Source: Racing UK via Twitter

Can You Make Money From Owning a Horse?

This article contains third-party links

Horse racing has long been a loved sport to watch and gamble for entertainment.

While it can be a risky sport and endeavour to invest money into it, it can be massively rewarding and can let you walk away with a huge return should the horse you own manage to win and come out as the elite. Alternatively you can make money from betting on horses, for example take a look at these Ascot sign up offers that you can use on horse racing.

To make money from your own race horse, you will need to make sure that you have the resilience and patience to continue. With the discipline and knowledge of the racing market, you will discover a better chance, but with all honesty, racehorse owners actually do not make that much money, as you would think they would. It is essential however, that before you even think of buying a horse, you will need to make sure that you invest a relationship into the racehorse before you expect to make any money from it. A connection is super important and while it is difficult to expect a financial reward, you still would win massively knowing that you have a budding horse relationship.

How do you make money as a racehorse owner?

Racehorses are owned with the intention of making money. Each of the horses are given a selected amount of money called a ‘purse’. The purse is set by the track steward, who bases it around the grade and level of competition. The purse will have a percentage of it being given to the finishers of the race. Within some jurisdictions the competition will also receive a portion of the purse, while in some other districts, the top 6 horses are the only ones that are paid.

The winner is paid a total of 60% of the purse, second place will get 20%, third will get 10%, fourth will receive 5%, fifth will receive 3% and sixth will receive 2%. The horse’s earning is what will pay the jockey and the accommodating fees that come with it too. Once the monthly expenses have been paid out, usually there is very little profit actually left for the owner of the horse. If we use the same principle of the percentages starting with a grand purse of £10,000, the winner will get £6000, the jockey will also get their fees taken from it, and that usually leaves the horse owner with about $4800 only to work with. It is not as much as you would have initially thought, right?

That small amount given to the horse owner, will most likely not even be enough expenses to feed, train and house a horse. That is why it is vital horses come out at the top, as anything lower will mean there will not be much to compensate for anything at all.

There is money from breeding horses 

That is right, as a racehorse owner, you can make money selling the offspring and the breeders awards. When horses finish their racing career, it’s those horses that are used to breed. Even though there are many successful horses that make quite a lot of money within racing, the real money comes from being a stud. The record-breaking stallion stud fee so far was from Galileo, and while the set fee is yet to be unknown, the fee is thought to be $700,000.

The biggest earning stud within all of the US was called Tapit. Earning over $35 million every year from breeding, a total of 12 horses per year are sold with a fee of at least $300,000. Tapit and Galileo are two of the most highly demanded stallions for breeding, due to their pedigree. Pedigree owners will breed their mares selectively and raise them from birth, so the offspring can fetch a higher earning price. However, the training aspects do not need to be covered by the horse breeder, and can be covered by the trainer that wishes to purchase the horse.

Of course, with horse breeding, it can be a long process as you can never know when a horse will be sick or get an injury, so the journey will never be a straightforward process at all. The progress of breeding is a lengthy one, and requires patience to see the potential that a horse can give to buyers. It is often at the ages one or two that buyers notice how well a horse has potential and what it can give. 

As an owner, you will be able to make money from selling racehorses, with some being runners, and others purely for breeding purposes. Horses with good breeding and success on the tracks, will always be desired by breeders. However, owners may not be specifically into the breeding business and will therefore opt for a broodmare instead. It is quite strange to think that some of your favourite horse races such as the Royal Ascot, and the Grand National have a selective breeding process. Horses that end up on those tracks certainly have come a long way, with much time, attention and resources. Who knows, maybe one day that could be you too, and your horse could be right up there too! 

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Eclipse Magazine
Newsletter Signup

Racing News, What to Wear, Competitions, Features, Betting Tips and More

Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team. We'll bring the news to you about once a month. We NEVER share your data.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Scroll to Top