$50,000 per year just to cover bills?

[wizardofoz]

Any "average" 2 or 3 year old needs to earn at least $50,000-10% takeout per year, just to cover training related and stakes related fees.  Most trainers are charging $65.00 or more per day for their rate and shipping costs have exploded.  Of the several thousand yearlings sold each year, maybe 5% actually do well. The breeders are all happy when they UNLOAD their ridiculously priced yearlings to the public, yet are silent when they amount to nothing.  Is it time for the industry to re-evaluate the cost of owning racehorses, because many of these guys are pricing themselves out of the market.

[Generation XYZ]

Any "average" 2 or 3 year old needs to earn at least $50,000-10% takeout per year, just to cover training related and stakes related fees.  Most trainers are charging $65.00 or more per day for their rate and shipping costs have exploded.  Of the several thousand yearlings sold each year, maybe 5% actually do well. The breeders are all happy when they UNLOAD their ridiculously priced yearlings to the public, yet are silent when they amount to nothing.  Is it time for the industry to re-evaluate the cost of owning racehorses, because many of these guys are pricing themselves out of the market.

That was the number 10 years ago. Its about 65,000.00 per year in earnings to really break even. This does not include staking fees.

[Brown jug]

$55k-$65k is about right
costs are crazy
tough to make a buck
but i suggest that the top spenders really dont do it to make a buck, this is a hobby, second interest for most
breeders loving it

[theokodjak26]

If $65,000 a year is the correct number most average people are crazy to own a harness horse. I am assuming the $65K doesn’t include out of the norm vet bills. Virtually no horse at the “B and C” tracks have horses that earn $65K. So what are these owners thinking about? If they are in the minority that enjoys live racing so they can watch their horse so be it. But we all know most tracks are near empty of on site fans. So what is the lure nowadays?

[London]

The only industry not to get a cost of living increase

[jupiter]

No most get slot revenue, well the people at the top of the food chain.

[wizardofoz]

If you factor in the price of the yearling, you need $100,000 just to break even the first year and how many do that?  Trainers have to realize that it is reaching a point of no return to own a harness horse if this trend continues.  How much hay and oats can a horse injest in a month to warrant $2000 for just the daily training fee?  If 3 horses are being shipped to the same place, why aren't the fees divided equally to pay for the shipping?  Paddock fees are OK if the trainer sends someone else to watch the horse but why is the trainer adding fees if they do it themselves?  The 'nickel' and 'diming' has becomes GRANTS and FRANKLINS added to these bills.  It is similar to cable triple play bills.  At what point does the consumer say, 'the heck with this' and  do without that?   

[Fuguzzi]

Funny part is they raced 2 year olds much more often 20, 25, 35 years ago when things cost much less. I can list dozens of top 3 and 4 year olds from that era who race 10 to 12, sometimes 14 times at 2

[wizardofoz]

Funny part is they raced 2 year olds much more often 20, 25, 35 years ago when things cost much less. I can list dozens of top 3 and 4 year olds from that era who race 10 to 12, sometimes 14 times at 2

Just like pitchers now in baseball who can't go more than 4 innings and 80 pitches and require Tommy John surgeries, while Koufax pitched 260 innings a year. Things have gotten too soft in sports.

[shotgunner]

$55k-$65k is about right
costs are crazy
tough to make a buck
but i suggest that the top spenders really dont do it to make a buck, this is a hobby, second interest for most
breeders loving it

55 to 65 for your babies is… suspect. I’ve always paid less for a bill on my babies than the race horses. Close to 3k a month on races horses and roughly 2.5k for the babies even when they’re in Florida.

[Stan durbread]

Trainers are not getting rich at $65 a day. In Jersey
Hay 3.50
Grain 6.00
Bedding 6.00 a day
Competent groom is $150 a week per horse or $20 a day. Then add in all the cost of barn supplies and equipment. You make on average about $15 a day per horse. As far as a trainer paddocking and charging for I would you work an extra 4-5 hours in a day for free?  As far as shipping most trainers lose a little money if only 1 horse on.

[Lance]

Things have gotten too soft in sports.

 Things have gotten to soft in a lot of other areas to. 

[LUCPARK]

It’s about 14 k a yr to race a horse

Nothin big

[Fuguzzi]

Nutrition, dangerously "close" breeding, less foundation before they "turn the right way of the track"  Strange how the breed has gotten softer as it got faster. I always said back in the day to anyone who would listen. Speed will kill this game in the long run. We had a much better "product" when it was 3 to 5 seconds slower.

[wizardofoz]

Trainers are not getting rich at $65 a day. In Jersey
Hay 3.50
Grain 6.00
Bedding 6.00 a day
Competent groom is $150 a week per horse or $20 a day. Then add in all the cost of barn supplies and equipment. You make on average about $15 a day per horse. As far as a trainer paddocking and charging for I would you work an extra 4-5 hours in a day for free? As far as shipping most trainers lose a little money if only 1 horse on.

How much time during the day does a trainer ACTUALLY spend with ONE horse in a morning, 1 hour tops, then back into the stall or turn out in the field?