For the Future, it Appears Kentucky Racing is Just About Everything

While I was waiting for the Spa races to be moved off the turf (spoiler, they just were), I noticed a lot of chatter about Keeneland getting the Breeders Cup in ’27.

My first thought was, we better get used to it because I don’t foresee Kentucky racetracks not getting the bulk of the BCs anytime soon. And to me, it makes perfect sense.

When we were kids, we might have learned about comparative advantage in school. For example, a country that makes bread really well and cheaply exports it to others who can’t make it nearly as cost-effectively. It’s a simple concept. Lately, that seems to have gone out the window. 

Canada, with its vast natural resource edge, has been met with policies that have made it harder and harder to extract that advantage. In the US, where technology, innovation, and IC rule the roost for their massive productivity edge, they seem to be focused on trying to make textiles great again.

Meanwhile, Kentucky said (in Gabe Prewitt’s drawl) “not on my watch.” The Bluegrass state knows it’s the horse racing state and seems to want to keep it that way. The state and its lawmakers have poured almost everything into the sport.

Kentucky Downs has taken horses from almost everywhere with its massive purses. Ellis Park holds $100,000 maidens. Even Turfway Park has juiced purses and handle. In harness land, it’s almost obscene what they’ve done to grade 1, 2, and 3 stakes at historical and storied ovals. The entire two- and three-year-old stakes season is an abomination, as Kentucky shovels millions into purses at places like Oak Grove.

We can complain about it—I, and many of you do—but at the very least, we have a horse racing state hell-bent on, well, horse racing. That’s not all bad.

This is why, in my view anyway, the biggest events in this sport will be held in Kentucky. And frankly, would it surprise anyone that the state might be the only one holding horse racing in fifty years? I wouldn’t be surprised. 

I understand our frustration with the Death Star’s takeover. It’s concerning that they’re repeating the same mistakes everyone else has made by solely focusing on increasing supply and neglecting demand. The potential to change takeout rates, develop new mediums, and restore fairness with CAW’s is real and available, yet they dismiss it, throw another few million dollars into a purse, while raising takeout to “pay” for a trackside tent.

However, it’s important to remember that this is the place for horse racing, and they actually know it. They’re constructing something substantial and leveraging their edge. In that sense, it’s refreshing.

Have a nice Thursday, everyone.