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[Mark Peel via Derby]

There's no doubt whatsoever about who foots the biggest share of the tab that keeps thoroughbred racing going—the owners.  That was made evident to me about twenty-five years ago, when The New York Times ran a big feature on D Wayne Lukas (back when Lukas was at the top of the game and The Times actually covered racing as a sport and not, as it does now, as a spectacle founded on animal cruelty).  Again, it took a little extrapolating to reach the conclusion that owning race horses was a losing proposition.  Early in the story it cited, as an example of Lukas's conditioning prowess, the fact that his horses had, up to that point, won $45 million in purses.  It went on to name some of the famous horses who'd run for Lukas, and then some of the famous owners Lukas had trained for, like San Diego Chargers' owner Eugene V. Klein.  Finally, it concluded by extolling Lukas's savvy as a judge of equine potential: Lukas had, over his career, spent $45 million purchasing horses for himself and on behalf of his owners.  Wait a minute, I thought to myself—and checked the purse totals again.  Yes, Lukas and his owners had won $45 million in purses and spent $45 million to buy horses.  So if the owners spent $45 million on buying horses, they were clearly losing money in the aggregate, because the purses would be reduced by 10% for the trainer's share (-$4.5 million) and another 10% for the jockey's share (-$4.5 million).  Then there's the cost of boarding and feeding, veterinary and medication, transportation—none of it cheap.  (I'd love for Carol to reproduce a sample owner's bill for one month's expenses).  It's safe to say that with the 20% that goes to trainers and jockeys, and the considerable out of pocket expenses of maintaining a horse in good condition, that the "takeout" from owner's winnings is higher than the most exorbitantly chiseled Pick-6 pool.

Civres
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