Should Anyone Own Race Horses?

Should anyone in the right mind own race horses?

I guess you should try to answer that question, before you set out on a quest to buy one.

There are two issues worth considering. At a recent Jockey Club conference it was strongly implied that there were more indictments coming in the Navarro/Servis mess, but COVID problems had delayed the grand jury process. It was news to me that the Jockey Club had sent a private security firm out to investigate the industry. Why have these results not been made public? You can wait years for Federal prosecutors to act, why not just toss the bad guys off the tracks?

The answer to that issue might lie in the second problem. There are too few horses, for too many races. In an effort to fill races the tracks are accepting entries from too many cheaters.

In a recent issue of a TDN writers podcast, Sal Sinatra (head of the Maryland Jockey Club) said:

“We are putting out a piss poor product for both our owners and our bettors”

Saratoga has had such small fields that its races are almost not worth watching. Sinatra made the point that small fields cause small fields as owners wait for the perfect spot to enter. Trainer Mark Casse made the same point in the Jockey Club roundtable.

Some are pushing a bill in Congress called the Horse Racing Integrity Act that would allow federal regulation. As a good Libertarian I know that new federal laws are seldom the right answer. On this point the CEO of Monmouth agrees, what he wants is Commissioner of Racing to be appointed that would serve all the interested parties.

The issues are complex. As we say in the academic world:

Further research is necessary.