As Thoroughbred racing heads into a brand new yr, it faces the inevitable problem of studying from the previous 12 months and making use of these classes to a brand new yr.
With 2026 at hand, BloodHorse has reprised its on-line year-end survey to ask a few of the sport’s main people for his or her opinions on pertinent points going through the game.
By means of Jan. 2 within the BloodHorse Each day and on www.bloodhorse.com, a choose group of panelists will handle points corresponding to essentially the most thrilling freshman sire for 2026, discipline measurement, what contributors inform newcomers they like most in regards to the sport, fixed-odds wagering, the Breeders’ Cup, and the Triple Crown. We proceed the sequence at this time with a query about foal crop measurement.
Whereas realizing there are numerous different voices, the hope is that these solutions will spark significant dialogue inside the business.
Anybody who wish to provide their opinion is inspired to submit it in writing to editorial@bloodhorse.com for inclusion in our Letters to the Editor. Longer items could be thought-about for an Business Voices column.Join BloodHorse Each day
To entry our 2023 year-end survey, please click on the next hyperlink for a pdf model.
Query:Â What are one or two concepts that ought to be tried to extend the dimensions of the foal crop?
Ken McPeek, coach: After I began coaching, there have been 54,000 foals a yr. We’re all the way down to 16,000. They’re taking a difficulty and overcomplicating the reply. It is a MEDIA RIGHTS ISSUE.
Picture: Anne M. EberhardtKenny McPeek
(The Horseracing Integrity and Security Authority) and sure powers are barking up the mistaken tree. Thoroughbred racing is not shrinking or dropping its fan base due to medicines, or breakdowns, or a jockey hitting his horse seven instances. All these items are ridiculous. The rationale horse racing is dropping followers is as a result of they’re making it too troublesome for a fan to observe a race. To entry and look at a horse race is equal to a root canal generally.
Till the game offers with the media rights challenge and makes it straightforward to observe horse racing, it can by no means develop. You shouldn’t should subscribe to a service to observe a horse race. You shouldn’t should open an advance-deposit wagering account to observe a horse race. You shouldn’t should be within the right state or be a sure age to observe a horse race.
Make it straightforward to observe and the game and the foal crop will develop once more.
When baseball opened the game and put it on the radio within the Thirties, there was concern folks would not come to the video games. Opposite to the concern, it grew the game after they opened the media rights.
It is a completely different period, however at this time it ought to be straightforward to observe a horse race at no cost. Followers are usually not going to observe except you give them an entry supply, which is why I invented Horse Races Now. The app has been downloaded greater than 1 million instances in 223 international locations with 300,000 energetic customers. However we’re not allowed to entry video. Are they scared to have folks present it? Truthfully, I do not get it. This can be a easy answer.
Sooner or later at Keeneland, three boys, who could not have been older than 10, every got here as much as me and requested if I used to be Mr. McPeek and if I put the Horse Races Now app collectively. I advised them I did, and simultaneous they advised me they love the app as a result of they had been capable of watch the races. You have to have interaction these youngsters when they’re younger. To not gamble, however to benefit from the sport. In the event that they determine to gamble when they’re sufficiently old, that is their resolution. However we’ve got walled off our personal sport from the lots.
Tom Ryan, managing companion, SF Bloodstock and racing supervisor, SF Racing: There isn’t any hidden trick or magic components to bettering the standard or measurement of our foal crop. The one actual strategy to transfer the needle is to develop demand for horse racing nationwide. The place we’re numbers-wise at this time in North America feels about proper, given the variety of racetracks which have closed. The fact is, we’re all competing for a similar playing {dollars}. Most thriving tracks at this time are doing so due to supplemental revenue from various gaming. If we need to develop our foal crop, then we have to make horse racing extra marketable—inform our story higher, do a greater job on the media facet, and discover a strategy to deliver the game again into the mainstream dialog.
Proper now, horse racing is in the midst of a reset. I hope that key markets like California can discover sustainable methods to stay viable, as a result of we have already misplaced too many established jurisdictions. With out development in a few of these smaller or mid-tier markets outdoors Kentucky, it is difficult to generate new demand for foals. Kentucky is producing an impressive product and units a superb commonplace. However for the business as an entire to thrive, we’d like sturdy packages all over the place.
Picture: Anne M. EberhardtTom Ryan
Florida and California completely must be maintained. The Mid-Atlantic, Arkansas, and New York are all well-positioned to proceed contributing. Nonetheless, if we need to develop meaningfully, the demand must be created—and that may solely occur by a nationwide effort. We want a coordinated program that encourages each state authorities to assist horse racing, agriculture, and the financial advantages that include them.
We have turn out to be a distinct segment sport, however that does not imply we’ve got to remain one. If we need to get again to producing greater numbers and capturing extra followers, it has to occur on a nationwide stage. Horse racing nonetheless has a incredible custom and emotional enchantment—we simply have to search out new methods to deliver it again to life in locations the place it is fallen quiet.
The expansion of syndicates and partnerships have helped open the door for extra folks to become involved, decreasing the buy-in and making possession extra accessible. When these partnerships are managed transparently, they create actual pleasure and repeat engagement.
That is highly effective. Horse racing stays one of the vital gratifying outside sports activities on the market. It is social, filled with power, and presents one thing for everybody. Whether or not you are dressed up for an enormous day or simply watching a number of races with associates, the observe is an expertise. That is what we have to showcase—the joy, the entry, and the neighborhood that make racing so particular. Then the demand for foals will develop.
Najja Thompson, govt director of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders: Reversing the nationwide foal crop decline would require coordinated, collaborative motion amongst all business stakeholders, with a transparent concentrate on the continued improvement and strengthening of state-bred packages.
Picture: Anne M. EberhardtNajja Thompson
From my perspective, two concepts warrant severe consideration:
Leverage the present favorable tax depreciation coverage to drive broodmare funding and retention
Set up a nationally coordinated breed-to-race incentive framework
The present 100% bonus depreciation schedule is a direct results of collaborative lobbying efforts by the Nationwide Thoroughbred Racing Affiliation, The Jockey Membership, the Thoroughbred House owners and Breeders Affiliation, and different business stakeholders.
It has supplied a strong however time-sensitive alternative to develop the foal crop. It’s important that business organizations, gross sales firms, and racetrack operators collectively and proactively promote using 100% bonus depreciation to encourage new broodmare purchases, retain current mare bands, and appeal to new contributors to breeding.
Pairing these federal tax advantages with state-level mare retention incentives, corresponding to bonuses for mares bred in consecutive years or incentives for first-time breeders, will assist be certain that these insurance policies are directed towards precise foal crop manufacturing, relatively than short-term transactional exercise.
The institution of a nationally coordinated breed-to-race incentive framework that aligns mare incentives with racing alternatives and makes use of state breeding packages because the supply mechanism would additionally assist to incentivize breeding choices by increasing entry to regional racing circuits and creating clearer pathways from breeding to racing.
New York and the Mid-Atlantic area are well-positioned to function a mannequin for this strategy, given our sturdy incentive buildings and interconnected racing schedules.Â
On the similar time, states corresponding to Florida, with the latest announcement of a possible racetrack improvement in Ocala, and California, as a important inhabitants and media marketplace for the game, would additionally profit from incentivized pathways from breeding to racing, with the outcomes benefiting a shared goal of rising the nationwide foal crop and inspiring new house owners.
The concepts above present a realistic blueprint to assist reverse the foal crop decline. Nevertheless, I am open to listening to suggestions and concepts from all stakeholders and business contributors. What’s important is that we transfer from open dialogue to coordinated execution with collective dedication to develop the foal crop and proceed to maintain our sport nationally for the longer term.Â
Ned Toffey, basic supervisor, Spendthrift Farm: The foal crop in America has been in decline for 40 years, so I do not suppose there’s any fast, straightforward repair. By means of tax breaks and improved promotion we will ease a few of the financial pressures on breeders and appeal to new customers for his or her product.Â
Picture: Anne M. EberhardtNed Toffey
Selling the business as an entire will profit current breeders and house owners, in addition to attracting new ones. And not using a true league workplace with a considerable finances, like that in different main sports activities, charged with advertising and marketing the business, we’re at an obstacle. Nevertheless, the likes of Griffin Johnson on social media and Race For The Crown on Netflix demonstrated that getting the game within the highlight makes a distinction. For years, conventional media, notably newspapers, has portrayed racing in solely a unfavorable mild. Now, the general public consumes data and leisure a lot in another way, and we’re not on the mercy of the mainstream media. We now have an incredible product and must showcase it in ways in which resonate with fashionable audiences.
Laws to create extra favorable tax circumstances for breeding, elevating, and racing Thoroughbreds is crucial. Many Thoroughbred breeders are, in actual fact, farmers and will profit from the identical tax breaks as different types of farming.Â
This yr’s historic gross sales season was pushed largely by the reinstatement of 100% bonus depreciation and seems to be carrying by to early stallion season gross sales. Hopefully, it will embolden breeders to reinvest within the broodmare market.Â
Lowering  Securities and Alternate Fee crimson tape related to possession syndicates could be one other optimistic step. In Australia there’s comparatively little crimson tape permitting racing syndicates to thrive. Consequently, this drives yearling gross sales and fosters participation from most people.Â
These are only a few concepts which have proven promise and could be expanded on to start to reverse a long-standing pattern.Elliott Walden, president, CEO, and racing supervisor of WinStar Farm: The shrinking foal crop measurement presents a important problem to the long-term vitality of our sport. Regardless of latest will increase in gross sales costs, the variety of foals born yearly continues to say no. Whereas the speed of discount has slowed barely—averaging 2% during the last three years in comparison with a 3.53% common beforehand—the pattern stays a major concern.
Picture: Anne M. EberhardtElliott Walden
Two strategic initiatives may successfully reverse this pattern. First, we should increase incentive packages just like the latest “Breeders’ Day” held at Churchill Downs for Kentucky-breds, which distributed $350,000 to taking part breeders. This idea ought to be scaled up for 2026, doubtlessly by collaboration with the Kentucky Thoroughbred Affiliation and the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protecting Affiliation to incorporate all Kentucky racetracks. Increasing these high-payout days will inject important funds straight again into breeders’ operations and foster neighborhood enthusiasm. Lately could be alternatives for sponsors to take part, instructional alternatives for breeding a greater horse, and only a enjoyable day on the races.
Moreover, we should handle the decline of breeding packages in different states. The business has been aptly described as “Kentucky, an island in a receding lake of breeders.” Whereas packages in states like New York and Louisiana have seen development, top-tier packages in California and Florida have sadly contracted. To bolster the nationwide foal crop, a regional strategy is important. We want a proper dialogue between states to discover a brand new mannequin: grouping states into aggressive areas and establishing profitable, regionally unique stakes races. A capstone occasion, maybe a regional problem race featured on the Breeders’ Cup undercard, may generate important curiosity and elevate the profile of those very important state packages.
Whereas the problem of the foal crop measurement is critical, I’m hopeful we’ve got reached the underside of this cycle. Implementing these incentives is essential as a result of with no strong neighborhood of breeders, the way forward for our complete sport is in danger.
