by Megan Kingsley

Created on: January 26, 2010   Last Updated: January 28, 2010

Horse racing is an industry largely rooted in the past, but continuing to survive in a modern economy.  Some tracks are struggling, while others are thriving.  Let’s take a look at some trends in the industry:

Corporate Sponsorships

Long-resistant to ‘selling out’ for advertising dollars, the horse racing industry has reconsidered in recent years.  Sponsorships, advertising, and product promotion are increasingly common at the track.  Television channels broadcasting the races are also seeing increased income from advertising.  At some tracks, jockeys even serve as mobile billboards with a sponsor’s logo emblazoned on their pants.  Food and beverage companies provide the majority of non-equine advertising income.

Online Gambling 

In the past, you had to travel to the track to wager on the races.  Then the tracks allowed wagering on other facilities’ races from local tracks.  Now with the advent of convenient internet betting sites, aficionados can play the ponies from the comfort of their own living rooms.  Here again, we see advertising playing a role- an ad on a website is less expensive to produce and reaches far more people than a sign at the track.  With off-track betting and simulcast wagering, the industry can bring in money even though races may be run before nearly-empty grandstands.  As an added bonus, horse racing reaches a much wider audience than in the past.  Even someone from a small town can wager, even though the nearest track may be hundreds of miles away.  Online wagering, simulcast betting, and off-track betting all continue to pump money into a track, meaning better purses which in turn attract more talented trainers and higher-quality racing stock.

“Super Sire” breeding

For good or bad, the increased globalization of the racing industry now means that the top sires are available to a much wider breeding base.  A top-producing stallion may be flooded with breedings, while lesser-known stallions face sparse bookings.  In the past, lifelong horse breeders studied bloodlines talents and chose breedings based on what was available at their farm or locally.  Now with increasing corporate ownerships, it is much more likely that a mare be bred to one of the current trendy sires than, perhaps, to a less-well-known stallion who may be a better match on paper.  As a result, scores of offspring from certain stallions flood the market, sometimes resulting in a large talent pool, other times resulting in a slew of unsoundness issues.  When trendy stallions are selected and bred from heavily, the result is a narrowed gene pool as time passes.  This has proven to be problematic in the past, and will likely remain so.

Emphasis on racing young horses

Let’s face it; most of the money to be made in thoroughbred racing is during a horse’s 2 and 3-year old season.  As a result, young horses may be pushed too hard, too early.  Longevity is not as highly regarded as early speed.  It is common for a high-class horse to race one year, maybe two, and run a total of 12 races or less, when in the past, horses were often geared toward longer careers racing more frequently as as older horses.  As a result of retirement at an early age, many feel the soundness of the racehorses have suffered.  A recent movement by a few owners to continue racing talented stock in their 4 and 5 year-old seasons may indicate a change in the industry, but it is yet too early to tell.

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