Jere and I have been back in the United States since April 2009. After being out of the country for so many years we knew it would be tough to get a racing stable started again, but we felt we did a good job of keeping in touch with former and potential new clients while we were gone, and we had a little money in savings to invest in the start-up. Now it's January 2010 and although we're still in business, we're just barely able to pay business expenses and we haven't added many new horses to our roster. Although the most prominent stables charge a minimum of $75/day per horse, we are finding that about $65/day is what the majority of owners are willing to pay. For more about the costs associated with racing, see http://racehorsetrainers.com/dayrates.htm - this is several years out of date, so keep in mind that costs have risen since then.
We are stabled at Gulfstream Park for the winter and it's been challenging due to the very high expense for hay and bedding that must be shipped to south florida from northern states, plus the unexpected flooding of the barn area in December. Despite this it's been an overall good experience so far. The racetrack has drawn a huge crowd every race day, and the dirt and turf courses are in excellent shape.
We have a photo gallery in Jere's web site that's labeled "kentucky gallery" but I'm adding the photos from Florida there as well. I also started a YouTube channel and I'll be adding videos about our racing experiences here at Gulfstream soon. You can click on the link to our YouTube channel from Jere's web site at http://www.jrsmithjr.com/ - please visit the site and send us an email or give Jere a call anytime.
If you are an owner, trainer or other industry professional we invite your comments about the current economics of the racing business.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
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