2004 All About Purses

Purses rebound to a record $1.18-billion in 2004 after a down year but still fail
to outpace inflation

by Mark Simon

TOTAL PURSES in North America reached a record in 2004. That is the good news.

The bad news is that total purses declined slightly when adjusted for inflation. Such is the current state of racing in North America, where opportunity is rich for a select group of runners and the majority are average-or worse-when average is a poor economic proposition for an owner.

In 2004, as total purses in North America reached a record, incremental increases were attained in average earnings per runner and average purse per race because the number of races declined.

But getting an average runner in 2004 was no picnic, because the average earnings per runner were $15,934. That amount would not cover all costs related to keeping a racehorse in training for a year on a major circuit.

A negative factor that affected averages was the continued increase in total number of runners. Ad, as the number of runners increases, a substantial number of horses fail to win a race or earn much money, a perilous proposition for any owner.

On the other hand, an owner who had a stakes horse or a horse in the top 1% of earners in 2004 fared quite well, as this annual review of purses indicates.

Highlights of 2004

Highlights of the data in this comprehensive annual review of purses and runners in North America include:

A record $1,177,769,765 in purses was distributed in 58,686 races, the fewest races held in North America since 1971.
Average purse increased 2.3% to a record $20,069 after rising just 0.1% in 2003 over '02.
Total number of runners, 73,915, increased for the sixth straight year.
Average earnings per runner increased 1.6%, a rebound from the 2.8% decline in that measure in 2003.
Nominal-in current dollars-median earnings per runner increased 2.9%, also rebounding after declining by a substantial 4.8% in 2003. Median earnings had peaked in 2001.
Real average earnings per runner-when adjusted for inflation-declined 0.5%, marking the fourth straight year of decline.
A total of 6,294 runners-8.5% of all starters-failed to earn any part of a purse.
More than half of all starters-53.2%-failed to win a race in 2004.
Horses that were able to win at least one race in 2004 earned an average of $30,193; horses that failed to win a race earned an average of $3,373.
Horses that won a stakes race earned an average of $153,372.
Winners collectively earned 88.7% of all purse money in 2004.
17.4% of all runners earned more than $25,000 and collectively won 68.3% of all purse money.
Stakes races constituted 4.4% of all races and offered 23.8% of all purses.
Claiming races-straight claiming and maiden claiming-accounted for 66.5% of all races and distributed just 37.9% of all purses.
For runners three and up, almost half of all races-49.7%-were carded at six furlongs or shorter.
The average number of starts per horse remained at 6.6 in 2004.
Average field size remained steady at 8.3 starters per race.
This is the 32nd year that "All About Purses" has been published. The analysis started in The Thoroughbred Record in 1973 and covered the '72 racing year. It has been published in Thoroughbred Times since 1990. As in the past, the data reflect all Thoroughbred purses distributed to racehorses in North America in 2004, excluding Mexico and Puerto Rico, and were provided to Thoroughbred Times based on data obtained from the Jockey Club Information Systems. Steeplechase races are excluded.

Purses up in 2004

The best news for racehorse owners in 2004 came in the form of higher purses. Total purses in North America reached a record $1,177,769,765, a 2% increase over 2003 that eclipsed the previous mark set in '02. In 2003, total purses decreased in North America for the first time since 1993, a year that marked the end of a long recession in yearling prices and stud fees. The unexpected downturn in total purses in 2003 was accompanied by declines in average earnings per runner and median earnings per runner.

The big-picture statistics on racing in 2004, summarizing purses, runners, races, and earnings, are presented in Table 1. The table presents a ten-year snapshot of key statistics. As can be seen by the summary line that provides percent changes in the data in 2004 from '03, all key statistics improved. The only downward movement was number of races, and, for purses, that is a positive statistic. When races decline and purses increase, average purse per race increases.

Indeed, the combination of fewer races and higher purses pushed average purse over the $20,000 mark for the first time. Average purse increased 2.3% over 2003. Average purse has increased 67.7% in the past ten years.

Average earnings per runner increased 1.6%, slightly less than purses because the number of runners increased 0.4%, thus suppressing the increase in average. Average earnings per runner were 1.4% below the all-time record average per runner of $16,159 set in 2001, when there were 4.2% fewer runners than in '04.

All major averages increased primarily because total purses increased 2% from 2003. After purses had generally stagnated from 1988 to '93, increasing just 1.6% in that time period, purses increased every year from '94 through 2002. The temporary dip in 2003 meant several key averages also declined that year, including average earnings per runner.

Helping fuel increases in 2004 was a 0.2% decrease in the number of races, which continued a long, steady decline that began in 1990, after the number of races in North America peaked at 82,726 in '89. The number of races has declined every year but one since then, falling 29.1% since 1989.

For owners, the most disturbing key statistic listed in Table 1 is median earnings per runner. That measure was $5,877 in 2004, meaning that half of all runners earned more than that amount and half less. While median earnings increased 2.9% in 2004 and have risen 58.8% in the past ten years, horses that earn the median figure remain a financial drain on their owners.

The good news about median is that at least it increased in 2004, after having declined in '02 and '03.

In 2004, the percentage of runners earning part of a purse increased once again, 1.3% to 91.5%, an all-time high. As we will see later, however, that number is not really significant because a small percentage of runners earn the lion's share of the spoils.

Inflationary effects

The big-picture details of Table 1 are recast in Table 2, with adjustments for inflation over the same ten-year period. The figures are adjusted using the federal government's gross domestic product implicit price deflator, which is considered to be more conservative and more accurate than the widely quoted consumer price index. Table 2 reveals that everything was not as rosy as the picture painted in Table 1. For example, total purses, though a record in nominal dollars, actually declined ever so slightly when adjusted for inflation. Average earnings per runner also declined, 0.5%, when adjusted for inflation. In real dollars, average earnings per runner fell to $14,724, down 6.8% from the record $15,798 achieved in 2000.

Deflated average earnings per runner have shown little improvement in the past 34 years. In 1971, deflated average earnings were $13,862, a figure not surpassed until '98. So, since 1971, real average earnings per runner have increased by just 6.2%.

Real median earnings per runner have fared a bit better, increasing 0.7% in 2004, and 35.1% over the past ten years. But, in looking over a longer time horizon, it is doing worse than real average earnings per runner. In 1971, real median earnings per runner were $5,569, higher than in 2004.

Total real purses in North America have been on a general increase during the duration of this study. In 1973, real total purses stood at $733.7-million (when nominal total purses were $233.7-million). Still, as other forms of gaming have increased their market share and revenues appreciably in that time period, Thoroughbred racing barely has been able to keep pace with inflation.

Thin at the top

From Table 3 through Table 17, we examine the microeconomic picture of racing: how individual classes of runners fared on the track, looking at the types of races, races by age and sex, distance, how many starts they made, how many races they won, and other measures, and then examining how those factors affected earnings.

Table 3 breaks down distribution of earnings for all runners by earnings range. While the average earnings per runner in 2004 were $15,934, very few runners earned the average. In the category of runners that earned $15,000 to $19,999, just 4,780 horses, or 6.5% of all runners, fall into that bracket. That is because median earnings-the midpoint range-was just $5,877.

Table 3 indicates that 6,294 horses, 8.5% of the total, earned nothing, and 18% earned some purse money but less than $1,000. In all, 19,572 runners earned less than $1,000 in 2004. Those 26.5% of all runners accounted for just 0.5% of all purse money. At the other end of the earnings spectrum, 1.8% of all runners, 1,349, earned $100,000 or more. Those runners took home 24.3% of all purse money, an average of $212,427 each. A total of 45,671 runners, 61.8% of all runners, earned less than $10,000 in 2004, with those runners collectively winning just 10.7% of all purse money.

Figure 1 presents the data in Table 3 as a bar chart. The figure graphically illustrates that few horses earn substantial amounts in any one year. From left to right, the bars drop off dramatically as the earnings categories increase. The short bars on the right side of the figure show that just 3.2% of all runners earned $75,000 or more in 2004.

The two tallest bars are for the categories of less than $1,000 and the earnings category of $1,000 to $4,999, with 38.4% of all runners falling into those low-earnings groups.

The distribution of earnings as a percentage of starters has been relatively unchanged the past few years.

Earnings pyramid

Table 4 reorganizes the data in Table 3 to present cumulative percentages and running totals for earnings by range in a less-than/more-than format. The data are organized around the earnings levels in the middle column. The left side of the table shows cumulative statistics of runners earning less than the stated amount, and the right side of the table shows cumulative statistics of runners earning more than the stated amount.

For example, to find out how many horses earned more than $25,000 in 2004, refer to the data on the right side of the table. The column immediately to the right of $25,000 indicates that 12,892 runners, 17.4% of the total, earned more than that amount. Those runners collectively won $804.2-million, or 68.3% of all purses, and they earned an average of $62,383.

On the left side of the table, the percentages are the obverse and the averages recalculated. In 2004, 61,023 runners-82.6% of the total-earned less than $25,000, with average earnings per runner of $6,121.

In 2004, 1,346 runners, 1.8% of all starters, earned more than $100,000, and another 1,014 runners earned more than $75,000. Those 3.2% of the total runners amassed 31.7% of the earnings.

The left side of the bottom row of Table 4 indicates that 6,294 horses earned less than $1 in 2004. The right side indicates that 67,621 earned more than $1 in 2004; the average earnings of those runners were $17,417.

At the top of Table 4, the highest category of $7,563,535 is that of Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Smarty Jones, whose earnings include a $5-million bonus from Oaklawn Park. The bonus amounted to 0.4% of the total purse distribution for the year.

Stakes winners reign

Purse money allocated to stakes races in 2004 amounted to 23.8% of the total for the year, and Table 5 indicates why it is important to have a horse that can run in added-money events. (In this study, a stakes race is an added-money event of any value.) In 2004, there were 1,784 individual stakes winners (competing in 2,571 stakes races, as shown in Table 14), which equates to 2.4% of all runners. Stakes winners earned an average of $153,372, or 9.6 times more than the average earner for the year. Stakes winners won $273.6-million, or 23.2% of the total purses. It should be noted that not all earnings of stakes winners came in stakes: Stakes distributed 23.8% of all purses (Table 14) in 2004.

All stakes winners are not equal, and Table 5 shows the disparity in earnings among the 1,784 winners of added-money events in 2004. Last year, 98 stakes winners, 5.5% of the total, earned less than $15,000 each. At the other end of the spectrum, 895 stakes winners, or 50.2% of the total, earned $100,000 or more each. Those high-end stakes winners collectively won 82.7% of all money attributed to added-money winners, with average earnings of $252,768.

A look at the data in Tables 3 and 5 shows that a significant number of nonstakes winners-454-earned $100,000 or more in 2004, since there were 1,349 earners of $100,000 or more in Table 3 and 895 stakes winners who earned $100,000 or more in Table 5.

Table 6 breaks down earnings of 2004 stakes winners by age and sex. The leading earners in all age categories are males, with four-year-old males having the highest average, $215,226. Overall, stakes-winning males earned an average of $164,860 and stakes-winning females $139,177. Males accounted for 59.4% of all earnings for stakes winners.

The best earnings opportunities in stakes are for three-year-olds. Three-year-old stakes winners collectively earned 35.3% of all money won by stakes winners in 2004, though represented by 31.2% of all added-money winners.

Two-year-old stakes winners were at the low end of the earnings range, with average earnings of $109,505. Their lower earnings can be attributed to the fact that juveniles start less on average than any other age group (Table 11), with all juveniles in 2004 starting on average of 3.3 times, exactly half as many times as the overall average of 6.6 for all ages.

While two-year-old stakes winners did not have a high average earnings figure, they had plenty of opportunities. There were 321 two-year-old stakes winners in 2004, compared with 377 four-year-old stakes winners and 259 five-year-old stakes winners. Still, juvenile stakes winners accounted for just 12.8% of all money won by stakes winners in 2004.

Starters earn most

A horse must start to earn money for its owner, and Table 7 emphasizes the importance of starting.

Table 7, which reports earnings as a function of starts, shows that average earnings rise for every start made from one through ten. Horses that made five starts earned an average of $14,111; horses that made ten starts earned an average of $26,009. Horses that started less than six times earned less than the overall average earnings per starter for the year, $15,934.

Horses that started most frequently earned the most money. The top line of Table 7 indicates that 19.9% of runners in 2004 made more than ten starts, and they earned 32.4% of all purse money.

Average earnings per start in 2004 were $2,423. For horses starting more than ten times, mostly claiming horses, average earnings per start drop below the overall average. To show how averages are just average, Table 7 shows that just 7% of all runners made seven starts and 7.4% made six starts, while Table 15 indicates the average number of starts per runner in 2004 was 6.6. Almost half of all runners, 35,402, or 47.9% of the total, made fewer than six starts in 2004.

Winning is everything

By far the most important factor for earning money on the racetrack is winning. Table 8, which reports earnings as a function of number of wins, shows that winners take the spoils in racing.

Horses that failed to win-39,297 runners, or 53.2% of the total-earned an average of $3,373. Horses that won once earned an average of $18,076, or more than five times as much as nonwinners. Horses that won twice earned $34,388, nearly twice as much as those that won just once. Horses that won three times earned an average of $52,884.

Earnings rise dramatically because once a horse is able to win a race, it has eliminated more than half of the competition for purses. The 34,618 winners effectively were splitting up the $1.045-billion in purses that the 39,297 winless horses could not share.

Horses that won six times earned an average of $153,665, the most of any win category. Only 157 horses, or 0.2% of all runners, fall into that rich bracket. Only one horse was able to win more than nine races in 2004.

The 34,618 winners collectively won 58,778 races (there were 92 more wins than races due to dead heats).

Winning one race is tough, two is even tougher, and so it is up the scale. Table 8 shows exactly how hard it is for one horse to win multiple times, as seen by the number of runners that are able to win at each successive level drops off substantially. Only 736 horses, 1% of all runners, were able to win five or more races in 2004.

Table 9 presents the data from Table 8 in the more-than/less-than format. The data at the bottom of the table indicate that 53.2% of all runners could not win one race in 2004, 79.7% of the runners could not win more than one race, and 91.9% of the runners could not win more than two races.

The figures in the table are cumulative and include all the horses that fall into the not-more-than category. For instance, the $15,013 average earnings per runner for those horses that could not win more than four races include data for all horses that won four, three, two, one, and zero races.

The right side of the table presents cumulative more-than information. The 46.8% of the runners that won more than zero races in 2004 includes winners in all race categories. All horses that could win at least once had average earnings of $30,193. The cumulative average of those horses able to win more than one race is $46,082.

As shown in Table 9, horses able to win multiple times dramatically increase their earnings. The 8.1% of runners able to win more than two races earned an average of $63,638, and the 2.9% of runners able to win more than three races earned an average of $82,848.

Must win

Tables 8 and 9 illustrate the importance of winning. Table 10 reveals why winners earn the vast majority of all purse money.

Table 10 details money earned by best finish position in 2004. Winners collectively earned 88.7% of all purse money. As shown in the first line of the table, by best finish position, the 46.8% of runners that won a race earned 100% of first-place money, 75.1% of all second-place money, 71.2% of all third-place money, 68.8% of all fourth-place money, 66.4% of all fifth-place money, and 59.9% of all sixth-place money or lower, to earn an overall average per runner of $30,193.

The 14.3% of runners that could finish no better than second earned 7.9% of all purse money, an average of $8,818. Horses that finished first and second collectively earned 96.6% of all purse money.

The data in Table 10 suggest that owners derive little benefit from minor placings. Unless a horse is able to win, the horse's earnings will be meager and insufficient to defray the costs of training, jockeys' fees, veterinary fees, and other expenses. Table 10 indicates that the national average paid to first place in 2004 was 59.9% of the purse, with 19.8% to second, and 10.9% to third.

The data in the table are presented as a pie chart in Figure 2. The distribution of money to horses based on best finish position has not changed much since this study started in 1973.

Runners by age

The importance of starting as a correlation to winning money was examined in Table 7. Table 11 provides more specific data on the importance of winning to earning money as it relates to age.

The data reveal that the key to winning is starting. Winners start far more often and earn far more money than horses that earn some money but fail to win. And winners average more than four times as many starts as those horses that fail to earn any part of a purse. In 2004, winners started 8.9 times on average, nonwinning earners 5.0 times, and nonearners 2.0 times, for an overall average of 6.6 starts per runner.

The composite data on the right side of the table show that the average two-year-old started 3.3 times in 2004, exactly half the overall average for all ages. Winners in 2004 earned $3,380 per start on average, four times higher than the $808 average earnings per start for nonwinning earners.

Two-year-olds recorded the highest overall average earnings per start, $3,485, with juvenile winners earning $6,709 per start on average, almost exactly twice the overall average earnings per start for all winners.

Table 11 details the composition of winners by age. Of the 34,618 winners last year, 9.8% were two-year-olds, 31.7% were three-year-olds, 26.4% were four-year-olds, 15.2% were five-year-olds, and 16.9% were six or older.

Overall, two-year-olds accounted for 14.7% of all runners, with three-year-olds the largest group, 29.4%, and four-year-olds the second largest, 23.5%. The percentage of juveniles starting has been dropping for quite some time. In 1984, two-year-olds were almost 18% of all runners, and in 1994, they were 15.8% of starters.

Age, sex differences

Purse earnings potential differs by age and sex, and Table 12 details those differences.

Three-year-olds have the most lucrative opportunities. While 10.5% of all races in 2004 were restricted to three-year-olds, those 6,165 races distributed 16.6% of all purses, an average purse of $31,765. Races restricted to sophomore males offered an average purse of $37,455, and those open to either sex an average of $34,213. Races restricted to three-year-old fillies offered an average purse of $28,939.

Two-year-old racing offered the second-most lucrative average purses, with the 4,313 races restricted to juveniles offering 10.6% of all purses for an average of $28,922. Races solely for juveniles accounted for 7.3% of all races in 2004.

The most common races were for horses three-year-olds and up, and the 39,853 races for horses in that category accounted for 67.9% of all races and 59.1% of all purses. The age bracket's average race purse of $17,479 was less than the overall average purse for the year, $20,069.

Differences in earnings potential between the sexes also are pronounced. Races open to either sex-which effectively means races for males-were far more abundant than races exclusively for females, with 58.7% of all races being open and 41% restricted to females. Just 0.3% of races were restricted to males.

The 24,041 races restricted to females had slightly higher purses on average than races open to either sex, by a margin of $20,457 to $19,674.

Table 13 examines in greater detail the differences in earnings potential by age and sex. As Table 13 illustrates, females earned an average of $15,380 and males $16,365. While females accounted for 43.7% of all runners, they collectively earned 42.2% of all purses.

In every age bracket, males earned more than females. Among three-year-olds, the highest earnings bracket of all ages, males earned an average of $19,714, while females averaged $17,711.

Three-year-olds provided the largest group of runners, with 29.4% of the total, followed by four-year-olds, 23.5%. Three-year-olds earned the largest portion of purses, taking more than one-third of all purse money, 34.5%, with four-year-olds again coming next, at 26.6%. Three-year-olds are annually able to win the most money because average purses for three-year-olds are higher than those for any other age group (Table 12) and three-year-olds have a lot of opportunities outside their own age division in the fall.

Two-year-olds earned an average of $11,504, less than any other age group, largely because two-year-olds start fewer times on average than any other age, as has been noted. Claimers preeminent

As any racegoer can tell you, claiming races dominate the average card. Table 14 shows how prevalent claiming races are in North America.

In 2004, claiming races constituted almost exactly two out of every three races in North America. Of the 58,686 races, 39,010, or 66.5%, were for claimers, including maiden claiming, which accounted for 17.2% of all races. Straight claiming races accounted for almost half-49.3%-of all races.

While claiming races are plentiful, they feature below-average purses; the $11,454 average claiming purse in 2004 was 42.9% below the overall average of $20,069. When this series began in the 1970s, claiming races made up approximately 73% of all races. After whole-card simulcasting began, and the number of runners and the number of races decreased, claiming races were less plentiful as allowance races and optional claiming races became more common. Percentage of claiming races dropped to an all-time low of 64.5% in 2000.

As the number of runners has increased since 2000, the percentage of claiming races has increased.

The gap in the percentage of purses being distributed in claiming races versus nonclaiming races has been increasing over the years. In 1984, claiming races distributed 44.9% of all purses; in '94, claiming races distributed 39.1% of all purses; and in 2004, claiming races distributed 37.9% of all purses. That decline is partly attributable to the decline in percentage of claiming races during that time period; in '84, claiming races accounted for 72% of all races.

The $37,148 average nonclaiming purse in 2004 was 3.2 times larger than the $11,454 average claiming purse. Ten years ago, the $21,903 average nonclaiming purse was 3.6 times larger than the $6,124 average claiming purse.

Allowance races were the second-most common race type in 2004, accounting for two of every 17 races. Those 11.8% of all races offered an average purse of $27,973, and distributing 16.5% of all purses.

Third-most common race was straight maiden races, which represented 11.1% of all races and an average purse of $24,623, 12% lower than the average allowance purse. When maiden claiming races are added to straight maiden races, races for nonwinners accounted for 28.3% of all races conducted in North America in 2004.

As shown in Tables 5 and 6, which details the earnings power of stakes winners, stakes races are where an owner wants his horse to be able to compete. Table 14 outlines how lucrative stakes races are in the landscape of racing in North America.

In 2004, stakes races were by far the richest events, featuring an average purse of $109,235 and distributing 23.8% of all purses, even though they accounted for just 4.4% of all races. The average stakes purse was almost 5 1/2 times more than the overall average purse for the year. The average stakes purse increased 2.6% from 2003. Since 1994, the average purse in a stakes race has increased 61%, from $67,864 to $109,235, while the average purse has increased 84%, from $10,910 to $20,069. Despite the rich opportunities in stakes races, average field size in added-money events in 2004 was 7.8, below the overall average of 8.3. The largest fields were in maiden claiming races and straight maiden races.

Figure 3 presents the data on the distribution of races in Table 14 as a pie chart.

Straight claiming races made up almost half of all races. The 3.9% optional claiming race segment has been the fastest-growing category. In 1984, optional claiming races accounted for less than 0.1% of the total.

Starts leveling off

After a long, slow, steady decline for decades, the average number of starts per runner has leveled off, at least for the time being. In 2004, the average starter made 6.6 starts, the same as in '03.

Table 15 reports the average number of starts per horse and average field size since 1986. In 1972, the first year of this study, horses started an average of 10.1 times. The average number of starts per runner peaked in the mid-1950s.

As discussed earlier, earnings are related to the number of starts, and, with the average number of starts declining, the opportunities to pick up purses also decline. The decline in starts comes at the same time as a decline in average field size. With fewer starters per race, it should be easier to get a horse into the starting gate, but average field size, like starts, has been in a slow decline. In 2004, average field size was 8.3, the same as the previous two years but well below the 9.1 average number of starters per race in 1986.

The average field size is remarkably lower in races that have higher purses. As seen in Table 14, excluding maiden races, the average field sizes for the nonclaiming categories are all 8.0 or lower; the same is true for claiming races that have the highest value.

Going long pays off

While stakes races offer the richest purses on average for any class of race, when it comes to distance, the longer the race the richer the richest opportunity.

Table 16 examines purses as a function of distance (excluding two-year-old races, which are primarily sprints for much of the year). As shown in the table, average purse rises as race distances grow longer.

With one exception, average purses for all races at distances of less than a mile are less than the overall $19,367 average purse (excluding two-year-old racing) in 2004. The one anomaly is seven furlongs, which boasted a healthy average purse of $23,175 over 3,275 races in 2004.

Races at a mile featured an average purse of $19,782, just above the overall average, and, other than the categories of one mile and 40 yards and one mile and 70 yards, all other races at distances over a mile paid above-average purses.

The 35,095 races at less than a mile offered an average purse of $15,387; the average purse for the 11,990 races at more than a mile was $30,764, almost exactly twice as much.

While 64.5% of all races were contested at less than a mile, those races distributed just 51.3% of all purses.

Most popular race distance was six furlongs, with 29.5% of all races being run at that distance. The 16,048 six-furlong races distributed 24.2% of all purses and offered below- average purses of $15,888.

The highest average purse was offered at the American classic distance of 1 1/4 miles. Only 177 races, 0.3% of the total, were contested at that distance, but they featured an average purse of $185,647 and distributed 3.1% of all purses. The number of races at that distance was exactly the same as in 2003. That category includes the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) and the Kentucky Derby, whose 2004 purse included the $5-million bonus earned by Smarty Jones.

While 1 1/2-mile races are far and few between, with just 90 run at the distance in 2004, they offered a rich average purse of $132,571.

Figure 4 illustrates the relationship between distances and purses. In aggregate, at all races at distances of six furlongs or less, the percentage of total purses is less than the percentage of all races. At all distances greater than six furlongs, the percentage of purses in each race category is greater than the percentage of races.

The figure shows that running short is not very lucrative on average. Races less than six furlongs accounted for 20.2% of all races but distributed just 12.1% of all purses. At the other end of the distance spectrum, races at 1 3/16 miles or longer distributed nearly six times their share of purses.

Distribution by purses

Table 17 presents the distribution of purses in North America in 2004 by value and helps to explain why so few horses earn six figures in any single year. In 2004, just 86 races, 0.15% of the total, offered a purse of $500,000 or more. Another 821 races, 1.4% of the total, offered purses of $100,000 to $499,999. Those 907 races, however, distributed $202,825,653, 17.2% of the total.

At the other end of the purse spectrum, 2,459 races, 4.2% of the total, offered a purse of less than $4,000, and just 0.5% of all purses. In 2004, 39.1% of all races featured a purse of less than $10,000.

Figure 5 illustrates purse distribution by value and shows why it is hard to earn a lot of money with any one runner. The largest purse category is $10,000 to $14,999, offering 20.3% of all races, though the category is well below the overall $20,069 average purse for the year. When that purse category is added to all those purse categories of lower values, 59.5% of all purses in 2004 had a value of less than $15,000.

In summary

The overall health of Thoroughbred racing's purse structure improved in 2004 after a down year in '03, when total purses and average earnings per runner declined. That total purses reached a record in 2004 is welcome news to owners, trainers, breeders, and jockeys. The record purses also are a sign that growth in racing may have slowed a bit, but the industry is not stagnant. Purse money coming into racing from slots and other subsidies is helping to support the entire infrastructure of racing. The auction marketplace in 2004 was strong in virtually all categories of horses sold-a sign that the people buying horses are optimistic about the future and the chance to earn money with a racehorse. As in past years, it is tough to make a profit with an average horse. The average earnings per runner in 2004, $15,934, would not pay a horse's upkeep on any major racing circuit in North America.

On the other hand, stakes money hit a record amount in 2004, and any owner lucky enough to campaign one of the 2.4% stakes winners from runners probably did well. Getting the big horse continues to be the one sure way to finish ahead of the pack in Thoroughbred racing.

 Mark Simon is president and editor of Thoroughbred Times.

All About Purses 2005
All About Purses 2004 
All About Purses 2003 
All About Purses 2002 
All About Purses 2001
All About Purses 2000