Racing's Backbone - By Dan Liebman

re: Racing's Backbone - By Dan Liebman

erin_heather — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 12:27:16 GMT

Most thoroughbred owners in Kentucky are now trying to reduce mares and fillies, even exceptional mares can barely be given good homes. And of all states to race the license fees Kentucky has the least reason.

re: Racing's Backbone - By Dan Liebman

Hillbilly Hardboot — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:23:15 GMT

More interesting article if papered with facts. A little data mining would reveal much. A quick glance at TWP for Friday shows 1/4 of card identifiably owned by breeders, mostly maidens and two-life horses.The MSPW fillies - 6/9.

re: Racing's Backbone - By Dan Liebman

Rachel — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 11:30:56 GMT

You'd never know that breeders had anything to do with the Breeders Cup races, since there's no honor given and no mention of them at all.

re: Racing's Backbone - By Dan Liebman

sceptre — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 01:21:10 GMT

"....it seems safe to say that its conclusions would be similar". Come on, Mr. Liebman, as an editor of The BloodHorse you must surely have occasion to pick up a Racing Form. It would show that the vast majority of US runners today are not owned by their breeders. Yes, a higher percentage in the past were raced by their breeders, but those are days long gone by. If you're trying to find a vehicle for buttering-up breeders (of which I am one)I'd suggest you look elsewhere, and not try to liken them with those in Austailia.

re: Racing's Backbone - By Dan Liebman

FourCats — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 18:08:35 GMT

While your article is primarily about breeders, I thought I would share our experiences last year about the costs of racing. My wife and I own two horses which raced last year (one gelding and one filly). We did not breed them originally but purchased them at auction. They each raced 9 times last year. Both of them collected purse money but not enough to cover their costs. Costs for each of them to race came in, on average, at just over $34,000 (we race in the Mid-Atlantic area) with a day rate of $65 per day when in training. In addition, we had about $1000 in general expenses such as licenses, liability insurance. (Note that in some states, only one spouse needs an owner's license; in other states, both spouses need a license and you also must also get a partnership license.) Their day rates represented about 66% of their total racing costs. Other costs were vet bills (about 11%), trainer bonuses & race fees (each between 8% and 9%), blacksmith (about 3%) and transport (about 3%). We have been racing these horses for several years now, and these amounts are roughly normal although trainer bonuses are very dependent on how much money the horses win.

One other note; we are planning on breeding the filly in Kentucky. In that state, Kentucky levies a 6% tax of the stud fee for breeding.