Cost Inflation in the Industry

[photofinish]

When a vet stops the farm call charge he/she will get more work than they know what to do with and in the process put a hurt on other vets.

Im waiting for the 1st vet to do this.

When they stop the "Farm call charge" you will start seeing the "exam charge". Eh, $25 for them to leave their clinic, drive to the farm, have what they need stocked in the truck, etc not so bad. Track vets treat 100 head some days, all in one place. Same place every day. That's why they don't have a call charge.

I still think we have it made with the average horse vets. I took 3 dogs into the small animal vet here a few months ago. 2 needed their 3 yr rabies vac and I wanted him to check an ear on the 3rd. By the time the 2 got their rabies shots and the 3rd got a 30 sec peek to declare his ear "fine" I walked out of there $143 lighter. Oh, and the shots? $23/each. All the rest was for "exams" on each dog. All he did was look a one's teeth, listen to one w/ a stethescope for a second, and look at the one' ear.

[Jean]

Had a vet here doing teeth on 14 head. Never asked for price as it was 75 2 years ago. Turns out without milage 206 per horses. Inflation. Stupid on our part but we have used this guy for years. He says it's because of staff.

[fastappy]

I had my best year in 2012 and still lost money. Sold all but one horse. Unless the economics change I am out. There is no way with the current business model that this game will survive at it's present level. We're headed for 8-10 thousand head, a few racetracks and the very rich playing the game..

Same here Zinn21! I'm down to one horse and she's probably going to sell this fall.

I've always found the vet ranch call a B.S. charge. They make enough off their inflated fees and then they charge each customer at the ranch a "ranch call" for that day. Unless a vet is many miles away, who doesn't commute to their work location and yet do not receive any additional compensation. An emergency call, I can see but the ranch call is another B.S. charge imo!

There, now I feel better already. The vet fees and the poor purse structures has forced me to get out horseracing, something I love.

[ratherrapid]

$100 for a round bale right now in KC. bales--$10-13. Good feed can still be got for $15/bag. Vaccines--forget about it unless young racer. Do they really need them anyway if they're outside? Racing is a tough sport. Always has been. That's the challenge. I think one does need a certain minimum income to stay in. All of us in that sport understand the minute u walk past the guard gate everybody and his brother has their hand in ur back pocket.

To stay in TB racing with modest purse have to make $$$ at race track, possibly. Hopefully that can still be done, though the fairly brutal truth is that I've yet to see a track trainer that makes $$$ for anybody except by blind luck. Much more likely they'll simply injure the horse. to be in u have to have a true love of the sport and the horse and maybe an understanding family.

[dublino]

I think it's a bit simpler than that.

Most people that are getting out behind have made bad decisions and are blaming others for their "misfortune" or "bad luck".

Luck is a word used by losers to justify bad decisions, luck does not exist.

If you take a poor mare and breed her to a first season unproven sire or breed on a D nick or worse and expect good results you are delusional.

There are people posting about mares and potential stallion prospects on this board and people offering advice about these to breed to, horses who once won a small Graded race and ended up in claimers and people saying yeah might be good to breed to etc. geld the animal.
Poor mares with no winners under 2 or 3 generations and people saying I love the Buckpasser in the fourth generation.
Or the eight dam produced nice runners, cull the mare.

It might be hard to hear and it might be pissing on someone's dreams but its good financial advice.
What's more important having a shitty mare and foals by no name stallions or money to feed your family????

[zinn21]

Dub, there is no question what you say is true, but culling mares simply will not put you in the black. The economics is such that the only way you can sustain in the game is with a stakes horse. Stakes horses even for folks with the deepest pockets are hard to come by. My point is if you cannot break even with mid level claimers and you cannot; you will lose money year in, year out. And I think especially in today's economic world the number of people that are able to absorb losses year over year are dwindling. Therefore the entire industry will reduce accordingly. Add Casino competition that doesn't need to spend thousands a month on their betting chip and you have a recipe for disaster and this industry knows it.

[dublino]

Zinn not taking a swipe at you but can I be nosey?

What are your horses names?
What state were they bred?
What state do they race in?

I will understand if you choose not to name them.

[fastappy]

RR & Dub, I'm sure Zinn has been in the business decades as I have, but due to the inflated cost of doing business and shrinking purses, many are getting out, as evidence by the shrinking fields and foal crops.

The times are changing for the Thoroughbred racing, where there will be a permanent contraction, as evidenced by purses, attendance, tracks, and foal crops etc.

We love Thoroughbred racing, but we're also practical about increasing financial burden and shrinking returns. It's not simply a matter of culling, hence we're both down to one horse.

[Sysonby]

In Northern California, you really need an allowance class runner to make money and those are fairly elite. Declining foal crops means that there is no such thing as a Calbred allowance any more up North - you have two shots at the open first condition often running against KY breds brought North by Mandella, O'Neill, Puype etc. So it's not enough to just put foals on the ground- they need to be quality runners to be competitive.

But that is not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself IMO.

[da hossman]

Zinn is not alone, the lower and middle market in the US are gone - if not for the Koreans and the South Americans none of those horses would have sold in the last 3 years.

People must always adjust to the everchanging market to survive, however when the market changes as quickly as it has in the last few years it is that much harder for anyone with a limited bidget to make it. Stud contracts made 3 years prior to selling the resulting yearlings put most breeders in the hole for the last few years.

I cannot resist commenting on Dublino's "D or worse Nick" statement - do you really think any sophisticated buyers consider the nick rating when selecting yearlings? Do you really think any sophisticated buyer considers the nick rating on in utero foals when selecting mares? Do you really think any sophisticated breeder uses nick ratings? Nicks are a well-marketed, all but useless "tool" that suck in those that recognize stallion names but not mare names, that do not know families, etc. The Nick rating is generally based upon about 1/3 of the horses in the pedigree (males only but at least 2 generations back). Your post lost great credibility as soon as you showed faith in nick ratings.

[madelyn]

Those hay prices sound AWFUL!! I am getting really nice 1200 lb round orchard grass with some alfalfa in it for $25... Lespedeza or alfalfa squares for $4.75, timothy for $4...

[Sysonby]

Zinn is not alone, the lower and middle market in the US are gone - if not for the Koreans and the South Americans none of those horses would have sold in the last 3 years.

People must always adjust to the everchanging market to survive, however when the market changes as quickly as it has in the last few years it is that much harder for anyone with a limited bidget to make it. Stud contracts made 3 years prior to selling the resulting yearlings put most breeders in the hole for the last few years.

I cannot resist commenting on Dublino's "D or worse Nick" statement - do you really think any sophisticated buyers consider the nick rating when selecting yearlings? Do you really think any sophisticated buyer considers the nick rating on in utero foals when selecting mares? Do you really think any sophisticated breeder uses nick ratings? Nicks are a well-marketed, all but useless "tool" that suck in those that recognize stallion names but not mare names, that do not know families, etc. The Nick rating is generally based upon about 1/3 of the horses in the pedigree (males only but at least 2 generations back). Your post lost great credibility as soon as you showed faith in nick ratings.

The funny thing about nick ratings is that they are by nature a moving target. I bred a colt that was a D nick when I signed the contract. Today he is a 2 year old and he is an A nick. All it took was a couple of intervening stakes winners on the same cross.

I'm pretty sure Zenyatta was a D nick when she was born. I doubt very much that is true today.

[dublino]

Da Hossman if a nick is showing that the cross between a sire and your mares dam line is not working and you are racing at a level looking to break even and this is not taken into consideration at the time of breeding or purchasing its a mistake.

This isn't the same for high end buyers who get honey poured into their ears.
They get sold dreams I am talking about the little guy trying to brake even exploiting everything available to him.

[madelyn]

dublino, how many matings have you personally been involved with, on the A cross, that were fruitful vs those that might have been unrated, or D at the time the mare was booked? Give me hard evidence.

I am a "little" breeder, working to break even at the lower level.. and I think those nicking things are usually absolute BUNK. It is far more important to me what that sire line has done with my mare's DAM LINE. Not the dam sire. I look at the whole pedigree on each side.

[dublino]

It's a different tale this side of the pond slightly with Goldmine nicks but I have been responsible for a Graded stakes and other winners.

So far people who have used my advice haven't failed to breed a winner.

Nicks are real time statistics of what is actually currently working, they are real results of horses bred.

Anyone who doesn't believe in them doesn't believe in the reality of the results on the race track.