State Incentives Tables 2024

What incentives are available in each state / province across North America

State Incentives 2023

Article by Annie Lambert

The bad news is, North American inflation has substantially increased expenses in Thoroughbred racing. The good news is, U.S. purses in 2022 were up nearly 11% from 2021. Also, states and farms are working to provide owners and breeders an opportunity to counter those growing costs with healthy incentive opportunities. 

State Pluses

U.S. inflation rose to a shuttering 9.1% last year, but it has dropped to the current 6.5%. Canada’s most recent number was 6.8%. Both numbers, although improved, still leave horsemen pushing higher outlays across the board. Breeders, owners and trainers can help buffer inflated costs with readily available incentive programs.

Mary Ellen Locke, registrar and incentive program manager for the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association, cited there are no changes to that state’s programs for the current year. As one of the most successful state organizations, the CTBA has seldom tried to fix what is not broken.

“I think [our program] has helped sustain our numbers through Covid and the economy being down,” Locke pointed out. “The numbers of Thoroughbred foals are down all over, but we are holding our own in California.”

The association’s definition of a Cal-bred is one thing helping California retain those foal numbers. Cal-breds are those foals dropped in the state after being conceived there by a California stallion. Or, “any Thoroughbred foal dropped by a mare in California if the mare remains in California to be next bred to a Thoroughbred stallion standing in the state” will be classified as Cal-bred. If the mare cannot be bred for two consecutive seasons, but remains in California during that period, her foal will still be considered a Cal-bred.

The Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association is offering a new race series for two-year-olds in 2023, according to Brian Sanfratello, the group’s executive secretary. The Pennsylvania-bred series offers three stakes for fillies and three for colts.

“The first two races will feature purses of $100,000 to be run during Pennsylvania Day at the Races at Parx Racing,” Sanfratello offered. “The second set will have purses of $150,000 and will also be held at Parx the day of the Pennsylvania Derby; and the third in the series will feature $200,000 purses at a track to be determined.”

Trainers of the top three earning horses will be rewarded with bonuses of $25,000, $15,000 and $10,000.

In addition, Penn National has increased their owner bonus to 30%. The racetracks in that state pay for owner bonuses. 

Virginia has been on a roll since passing their historical horse racing legislation in 2019. Last year, according to Debbie Easter, executive director of the Virginia Thoroughbred Association (VTA), Colonial Downs averaged $612,000 in daily purse monies.

The Virginia Racing Commission approved an additional nine days of racing for the current year. Colonial Downs, the only live racing venue in the state, will run Thursday through Saturday from July 13 to September 9.

“Thanks to Historic Horse Racing (HHR) machines in Virginia, breeding, raising and racing Thoroughbreds has never been better,” according to Easter. “In 2023, the Virginia Breeders fund should double to over $2 million thanks to funds received from HHR.

Virginia breeders currently earn bonuses when Virginia-bred horses win a race anywhere in North America. If pending legislation passes the Virginia General Assembly, breeders will have an update for 2023. They will earn awards for horses placing first through third in North America.

“Because of budget constraints that limit the Virginia-Certified program to $4 million in both 2023 and 2024, we have made changes to our very successful program that pays 25% bonuses to the developers of Virginia-Certified horses that win at Mid-Atlantic region racetracks, which includes New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and West Virginia in addition to Virginia,” Easter added. “The plan is to increase funding for the program once Colonial Downs adds more HHR locations and machines, hopefully in 2024 and 2025.”

Iowa and New Mexico may not produce the largest annual foal crops in North America, but they each had Breeders’ Cup contenders last year. 

Tyler’s Tribe (Sharp Azteca) headed to Keeneland undefeated in five starts in his home state of Iowa to contest the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1). Unfortunately, the then two-year-old gelding was eased into the stretch after bleeding. He did regroup to finish third at Oaklawn Park just a month later in the Advent Stakes.

After challenging the inside speed during the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1), New Mexico-bred Slammed (Marking) finished out of the money. Although the now five-year-old mare has not run since, her previous earnings of $557,030 (13 starts, 9-1-0) give her credibility as a broodmare prospect.

With the majority of Breeders’ Cup contenders raised on Kentucky bluegrass, mare owners may want to start watching for options in Iowa and New Mexico.

Bonus Bucks

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners launched in the fall of 2011. Their ability to acquire, manage and develop runners and put together partnerships is quantified by their gross earnings of $42,561,789.

Eclipse President, Aron Wellman, sees the value of state-bred incentives and makes use of them, although his first order of business is finding the right horses.

“We are going to buy a horse because we like the horse,” Wellman confirmed. “If we buy something eligible for regional programs, we take advantage of them.”

The group’s Chief Financial Officer, Bill Victor, notices incentive earnings on his bottom line. “Breeder incentive programs are important to any stable.”

Spendthrift Farm continues to enjoy their fruitful and much copied programs. This year, Safe Bet will feature Coal Front (Stay Thirsty) standing at $5,000. If Coal Front does not produce at least one graded or group stakes winner by December 31, from his first two-year-old crop the mare owner will owe no stud fee. If he produces a stakes winner, the normal fee will be owed.  

Share the Upside features Greatest Honour (Tapit) for 2023. The breeder sends a mare to this stallion, has a live foal and pays the $10,000 fee. That foal entitles the mare owner to a lifetime breeding to Greatest Honour, an annual breeding share, with no added costs. Greatest Honour is, however, sold out for this year.

Both these Spendthrift programs minimize risks and offer great value, especially to smaller breeders.

Canada continues its successful Ontario Thoroughbred Improvement Program (TIP) with a current budget of $800,000. 

The province’s Mare Purchase Program (MPP) provides breeder incentives to invest in and ship mare power into Ontario. Foal mares—purchased for a minimum of $10,000 (USD), with no maximum price, at a recognized auction outside of Ontario, but produce 2023 foals in the providence— are eligible for a rebate. The rebate is for 50% of the purchase price up to $25,000 (CAD) with a limit of $75,000 (CAD) per ownership group. Mares bred back to a registered Ontario Sire in the 2023 breeding season are also eligible for a $2,500 (CAD) bonus.

The Mare Recruitment Program (MRP) incentivizes mare owners who bring an in-foal mare to Ontario to foal in 2024. Owners will receive a $5,000 (CAD) incentive for each in-foal mare brought to Ontario. The mare must not have foaled in Ontario in 2022 or 2023. MRP is for mares purchased at an Ontario Racing accredited sale in 2023 and must have a minimum purchase price of $5,000 (USD).

Breeders of record are eligible for additional bonuses through TIP. Specific details on the MPP and MRP programs criteria are outlined in the applicable criteria book.

The Struggle Is Real

Minnesota’s only Thoroughbred racetrack suffered a low blow recently when their 10-year marketing agreement with the nearby Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux community expired without renewal. The track will be racing fewer days this year to keep purse amounts competitive without the additional funds.

The former agreement forbad Canterbury from supporting additional gaming legislation in the state; they are now free to push for sports wagering and slots of historical horse racing machines. 

Canterbury Park’s Thoroughbred 2023 stakes schedule will feature twenty-four races totaling $1.65 million in purses.

Texas Thoroughbred has one of the most innovative breed associations in the United States, especially for a state that has suffered setbacks over the decades. Their plan to promote Texas racing through public relations was a great success last year and will continue through this year.

“A series of events are conducted at Sam Houston Race Park, Lone Star Park and in connection with the Texas Two-Year-Old in Training Sale and the Texas Summer Yearling Sale,” said Texas Thoroughbred Association Executive Director Mary Ruyle. “Last year, this initiative resulted in forty-two new, first-time Texas Thoroughbred racehorse owners, equating to slightly more than $300,000 through participation in the Texas Thoroughbred Racing Club and private purchase connections set-ups.” 

Due to Texas’ stance on the Horseracing and Integrity Act (HISA), the Texas Racing Commission does not send out their racing signal unless it is out of the United States. When HISA was enacted July 1, 2022, they only had 14 days of the meet remaining. This year it has hindered their purse structure and the Accredited Thoroughbred Awards, according to Ruyle.

To resolve the problem, they have begun running races earlier in the day, rather than in the evenings, to draw more spectators and handle. They also made a deal with Woodbine to export their signal to Canada.

“At this moment, the purses are essentially the same,” Ruyle said. “As we get into the meet, we’ll see if we are able to sustain that.”

All Thoroughbred racing states within the United States, along with provinces in Canada, have some deals to incentivize breeders. Researching states of interest can provide the means to fend off these inflationary times in North America.

State Incentives 2022

by Annie Lambert

North American Thoroughbred market breeders saw record sales in 2021, while breeding to race looks equally enticing in 2022. Even a pandemic has not stopped the racing industry from rewarding breeders and owners from producing, purchasing and racing quality horses.

Farm Futures

Spendthrift Farm, Lexington, Kentucky, are continuing with their trendsetting programs – Share The Upside and Safe Bet – following the death of Spendthrift founder and owner B. Wayne Hughes last August. Both programs have been directly copied or modified by other farms due to their obvious significance to breeders.

The Spendthrift Farm 2022 Stallion Roster consists of 25 sires, including newly added Basin (Liam’s Map), Known Agenda (Curlin), Yaupon (Uncle Mo) and By My Standards (Goldencents).

Safe Bet minimizes risk for mare owners by ensuring that the stallion they chose from the program will sire at least one graded/group stakes winner by December 31, 2022 from its first two-year-old crop, or the mare owner will owe no breeding fee. If the stallion does produce at least one black-type winner, the listed stallion fee would be due.

Spendthrift stallions in the program for 2022 include Cloud Computing, Free Drop Billy and Mor Spirit, all standing for a $5,000 fee.

“Safe Bet will continue this year with Free Drop Bill, Mor Spirit and Cloud Computing,” verified Spendthrift Stallion Sales Manager Mark Toothaker. “If they do not have a graded stakes winner in North America in 2022, then all of those contracts done under the program will be free. If they have a graded stakes winner, [breeders] are thrilled to death to pay $5,000. If it doesn’t work out, at least it doesn’t cost them anything, as far as a stud fee.”

Share The Upside has proved stunningly successful for breeders, while remaining a simple concept. Breed a mare to a program stallion, have a live foal and pay the stallion fee when due. That foal entitles the mare owner to a lifetime breeding to the stallion, an annual breeding share, with no added costs.

Program stallions for 2022 include: Basin, By My Standards, Known Agenda and Rock Your World (Candy Ride (ARG)), the latter two being already sold out.

“We have two different forms of Share the Upside,” Toothaker said. “Rock Your World and Known Agenda are both on two year programs with fees of $12,500 this and next year. Basin and By My Standards are both on one-year deals with a second year breed back for free. They are both standing at $8,500 one time and then in 2023 you breed a mare for free and you will have filled your commitment to have a lifetime breeding right.”

According to Toothaker, some stallions offer a pay-out-of-sale proceeds type offer this year. It is not a forgiveness of the stud fee, but it is a deferment arrangement.

“There are certain stallions that we will allow a breeder to defer paying the stallion fee, temporarily,” Toothaker said. “They can sell the mare in foal or sell the resulting weanling or yearling. We don’t usually want to carry it past a yearling season.”

Because the quality stallions can be very expensive to acquire, farms must try and turn each season into monetary income if at all possible. Various programs enable stallions to be marketed for the benefit of the stallion business and mare owners.

The Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund (KTDF) has increased purses within the state and has shown significant growth. Keeneland Race Course, for example, will award a record $7.7 million for 19 stakes to be run during their April 2022 spring meet. 

Spendthrift’s 2022 ‘Share the upside’ program stallions include Rock your world, known agenda, Basin & By my standards (pictured)

The KTDF will contribute $1.5 million to the stakes purses, pending approval from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. KTDF funds come from one-percent of money wagered on live Kentucky Thoroughbred and historical racing. In addition, two-percent of all money wagered on Thoroughbred races via inter-track wagering and whole card simulcasting.

Only Kentucky-sired and Kentucky-foaled horses that are registered with the KTDF are eligible for these purse supplements. Each racetrack, pending approval by the KTDF advisory board, decides the purse payment structure. Payment is distributed to the owner of record.

State Lures

The California Breeder’s Association continues to have one of the most respected, and often copied, programs in North America. According to Mary Ellen Locke, Registrar and Incentive Program Manager, there have been no structural changes to their lucrative program from recent years.

California mare owners can breed to out-of-state stallions and still have a Cal-bred, providing the mare foals in the Golden State and is bred back to a California stallion. 

“We have no new changes for 2022,” Locke confirmed of the CTBA incentives. “There have not been as many inquiries from other states regarding our program recently. When most were starting out, they’d ask how our program worked. I think a lot of the states that want an incentive program have one.” 

Little Red Feather Racing Club is an established racing partnership group, which purchases prospects to race across North America. Founder and managing partner, Billy Koch, made it clear they are not in the breeding business, but definitely keep owner incentives in mind for his runners.

“We race everywhere in the country, so we look at the horses [bred in any state],” Koch explained. “Whatever racing jurisdiction you are running in, the incentives should be noted. When it comes to California, as they say, ‘It pays to own a Cal-bred.’”

Texas has been making big improvements for breeders to take advantage of in recent years, according to Mary Ruyle, Texas Thoroughbred Association Executive Director. Texas state legislatures passed a bill in 2019, which provides for $25 million annually to help the equine industry – seventy percent is set aside for purses. The monies are collected via a tax on equine goods and products. 

The TTA is actively promoting the Texas-bred Thoroughbred in 2022.

“What we are doing is going to each of the Texas Class One tracks and inviting new people to learn more about the process of becoming a breeder or a racehorse owner,” Ruyle said. “We’re also having an event in connection with our two-year-old training sale.”

Berdette Felipe, Arizona Thoroughbred Breeders Association, reported there were no major changes to their program, but that business was going well for breeders and owners.

“Turf Paradise has added money into the purses, the purses are bigger,” she said. “And, Turf Paradise does pay a breeder and owner award at the end of the meet.”

Mare owners in Arizona are able to breed to out-of-state stallions, similar to California, and still have an Arizona-bred foal. “As long as the mare foals here and the baby stays in Arizona for six months of its first year,” Felipe explained.

When Virginia passed their Historical Horse Racing legislation in 2019 Debbie Easter, Executive Director of the Virginia Thoroughbred Association (VTA), predicted good things for Colonial Downs. Last year, Easter began to see the numbers climbing in spite of no year around racing in Virginia.

Colonial Downs enjoyed a record setting Thoroughbred season in 2021 with purse monies of $522,000. That number is expected to grow to $600,000 this year. The Virginia Racing Commission also granted the 2022 meet an additional nine days of racing.

The VTA continues to provide incentives to their breeders, encouraging them to set up shop and grow in their state.

Even though the state of Minnesota has challenges for breeders and owners, those directly involved continue to stride forward with help from the Minnesota Thoroughbred Association and the Minnesota Breeders’ Fund [MBF].

The MBF, which is overseen by the Minnesota Racing Commission (MRC), awarded over $600,000 to breeders last year. Monetary awards are paid to Minnesota-bred horses that are registered with the MRC. There are ongoing attempts to promote state-bred horses.

 “Members of the commission have agreed recently to support an incentive whereby anyone who buys a share in a Minnesota Thoroughbred Association stallion auction will be rewarded,” Bob Schiewe, Deputy Director of the MBF, explained. “If you bring your mare to use the breeding and bring the mare back to Minnesota to foal, the Breeders’ Fund will pay a $1,000 incentive.

“It’s not a lot in the bigger picture, but it is something. We are hoping that it might result in 15 to 30 mares foaling in Minnesota that otherwise may not have.”

Minnesota not only suffers from severe winter weather. Lower purses at Canterbury Park, the only Thoroughbred track, are stressing the racing structure. 

“Canterbury Park, where we have had Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing since the 1980s, has a marketing agreement with the nearby Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux community, which owns/operates the Mystic Ways Casino,” Schiewe said. “The casino is very successful and has supplemented purses at Canterbury Park by about $7.5 million annually for 10 years. It basically doubled our purse account.”

But, much to Schiewe’s dismay, the decade long agreement with the casino to provide the added funding is expiring and the Native American community seems prepared not to negotiate a new contract.

“Unfortunately for horse racing in Minnesota,” Schiewe acknowledged, “it seems to be in very serious jeopardy of going away.” “You can do the math; we’ll be losing half of our purse account in this day and age.” 

Mr Monomoy

Independent Initiatives

Sean Feld is Managing Director of Climax Stallions, which he runs from Lexington, Kentucky. Sean’s father, Bob Feld of Bobfeld Bloodstock is the company’s Director of Stallion Acquisitions.

Climax Stallions now offer seven sires, most of which reside in varied regions of the United States, with one currently standing in Ireland. The concept of treating each stallion separately allows the company to find proper exposure for each horse.

“When we acquire a stallion we’ll make phone calls to various farms in various locations where we think the horse fits best and where we think he will get the best reception,” Sean explained. “Curlin To Mischief [a half-brother to Into Mischief and Beholder by Curlin] is in California because it was helpful that Into Mischief and Beholder did their running out there. That familiarity definitely helps.”

Son Of Thunder, a full-brother to the late Laoban, stands in New York, St Patrick’s Day, by Pioneerof The Nile, resides in Florida and Mr. Monomoy, by Palace Malice, is in New York. Editorial, a half-brother to Uncle Mo by War Front, and Fortune Ticket, a full-brother to Gun Runner, are both in Maryland. The only stallion standing outside of North America is Bullet Train by Sadler’s Wells.

“We have Bullet Train leased to a national hunt farm in Ireland,” Sean said. “He’s going to be a steeplechase stallion. His first foals in Ireland are three, so they’ll start running soon.”

Climax Stallions are placed with consideration of breeder and owner awards offered as well. Mr. Monomoy, with his dirt pedigree fit well in New York considering the amount of money in the Stallion Stakes races as well as winter races in Aqueduct being run solely on dirt.

State-bred programs like California, Florida, New York and Maryland all have outstanding incentive programs overall, according to Sean. And, Sean appreciates mare owner programs like those offered by Spendthrift.

“We offer a Share the Upside type program for all our freshman sires,” he pointed out. “In the regional market it is a lot harder to compete than the Kentucky market. You have to be creative to get as many good mares as you can. There are leading breeders in every state and you try to get as many mares from leading breeders as possible.” 

“Our tagline is, ‘We bring Kentucky to you,’” he added. “We have Kentucky quality pedigrees in the regional market; we try to help the regional-bred horses as much as possible in the pedigree department.”

Ontario, Canada’s province most entwined in Thoroughbred racing, sports a range of incentives to promote Thoroughbred breeding in the province. 

There are monetary bonuses allotted through the Mare Purchase Program that applies to in-foal mares with progeny of 2022 when purchased at an Ontario Racing recognized public auction. Through the Mare Recruitment Program, a breeder who brings an in-foal mare to Ontario to foal in 2022 is eligible for incentive funds, with some stipulations.

A breeder of record is eligible for several bonuses through the Thoroughbred Improvement Program, including out-of-province breeders awards. Ontario sired purse bonuses are also paid out. There are many angles to beef up breeder awards in Canada.

It would quite possibly take the entire magazine to explain each and every North American opportunity for mare owners to enhance their bottom lines. The more you dig, the more opportunities are found. And, with competition growing, there are certainly deals to be made. You won’t know until you ask. 

State incentives: giving racing a ray of hope

Racing loves to denigrate its own status, crying impotently about its woes by calling itself a dying industry and thus fulfilling a self-induced anti- popularity campaign. While its popularity will never rival football, the industry is far from dying. It is, however, the only business that exists at the mercy of government, and this relationship is more often antagonistic than supportive.

By K.T Donovan

First Published (20 October 2010 - Issue Number: 18)