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Return On Investment
Some people believe that the only way of making
a profit on Thoroughbreds is through purses and
betting. Nothing could be further from the truth!
There are many other ways of making money, as
well as other benefits of owning Thoroughbreds
that are literally priceless. I’ve listed
the ones that spring immediately to mind, but
don’t be surprised if you find yourself adding
a few of your own.
We'll start with the monetary and work from there.
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Purses: Most people think that all the listed
purse money goes to the winner of the race.
The fact is that, depending on the track and/or
the type of race, the purse money is divided
up among a number of the top finishers. The
most common division of winnings in the US
is 60% of the purse to the first-place finisher,
20% for second, 10% for third, 5% for fourth,
and a percentage for the fifth-place finisher.
Some races even pay a piece of the purse to
every horse in the race. The majority of the
races my horses have raced in paid something
to the first five finishers, with the winner
receiving 60% of the purse.
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Betting: Although I don’t recommend
this method as a way of making a profit, I
do believe that owners have some obvious advantages
when it comes to handicapping. If nothing
else, you’re around more information
than the average bettor. For example, suppose
you go to the track early in the morning to
see your horse work out, and decide afterward
to go to the track kitchen for breakfast.
While you’re there, surrounded by jockeys,
trainers, and other owners all talking about
horses, you hear a trainer mention that a
certain horse has been dropped in class just
to get a win under him. You can figure out
the rest of that story! In addition, being
an owner puts you in a better position to
evaluate the information you receive. You’ll
come to understand how different trainers
work, what jockeys are best for which horses,
and much more that doesn’t always show
up clearly in the Form.
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Breeding: As you can see from the 2002 stallion
chart and the average numbers of mares bred
in Kentucky, this part of the business can
be extremely lucrative. A racehorse like Point
Given can, in his first year at stud, command
fees of $125,000.00 per mare, and a stallion
can cover as many as a hundred mares in a
season. Even a horse that never steps onto
the track can command significant fees if
its pedigree and numbers are strong enough,
and our horse would certainly fall into that
category. I strongly believe that, once our
horse’s exciting racing career is over,
its breeding prospects, managed properly,
will offer excellent opportunities for further
profits.
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Sales: Along with breeding, of course, goes
the sale of the resulting offspring. If Albert
and Beauett’s offspring is a filly, we
will have the option of breeding her to major
stallions and selling her foals. At nearly
every major sale, horses sell for six- and
seven-figure prices — and not just as
racehorses. When its pedigree is good, a horse
may be a bargain at that price and never set
foot on a racetrack; its value instead comes
from its potential as a sire or dam of other
horses, and our horse will carry that kind
of pedigree.
Beyond money, however, there are the intangible
benefits.
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New Friendships: A friend once told me that
if a person could count his true friends on
the fingers of one hand, he was rich. One
of my goals is to see that this venture is
not made up of a bunch of greedy investors.
Rather, my intention is to pull together a
group of people who share the same interest,
and who can meet regularly to socialize as
well as to conduct business. I want us to
be profitable, and I want us to have fun.
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Prestige: There is something special about
owning a Thoroughbred. In one sense, it’s
a link with a long and impressive history,
with a time when the “Sport of Kings”
was one of the most popular sports in America,
and millionaires, movie stars, and ordinary
joes stopped what they were doing to listen
to the radio when a horse like Seabiscuit
ran his races. And if the computer formulas
and the experts are correct when they analyze
this mating, our Thoroughbred has a chance
of taking his or her place among the greats
of the sport.
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The Horse: The ultimate benefit of owning
a Thoroughbred is, of course, the horse itself.
For children, there’s no better way to
understand the processes of nature than to
watch as “their” Thoroughbred is
born, grows from foal to racehorse, and then
becomes the father or mother of its own foals
- and there aren’t many adults who can
remain unmoved by the same experience. I hope
to have a web-cam present at the birth, and
the owners and their families will be invited
to visit the foal and even participate in
its care when possible. This could allow children
to learn to groom “their” horse,
to take some small responsibility for its
care, and then to watch that same horse mature
into a racehorse - as professional an athlete
as any basketball or football player, and
often a far better role model!
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