even stallions, that don’t need to be in production. If it’s a resulting decline in foal crop because of that realization, I’m okay with it. We’re striving to breed better horses and there’s less of them, and that creates more demand. It could be a good thing.”

On the issue of racehorse ownership Debbie Easter identified what she said is both the problem and a solution: “The problem is the owners don’t own the racetracks. Owners own the talent, but we don’t own the most important part of it:  the HHR or the things that fuel the whole game.”

The solution, in her opinion, is the Japanese model: “Owners are able to pay for their daily expenses with bigger purses earned over there.

“You have the cost of the horse and then there’s the daily cost of racing. I’ve always said, I think the guys would forgive the cost of the horse if they could just pay the daily cost…if they didn’t have to take it out of their pocket. I think we could grow ownership.” 

She wonders if there is too much racing. Contraction of the racing industry could possibly be the ultimate answer.

“Everywhere where racing is successful in this country—Saratoga, Del Mar, Keeneland—what do they all have in common? They don’t run year-round. And they’re in destinations where people want to come.” They also have capacity crowds.

Duncan Taylor, added a novel and, in truth, a not-to-be idea for horse owners. If he were commissioner and it was feasible “I would start purely an owners’ organization and it would be only owners with racehorses while they were running.

“I think they have the most to lose and the most to gain in an entrepreneurial way for improving the sport and not the mediocre management of the racetracks. I would try to get that group of people [owners] to actually buy the tracks.”

Answers? Solutions? Some are immediately viable from this story. Some are unlikely. And some are in a “perfect world” that won’t exist. 

There is, however, one thing on which everyone can agree: racing needs ideas.