Season Ends Today, Stable Update and the "Real" All In Costs of Running a Thoroughbred in Minnesota

Today our Minnesota racing season ends with our Astar Lindquist PJ's Angel and Victory Ice running. Our small 4 horse stable has earned $119,335 so far and will finish in the top 20 stables in earnings and starts. With a $30,000 earnings average per horse we will again be profitable for the year.

I am often asked about "all in" ownership costs in Minnesota, likely because of all the asinine propaganda on the subject. Our 4 horses cost $9,720 to board,  $68,804 to train, $11,523 to have ridden by jockeys, $2, 800 to ship, $2,150 to have their feet taken care of by farriers, $2,576 in vet costs and $235 in miscellaneous costs like tattoos and licenses. The $97,808 works out to $24,452 per horse, all in cost. If someone tells you their costs are lower per horse, ask them how they factor in the 20% of projected earnings they expect their horses to earn. Ours would have been under $20,000 per horse IF our horses earned nothing!

I've never understood why transparent honesty pisses so many people off in racing, but these are the real costs for the last full 12 months of taking care of and racing 4 Minnesota bred horses through the 2016 racing season. Many of the BS'ers who lie about all in costs focus on track "day rate" training costs. If you want to have quality racing results, horses have to be properly broke if yearlings, prepped for racing, maintained on quality farms, shipped properly, medically cared for and have their hoofs done  all year!

Lastly, Minnesota breds are typically done racing after the Minnesota racing season. Running elsewhere is a losing proposition for almost 100% of Minnesota bred horses, though some racing executives and knuckleheads talk about it as if it is a viable common concept. Rarely can even MN bred stakes winners compete anywhere but at open company (bred anywhere) horse claiming levels. If you own a MN bred, you need to make your money here.

With all this said, our stable had a good season, 4 wins so far, a nice Minnesota Oaks stakes win and another year of great memories. Many thanks to trainers Gary Scherer and Tony Rengstorf, plus Joyce and Rick Osborne for caring for and shipping our horses when they are not racing. Next step.....getting our yearlings off to be broke in November.

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