Syrynx - actually many event riders do have syndicates! For example, Boyd Martin’s On Cue shows being owned by Martin, Christine Turner (and other Turners) while Feaderman is owned by the Annie Goodwin Syndicate. Luke 140 owners = Luke 140 Syndicate. So much depends on the individual rider, if they have a owner/benefactor of sorts. If you’re really interested check out some of the upper level event riders’ websites to see about syndication.
I actually did know that but I think the prices for those syndicates are much higher than the ~$100 per share My Racehorse offers. 
Always playing the lottery… lol
I know everyone probably knows this, but Maryland is available for free on You Tube.
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I always assumed it was the impact of dressage scores which tended to weed out interest in taking thoroughbreds up the levels, and less so changes in x-country course design, but again I am just a spectator.
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@omare Eventing is always a balancing act between the three phases and the relationship evolves over the decades. Sometimes the dressage seems to have a disproportionate impact on the competition, another season it is the showjumping, yet another it is the xc phase. There was a period when dressage was quite dominant: everyone just learnt to do better dressage. Sub-20s now regularly happen but I recall when a score in the low 40s was deemed pretty hot stuff. So then an outcry about reducing the influence of xc, the heart of the sport. As a result, increasingly technical fences are built on courses run to tighter times: everyone complains about how difficult and technical the courses have become (see above 5* discussion) but discover that better dressage has produced more balanced and adjustable horses that are jumping xc better. And major championships are currently won or lost by taking a pole or two in the show jumping…
Eventing is still a three phase sport and generally the higher the level the more significant the percentage of “blood” in the horse becomes. The heart and courage and intelligence of a good TB is never out of fashion.
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To be fair, the time when a score in the low 40s was deemed pretty hot stuff was when the multiplier was still in effect. So in today’s numbers, that low 40s hot stuff would be the equivalent of 26.6 - 30.
You are correct that the sub-20s scores we see now do still come in markedly ahead of those marks, but a high 20s mark is still considered reasonably competitive today.
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