[QUOTE=LaurieB;3279663]
Tiramit, it costs us roughly $75,000 per year per horse. That covers everything from insurance and training, to vet and blacksmith, entry and nomination fees, and transportation. It assumes no surgery or off-the-chart vet bills. And of course, we don’t pay any commission or administration fees, because we do that part ourselves. I hope that helps. :)[/QUOTE]
Are you feeding it in gold feed tubs? $75,000 is crazy.
[QUOTE=DickHertz;3281130]
Are you feeding it in gold feed tubs? $75,000 is crazy.[/QUOTE]
Sure it can be done cheaper. Anything can be done cheaper. But our bills aren’t crazy, they’re pretty much business as usual where we race.
Here’s a breakdown of the major expenses for a filly we raced last year:
Training: $100 a day $36,500
Insurance: $7,500
Vet (including meds, x-rays, ultrasound, nuke scan, chiropractor, massage) $10,000
Transportation: $10,000 (inter-state vanning and RT flight to CA)
Entries and nominations: $3,000
Blacksmith: $3,000
File the rest under miscellaneous. 
And don’t forget, we “lose” 23% of every purse on top of that. 10% to the trainer, 10% to the jockey (if we win, less if we don’t) and 3% to the barn staff.
I noticed that you all have not mentioned stabling. A long time ago when I worked at a breeding farm attached to a race stable barn costs were mentioned. Perhaps I misunderstood or are stalls now free at the track? Or is that a part of the “training fee”?
LaurieB, what is the stable size of the trainer the filly was with?
Stabling at CBY is free as it was at Fonner and Remington and Tampa Bay. If they do not get on the backside and are at a training center our trainer upped his day fee accordingly - which was $8.00 a day per horse.
I would say the hardest part so far has been finding a trainer that you want to work with. It seems we are in a good spot right now, but you never know. The other two trainers we used for a minimum of 11 months, so we gave them an honest try.
Pat
[QUOTE=Tiramit;3281348]
I noticed that you all have not mentioned stabling. A long time ago when I worked at a breeding farm attached to a race stable barn costs were mentioned. Perhaps I misunderstood or are stalls now free at the track? Or is that a part of the “training fee”?[/QUOTE]
Stalls are free at the track (which is why they want them filled with horses that will run) and you can expect associated costs (bedding, etc) to be part of the day rate (training fee). However, if your horse is stabled at a training center you may be charged for a stall. It depends on the trainer. The Evangeline TC charges $5/day for stall, but I’m sure there are others that are more.
ETA: Ooops! Pat beat me to it! Sorry for the redundancy.
Care goods are generally covered in the day rate with the exception of a halter. If you horse requires something special, you will likely be billed for it and some trainers charge a “tack fee” of around $50/month.
Same thing with supplements. Basic supplements are included in the day rate, but most trainers either charge a “supplement fee” or bill directly for some pricier supplements. Expect between $30 and $100/month.
Fees vary between tracks/circuits. But, overall, you’re going to get a lot more (both for horse care and aesthetics) in a $100/barn than you will in a $35/day barn. However, obviously, I doubt the filly in LaurieB’s example is a $10k claimer. 
It’s all relative.
Laurie B,
I just think your prices are a little inflated - not saying it’s not legit, but I think someone is making money on the services. The avg. horse needs shod 10-12 a year. They actually charge you about $290 per shoeing? Are they glue ons or some special shoe? $300 is crazy. I’m not being critical, just saying that everything seems exorbinant in your situation and I don’t want new owners thinking your prices are the norm because they are not. Good trainers and New York are much less than $100 per day. Mid-Atlatnic trainers range from $40-$80, generally.
[QUOTE=DickHertz;3281644]
Laurie B,
I just think your prices are a little inflated - not saying it’s not legit, but I think someone is making money on the services. The avg. horse needs shod 10-12 a year. They actually charge you about $290 per shoeing? Are they glue ons or some special shoe? $300 is crazy. I’m not being critical, just saying that everything seems exorbinant in your situation and I don’t want new owners thinking your prices are the norm because they are not. Good trainers and New York are much less than $100 per day. Mid-Atlatnic trainers range from $40-$80, generally.[/QUOTE]
LaurieB’s prices are completely on par for what to expect for horses racing in, say, southern California.
Not everyone bases their stable out of CT or PN.
[QUOTE=DickHertz;3281644]
I just think your prices are a little inflated - not saying it’s not legit, but I think someone is making money on the services. [QUOTE]
Okay, Dick, I’ll bite - what is more realistic for your circuit?
I think LaurieB’s example is in line w/ what to expect with a syndicate aiming at potentially stakes caliber horses running at major tracks.
[QUOTE=DickHertz;3281644]
Laurie B,
I just think your prices are a little inflated - not saying it’s not legit, but I think someone is making money on the services. The avg. horse needs shod 10-12 a year. They actually charge you about $290 per shoeing? Are they glue ons or some special shoe? $300 is crazy. I’m not being critical, just saying that everything seems exorbinant in your situation and I don’t want new owners thinking your prices are the norm because they are not. Good trainers and New York are much less than $100 per day. Mid-Atlatnic trainers range from $40-$80, generally.[/QUOTE]
Dick, you’re nickel-and-diming me now.
I know how many times the average horse gets shod in a year. As you might have guessed, this filly wasn’t average. Since she has longer pasterns than we might have preferred, we were very careful to keep her toes short. She was shod every 3 and 1/2 weeks, cost about $200 per.
As I said before, yes we could have spent less. Maybe cut out the chiro visits or that just-in-case nuke scan. But the point was to keep the filly optimally happy and healthy and racing to the best of her ability. Bottom line, she paid all her expenses and put nice blacktype on her dam’s page. So we’re not complaining.
[QUOTE=miss_critic;3281431]
LaurieB, what is the stable size of the trainer the filly was with?[/QUOTE]
For the majority of the year she was with a trainer who has around 20 horses, for the rest she was with a trainer who has 40-45 horses.
We have done the chiro, nuclear scans, massage therapists, radiographs just to be sure and whatever was needed for ours. With each of these visits, we have gone to the barn and been personally involved during the procedure and selecting the professional to do the work.
I am in Minnesota so things are much less expensive here although they wintered in Florida this year and last year so things added up there including my visits to Ocala.
Most of the bigger operations in NY, KY or SoCal will easily run $100/day at base. In NY the Saratoga Training Center costs per stall per day when they are not racing here, so factor that in.
Vets and other treatments (chiro, massage etc) tend to be more here than other areas, it’s just expensive to live in NYC or Nassau County and then spend 6 wks in the uber pricey Saratoga.
Shipping to Belmont and Aqueduct is pricey because the vans have to operation on city streets (:eek:!) rather than the parkways near those two tracks because those parkways are closed to commercial traffic. Between the added fuela dn driver skills needed, it costs more.
[QUOTE=Texarkana;3281817]
LaurieB’s prices are completely on par for what to expect for horses racing in, say, southern California.
Not everyone bases their stable out of CT or PN.
;)[/QUOTE]
Which is why I put what trainers cost in other places to give the OP a feel for other regions. So Cal is NOT the norm. Those rates are much higher than many good outfits charge in KY. My post had nothing to do with where I was stabled.
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;3276234]
My neighbor owns a piece of Pretty In Mink under the Dare to Dream Stable LLC based largely at Arlington Park.[/QUOTE]
Just to update - my neighbor and his syndicate team used to own Pretty In Mink. She raced at Arlington Park June 29th in the 5th which was a $17k claiming racing. I think the comments direct from him were telling …
She flat out didn’t move out of the gate at the start and was running by herself 20 lengths behind for half of the race. Then, like her other good races, she simply blew by everyone for her third win in a row. It paid a nice price (4-1) and we got to go the winner’s circle (our third different track and her fourth). Then, just like that, we heard that she had been claimed. Two things I didn’t realize: (1) she immediately goes into the new owner’s van – we sign some forms and she is gone; and (2) we get to keep the purse. So, at the end of the day, although the final numbers are not completed, we made a little money on the filly that won 4 of 11 starts.
So there you go. The ups and downs of a thankfully healthy horse running in real world races and not graded stakes. Since she was enjoying success (even her losses were typically marked by an effort worthy of recognition) that any time she was entered the risk of a claim was there. The syndicate as I understand does not claim horses so she’ll not return to the group again.
If there is anyone still looking into costs & returns, here are a couple of good sources of information:
http://www.racehorsetrainers.com/economics.htm
http://www.racehorsetrainers.com/partnerships.html
Once you get to the actual page, you will have to click on what interests you. For example, the first partnership I clicked on had various question & answer pages that included such things as how much it cost to buy in, how the money was used, etc.
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