653. Does Horse Racing Have a Future?

Freakonomics Radio

Thoroughbred auction prices keep setting records. But tracks are closing, gambling revenues are falling, and the sport is increasingly reliant on subsidies. Is that the kind of long shot anybody wants? (Part three of a series, “The Horse Is Us.”)

 

  • SOURCES:
    • Anne Archer Hinkle, owner and director of Hinkle Farms.
    • Cormac Breathnach, senior director of sales operations at Keeneland.
    • Emily Plant, thoroughbred researcher and statistician, associate professor of marketing at the University of Montana.
    • Mark Taylor, president of Taylor Made Farm.
    • Marshall Gramm, horse player, professor of economics at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee.
    • Richard Migliore, head racing analyst for Fox Sports and New York Racing Association, retired jockey.
    • Sean Feld, bloodstock agent.
    • Scott Heider, managing principal of Chartwell Capital, thoroughbred investor.
    • Thomas Lambert, economist at the University of Louisville.

 


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More description

Thoroughbred auction prices keep setting records. But tracks are closing, gambling revenues are falling, and the sport is increasingly reliant on subsidies. Is that the kind of long shot anybody wants? (Part three of a series, “The Horse Is Us.”)

 

  • SOURCES:
    • Anne Archer Hinkle, owner and director of Hinkle Farms.
    • Cormac Breathnach, senior director of sales operations at Keeneland.
    • Emily Plant, thoroughbred researcher and statistician, associate professor of marketing at the University of Montana.
    • Mark Taylor, president of Taylor Made Farm.
    • Marshall Gramm, horse player, professor of economics at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee.
    • Richard Migliore, head racing analyst for Fox Sports and New York Racing Association, retired jockey.
    • Sean Feld, bloodstock agent.
    • Scott Heider, managing principal of Chartwell Capital, thoroughbred investor.
    • Thomas Lambert, economist at the University of Louisville.

 


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

2025-11-14 61 min Transcript
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