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January 2004
All the Belle’s Horses
A Kentucky consortium looks south
By Drew Ruble
A consortium representing the $25 billion dollar thoroughbred industry recently descended on the blue blooded enclave of Belle Meade bent on recruiting new owners to the Sport of Kings. Comprised of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA), the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) and Keeneland race course and sales company (the financial backer), “The Greatest Game” amounts to a first-of-its-kind national marketing push aimed at bringing new investment to the horse breeding business.
Why Belle Meade? Based on atten- dance surveys completed at Triple Crown races this year, The Greatest Game identified Belle Meade (Nashville), Kansas City and Cincinnati as hot pockets for outreach. How effective was the pitch? TOBA President Dan Metzger says one sale has already been consummated as a direct result of the Belle Meade visit. Results aren’t usually so swift. Research shows that for most people the idea of thoroughbred ownership gestates four years before a purchase is made. Thus the jury is still out on the success of three-year-old The Greatest Game in attracting new investment to the sport.
Two recent phenomena have boosted The Greatest Game’s ongoing efforts. First was the unexpected success of Funny Cide—a $75,000 horse purchased by a group of high school buddies that in 2003 collected $2 million in purses and nearly won the Triple Crown. Next came Hollywood’s romantic treatment of the Depression-era story of Seabiscuit, a long shot that beat the odds.
A racehorse, like a yacht or a sports car, is a luxury item. It’s no wonder, then, that Belle Meade, one of the wealthiest communities in America, was targeted for recruitment. Belle Meade’s rich indigenous history of thoroughbred breeding makes it a fitting choice, as well. Dating back to 1816 when famed horse Boaster stood to stud, Belle Meade Plantation was a world-famous stud farm that throughout the 19th Century attracted global suitors to its annual yearling sales. In 1881, Belle Meade-bred Iroquois won the English Derby, a feat no other American-bred thoroughbred would achieve again for 73 years.
Descendants of Iroquois included Secretariat and 52 other Kentucky Derby
winners.
A Belle Meade-sized wallet isn’t required to enter the world of thoroughbred ownership—especially if buyers spread their risk within a partnership. Funny Cide’s owners, the “Sackatoga Group,” had 10 members. Annual training costs run $25,000 minimum. Riders take 10% of first place winnings. Prospective owners take heart, however; if an investment fails on the racetrack, all is not lost. With good genes, a thoroughbred can gross significant residual revenues in retirement through stud fees.
The Greatest Game’s success attracting a Belle Meade buyer reflects a recent up-tick in horse sales nationally. It comes as a welcome relief to the 80,000 people working in Kentucky’s horse industry who collectively suffered a $300 million blow two years ago from Mare Reproductive Loss Syndrome. The disease eliminated 25% of the annual foal population in Central Kentucky and rendered most afflicted mares unable to breed the following year.
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