The Most Exciting Time of the Year

By: Tom Rooney

We all watched this past Saturday as the most exciting two minutes in sports unfolded, resulting in a tremendous victory for Rich Strike as he crossed the finish line after an incredible race with all the odds stacked against him. While the beginning of May brings with it the beginning of Triple Crown season, the eyes of America turn to horse racing. This time of year is exciting for all of us, but this year in particular the Thoroughbred industry has more to be optimistic about than ever before and a lot of good news to share with our fans.

First and foremost, the current state of the U.S. Thoroughbred breeding and racing industry is strong. Leading industry economic indicators for Thoroughbred racing and breeding currently are the highest in more than a decade. This includes attendance, prize money, and wagering by our customers, which are all up. Just this weekend Churchill Downs announced 147,294 fans witnessed Rich Strike's historic run in person at the track. Wagering across all-sources topped $273.8 million, the highest of all time. Additionally, NBC Sports reported that 19 million people tuned in to watch Rich Strike's historic win, making viewership the highest it's been since 2017. They also stated that the Kentucky Derby was NBC's most watched program since Super Bowl Sunday. This display of excitement from the public is very positive going into such a dynamic spring and summer racing season.

Additionally, the market for Thoroughbreds continues to be strong, and Kentucky continues to lead the way-both nationally and internationally-in terms of the health and vitality of the Thoroughbred breeding and sales sector. Keeneland and Fasig-Tipton, both based in Lexington, accounted for three quarters of the $1.1 billion North American Thoroughbred sales market in 2021. In Florida, the Ocala Breeders Sale Company, better known as OBS, just experienced a record-breaking April sale following a very strong March sale. I saw for myself the energy on the sales grounds as owners and agents sought to add two-year-olds to their barns. We hope to see this enthusiasm in the sales markets continue through the remainder of the two-year-old sales as well as upcoming yearling and breeding stock sales later this year.

Another thing to be optimistic about is the progress being made on safety and integrity in the sport. Just last week, HISA announced its partnership with Drug Free Sport International to operationalize its Anti-Doping and Medication Control enforcement agency. This is an exciting step in the direction of ensuring uniform safety for our equine athletes and raising the bar for integrity in racing. This announcement was praised by leaders across the industry and from Thoroughbred racing's champions on Capitol Hill. As the implementation deadline nears, HISA continues to accomplish its goals and meet its milestones written into the law.

The next few weeks will bring the Preakness and the Belmont, and we've all got our fingers crossed for another Triple Crown winner. Let's remember that our industry supports nearly half a million jobs across the country, and annually supports $36 billion in economic activity. We should be proud of that work and as an industry we can continue to celebrate all the positives and optimistically look forward to the future.