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Understanding Today’s Agriculture, AGRI130 Guest Lecture #9- Equine Industry

On November 18, 2019 Mr. Mark DAVIS gave a lecture on the Delaware equine industry.  As the Executive Director of the Delaware Harness Racing Commission, Mr. DAVIS was able the class all about the history of the industry and how it operates today.

Although Mr. DAVIS could thoroughly explain the mechanic of the industry today, that was not always the case.  In fact, before he took on his current position, he, ‘knew little about horses and noting about racing’.  But he did have good writing and management skills as well as a good work ethic.  After, ‘putting his nose to the grindstone’, he was able to pick-up the states’ horse racing industry, which he inherited in a state of disarray.

Mr. DAVIS provided a brief history of horseracing.  The practice of racing horses can be traced back to the Arabians, who held distance races over the desert.  These horses, acquired as spoils of war, were eventually bred with European horses. In 1750, the Jockey Club was created in America for the management of thoroughbreds.

There are two main types of racing- Quarter racing & distance racing.  There are two main breeds of American horses- thoroughbreds and standardbreds. Thoroughbreds typically race once a month with a galloping pace that places all a horses’ weight on one hoof at a time.  Standardbreds are typically use for the less popular, harness racing.  Harness racing has a lower point of entry and the horses race twice a week at a faster pacing/trotting pace.  Because they undergo physical exertion more frequently, these horses are usually heartier, with a slower breakdown.

Mr. DAVIS presented somewhat older data from 2005, but the statistics remain relevant.  Less people are going places.  People are able to engage in races via computer or TV, so physical attendance at horse races has gone down.  The low attendance is not however, because of a significant price barrier- 46% of horse-owners have an modest income, so the sport is not strictly reserved for the wealthy.  People are spending however, as evinced by a landmark wager on October 26, 2019 in which about $4million was bet in one day on a single horse.

The horse population has also gone down within the sport. Prices, therefore, continue going up.  This year marks the 1st time a horse sells for $1million. $100, 000 for a thoroughbred is not uncommon, but that same amount for a standardbred is quite unusual.

In 1934 the Delaware Racing Commission was established. In 1946 Harrington Raceway is built and continues operating as the oldest harness racing track in country. Other raceways include, the ‘Brandywine Raceway’, which closed because slots weren’t used to fund the establishment.  Video Lottery is a requirement on a racetrack, thanks to the, ‘Delaware Horseracing Revitalization Act.

Mr. DAVIS informed use that the harness racing industry is managed by the Fair board, which consists of 88 people, as well as the Raceway and Casino Board.  There are distinct boards for both the standardbred and thoroughbred horses. The Harrington Raceway runs April to October, with a 6 week summer break.  Ocean Downs, a racetrack in Maryland, hosts races in the period from June to August when Harrington isn’t having races.

In previous generation, modern horseracing as we know it consisted of a trainer, and owner, and a driver who divided the profits among themselves.  Today, there are owners and investors. The owners own less than 5% of a horse with a share of the profits and don’t require a license. Trainers however can earn six figures. There are also Paddock inspectors, nicknamed, ‘Pee catchers’ who analyze the urine and blood of the horses, and veterinarians, who are the only professionals in contact with the horse before races.

In Japan, regulations are more stringent, with horses brought to the track a full week before their race, the only people in contact with them are the groomer and/or trainer, and fed strictly hay and water.  In the U.S., drivers, who are still exclusively male, are tested as well- the procedure is imperative when a person is travelling 35mph behind a 2000lb aluminum chariot and horse with eight other people, no one should be under the influence.  Owners and groomers are tested once a month.  Anyone with a license to be in contact with the horse is subject to tests, ‘out of competition’.

The horses run two miles once or twice a week.  The demanding performance can tempt many of those involved in horse-racing to use the blood-building agent erythropoietin (EPO)- ‘the same drug [cyclist] Lance ARMSTRONG got in trouble for [using]’. EPO acts as a trigger to produce more red blood cells, aiding in the recovery of the animal after a race. Paddock inspectors are often checking for doping of the horses- EPO given the night after a race generates antibodies produced for recovery, which wear off before the next race, but already have an effect on the horse’s ability to recover from the previous race. Initially Bovine EPO was given to Equine animals before the switch to Synthetic EPO, of which there are now 37 types, with tests for only 2.

500 full-time jobs are generated by horseracing, which generate money via, ‘Purses’. Better horses race for more money- a better quality horse creates a larger, ‘purse’. Of a $100, 000 purse, a winner gets 50%, and while the owner/owner(s) get money, the driver and trainer receive just 5%. Race operators must also pay training bills, veterinarian bills, food, water, and more and somehow generate some salary.

The lottery money generated by the casinos is put into a large pool.  With the casinos and the state operating as partners, the money is distributed between Delaware’s three casinos and the state in a, ‘weekly sweep’.  Despite popular belief, Mr. DAVIS informs the class that the casino doesn’t take all the money, instead only keeping vendor fees for itself- the headline, ‘State bails out Casino’ is false. In 2015 the casino formula reapportioned the percentages each party received from the, ‘weekly sweep’, with the casino receiving 50% casino and the state receiving 30%.  In 2020, the formula was re-adjusted 2% to help casinos recover, but this was just the state re-correcting the problem they initially caused with the first formula change that gave casinos 50%.  The state largely uses their percentage for state infrastructure.  Even though casinos receive a specific amount of money, the Horse Racing Commission still receives phone calls from betters who complain about the outcome of races.

To close out the lecture, Mr. DAVIS answers the classes questions.  One question concerned the weight requirements for harness racing drivers.  Mr. DAVIS informed the class that drivers are typically in the 150-300lbs weight range, but that unlike jockeys, because of where the drivers are situated, there are no real height and weight requirements for the harness racing drivers.

 

The Horse Racing Industry In Delaware

Horse Racing has very deep roots in the culture of the world. But, for  the United States we can trace are involvement all the way back to 1665. Thats when the first known track was laid out in Long Island. All standard breed horses in America can trace back their lineage to Hamiltonian. As for  Delaware, we would get into horse racing in the 1760s and its all history from there. This was a great presentation with a ton of information in it. Mark Davis did a great job giving us a taste of what it would be like to be in the horse business. Also, about what we would need to know if we wanted to get in the horse business. Im sure there is a lot more we would need to know but he gave us a nice foundation to build on. This was are last guest lecture of the semester and it was a great way to finish.

Mark Davis Guest Lecture

Mark Davis gave a guest lecture on the horse racing industry in Delaware. He began by providing some basic history of horse racing, which is considered one of the oldest sports, dating back thousands of years with almost no alterations. He then talked about the history of horse racing in America and the current state of American horse racing. Horse racing in America has a direct economic impact of $39 billion annually, while the economic impact with spending by industry suppliers and employees totals $102 billion. There are 9.2 million horses in the U.S., of which around 850,000 are used for racing.

In Delaware, the first horse racing facility dates back to 1760, when it was built in the town of Newark. Horse racing in Delaware has continued to thrive ever since, with harness racing being particularly popular in Delaware. In 2013 Delaware paid out $28 million in purses for harness racing and $13.5 million in purses for thoroughbred racing. The horse racing industry in Delaware accounts for approximately 4,200 jobs. In 1994, the Delaware General Assembly decided to allow horse-racing tracks to utilize slot machines to help boost their economic activity.

Horse Racing Industry in Delaware

Mark Davis came into class to talk to us about the horse racing industry in Delaware. I found this lecture to be very interesting and I learned a lot of new things that I had previously not known about horse racing. I had never realized that horse racing has been around for so many years and that I was one of the first sports ever. I also found it interesting that this industry has a $102 billion impact on the US economy. Mark explained that there are over 775 thoroughbred house in Delaware, which I found interesting. He also explained all of the different regulations that go with each type of horse racing because each type of racing has slightly different set of rules and regulations. I never knew how many regulations actually went into horse racing though. There are surprisingly a lot of rules put into place for horse racing to make sure no-one is cheating as well as to make the wellbeing of the horse is always taken into consideration.  Mark Davis also talked about how big of an industry horse racing is for Delaware and how that there is almost $182 million contributed to the Delaware economy annually.

Guest Lecture: The horse Racing Industry in DE

Mr. Mark Davis came to our Agriculture class lecturing us about the Horse industry in Delaware. He is the Delaware’s Executive director of Harness Racing Commission. The horse racing in one of the oldest of all sports. It began in 12th century, invent by British, then introduce to America in 1665 in Long Island. There are 9.2 million horses in the United States.  The horse industry has massive and direct economic impact on the U.S.  economy. It creates $39 billion annually. Tremendous people in U.S. own horses and love horse racing. Compared to Harness racing and Standardbred racing, Thoroughbred racing has less race game per year but produce more money to the industry. A big industry always supports a lot of job opportunities. In 2014, the horse racing industry created 1500 jobs. In Delaware, there are about 100 farms housing 775 thoroughbreds and 300 farms housing 3000 standardbreds, 1000 of them are one-year-old racing horse and breeding stock. And the annual thoroughbred cost is also high than the standardbred.

The Horse Racing Industry in Delaware

I have only briefly been exposed to the horse racing industry when I went to one race as a little kid. I’ve never thought that the industry could have such a huge impact annual impact on the U.S. economy ($102 Billion). I think that it was smart of Delaware to revitalize the horse racing industry by passing the Delaware Horse Racing Redevelopment Act, which authorized slot machines at some horse racing facilities. Something that stuck out from his lecture was that not everyone who owns horses is very wealthy. In reality, approximately 34% of horse owners have a household income of less than $50,000. I definitely was part of the population who thought only wealth people had horses because of all the costs associated with owning one, such as feed, any needed medicine, immunizations, and so on. This industry so important as it not only contributes to the Delaware economy, but it also supported 1,540 jobs in Delaware in the year 2014.

Horse racing industry

Horse racing is one of the oldest of all sports that have taken place in the United States but there are even fewer that basically have had no change over the years they have been around.  On October 24 Mark Davis came into our Agri130 class and gave us a lecture on horse racing in Delaware with some history behind it. The thing that really surprised me was that the First harness race at Dover Downs in 1969 and I wouldn’t have even thought that they have had race there because I only known of the race track at Harrington. But that where I have watched all the races that I can remember. An how much income the state brings in from the horse race each year even though that the industry is slowly falling.

DELAWARE’S HORSE RACING INDUSTRY WITH MARK DAVIS

On October 24th, 2018 we had guest speaker Mark Davis give us a lecture on the horse racing industry in Delaware. Before his lecture I already knew some information about the horse racing industry since my neighbors had horses that they raced in harness racing. I also have a friend from high school who does barrel racing. Even with this information that I had been exposed to it was only a little bit of the industry. Mark Davis went on to explain the industry in more detail on things I hadn’t heard about before. He started out by mentioning how the origins of modern horse racing began in the 12th century when English knights returned from the Crusades with swift Arabian horses. He also mentioned that the earliest records of racing were in England during the year 1530. He then went on to information about the current stats in the US for the industry. In the US there are 9.2 million horses which are used for racing, show, recreation, and other. He also mentioned a common misconception about raising horses. Most people think only the wealthy raise horses. It turns out that there are approximately 34% of horse owners who have a household income of less than $50,000 and 28% have an annual income of over $100,000. After this he mentioned information on Delaware and then different jobs in the industry. Some of the jobs in the industry are judges, investigators, veterinarians, and horseman. One thing I didn’t know was that you needed a license for harness racing.

The Horse Racing Industry

Mark Davis presented the lecture on The Horse Racing Industry in Delaware.  As soon as I saw the powerpoint on this topic I instantly thought of my dad. My dad used to spend his free weekends at a race track and I always wondered why I couldn’t go with him.  Now I understand that it’s not the type of race track that I thought it was where you can interact and ride the horses, instead it’s a place where adults go to place bets on horses. Of course, there’s more to just that but I wasn’t aware of everything that goes into this industry until this lecture.   I thought it was interesting seeing the breakdown of the money purses.  I always have associated the top three winners to win some type of share of the prize but the horse industry rewards the top 5.  However, with all the money that is involved, I learned that this is why people in the industry have the incentive to cheat.  After this lecture I made sure to tell my dad about it, I was hoping I could tell him something he wouldn’t know about the industry but he knew it all.

Guest Lecture: Mark Davis – Horse racing industy

Mark Davis’ guest lecture to our class about the horse racing industry in Delaware was very interesting and informative. He gave us a lot of information about the economics and history of horse racing. I was previously unaware that the first equine racetrack in Delaware was built in Newark in the 1760’s. Horse racing was also the second most popular sport behind baseball until about 1989! We learned about the big difference between thoroughbreds and and harness horses in the racing industry. Harness horses can race much more frequently than thoroughbreds, because their bodies are able to handle it. From an economic stand point, horse racing brings in over $180 million yearly. dollars and creates over 1,500 jobs. Horse racing in Delaware is now highly dependent on casinos, which have been introduced at racetracks and bring in many patrons. Overall, this guest lecture was extremely interesting and informative. I am a fan of horse racing and was glad to learn more about it.

Horse Racing Industry

Mark Davis came to give us a lecture about an industry I never really think about: horse racing. It was very interesting, and I learned a lot about how it works and what goes into it. Apparently the differences between different race horses is not just physical appearances, but also how many races they have a year. I also found out that not only do the jockeys get drug tested, but the horses do too! It makes sense, I just hadn’t thought about it. Another interesting fact was how important horse racing has been to Delaware in history. I have been to Delaware Park, but it really is significant to the horse racing industry. You may argue that horses should not be considered an agricultural industry anymore, what with tractors and other technologies replacing their labor in the field, but the horse racing industry is huge in the United States. It was also interesting to hear about casinos, especially in a class focused on agriculture!

Guest Speaker: Mark Davis

Mark Davis was a very unique guest lecture! I did not have any prior knowledge of the Horse Racing Industry whatsoever. I especially did not know the deep roots that the equine industry has in the state of Delaware. I found Mark Davis’s lecture to be fascinating, and fun. I never thought of the horse Racing Industry has an economically beneficial industry. I thought the exact opposite, that people go to the horse races to gamble, and most of the time waste/lose their money. Gaining knowledge about the Horse Racing Industry showed me that many businesses that you overlook, are the backbones of local economies. I did not realize just how influential the horse racing industry is, especially when paired with the casinos. I also enjoyed learning about the regulations. It is comforting to know that the industry works incredibly hard to prevent possible cheating. I did not realize how strict rules and drug tests are administered. They even fine people for different activities! I am happy to have heard Mark Davis speak, he gave me insight to an industry that I was not exposed to before hand!

Horse Racing

This was the most interesting lecture that I had the opportunity to listen to.  Not knowing the details behind the industry I found that Mark Davis was a very intriguing and knowledgeable person.  I discovered through this lecture that horse racing is one of the oldest sports and as well very popular.  The horse racing industry brings in $39 billion annually and effects the U.S. economy greatly.  Horse racing in Delaware dates back to 1760’s where the first racing facility was built in the town of Newark.  Following this commissions were established and as well numerous racetracks were created.  What really shocked me was how much horse racing  impacted Delaware,  bringing in $182 million and creating 1,540 jobs.   Delaware’s Equine Industry ranks third nationally and as well brings in $280 million each year.   The horse racing industry is quite prominent and impacts Delaware significantly.

Horse Racing in Delaware

Mark Davis lectured to the class on  the horse racing industry in Delaware, both harness and thoroughbred varieties. I always had a good idea thoroughbred racing had strong ties to Delaware but I was not aware of the history of harness racing. I was shocked to learn that in 1989 only baseball was a more popular spectator sport than horse racing in the United States. It was also interesting to learn that 34% of horse owners have a household income under $50,000. The staggering differences between thoroughbred horses and harness horses was an interesting note. Harness races take are more than 3 times more frequent that thoroughbred races, which is understandable because thoroughbred horses would never be able to sustain the constant strain on their bodies. Harness horses do not run like thoroughbred horses and therefore are raised and bred differently. It was a bit sad to learn that Brandywine Raceway which closed in 1989 was unable to get slot machines in conjunction with the raceway. It appears that the well-being of horse racing in Delaware is tied directly to the casinos, for better or worse.

Delaware’s Horse Racing Industry- Mark Davis

Listening to Mark Davis speak about the horse racing industry was definitely interesting and he was able to easily keep my attention. Learning about the horse industry is definitely something I didn’t think I would be so engaged in, but I was extremely engaged with him as he lectured. Learning about the difference between harness racing and thoroughbred racing was something I had never heard about and I was intrigued because of how often I hear about Dover Downs and other horse racing casinos. I also did not know how important casinos are to the overall economic stability of Delaware. Learning about all of this allows me to understand a little more of the agriculture industry and a little more about Delaware’s economics . Not only are casinos important to the economy, but without casinos, the horse racing industry would probably be on a decline.