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The Big Question: Cost

Insurance | Staking | Stabling | Vaccinations and Health Tests | Transportation | Licensing | Memberships | Extras, Etc.

Training fees, usually charged monthly or per diem, buy you three things: the trainer’s professional services, basic feed such as hay and grain and the services of a groom, the person assigned to the day-to-day care of your horse.

All other necessary items, related to equipment, transportation, shoeing, and animal health will be billed directly to the owner. Here are some you may encounter:

Insurance

A Standardbred is a major investment and one you should consider protecting with insurance, although it is not required. Rates are based upon the stated value of the horse and calculated at rates quoted by an underwriter. Mortality coverage includes death due to illness, injury, or humane destruction. Named perils are “acts of God,” such as fire, flood, transportation mishaps, etc. Insurers advertise regularly in trade journals.

States also require owners or trainers to pay an annual premium for worker’s compensation coverage to assist stable employees hit by jobrelated illnesses and injuries. Consult with your trainer or the local horseman’s organization for details on cost and requirements in your state.

Staking

Most of the richest events in harness racing are for 2- and 3-year-olds, and to race for these pots of gold you will have to ante up a few dollars along the way. The conditions (the requirements of eligibility) written for each race will give the amount of these payments and dates by which they must be paid.

In the Little Brown Jug, for example, a $25 nominating fee must be paid in May of the horse’s yearling season (a $400 “late nominating fee” may be paid in December of his yearling season if you missed the $25 one). A $400 payment is then due in March of his 2-year-old campaign, with another $750 to be paid the following February. Then, if you enter him in the actual race, a $6,000 tariff is due at time of entry, five days prior to the race. Making all the payments keeps the horse eligible to start in a stakes.

The conditions of some stakes say that if you miss one payment you cannot start, and you’ll lose any payments made before the one that was missed. Others let you pay a supplemental nomination (generally much greater than the sum of the other payments) to get in. In any event, monies paid in by the owners or nominators go directly to the purse.

Stabling

Many trainers prefer to keep horses at locations other than commercial racetracks, because many tracks have a limited number of available on-track stalls. They believe that training on a farm with turnout facilities may be more conducive to keeping the horse fresh. Stall rents at farms or training centers vary by month or season; commercial racetracks almost never charge for the use of on-track stalls by ready-to-race horses.

Vaccinations and Health Tests

Vaccinations and Health Tests are very important to the health of your horses, since without such inoculations or tests they could be come sick, and be away from racing. Tests such as the Coggins Test, used to determine whether Equine Infectious Anemia is present, are mandatory. Such tests and treatments usually represent a small expense, but could help avoid a devastating health problem.

Transportation

If your horse spends a lot of time at one track the cost will be minimal. But if it’s a heavily staked colt or filly, or if you board at a training center, your horse will have to travel from track to track.

Licensing

You have to be licensed as an owner in every state in which you race, and fees vary from $20 to $50 per state. If you race at only one track or in one state, only one license is needed. But, if you ship around the country, you must have a license from each and every state you visit. Licenses must also be renewed annually. Periodic fingerprinting is also required by most jurisdictions. You must be fingerprinted every three to five years, and you are charged for this service.

The National Racing Compact offers the convenience of submitting one license application, one set of fingerprints, and one check to cover the fees levied by several states. For more information, visit www.racinglicense.com.

Memberships

All horse owners will need to join the U.S. Trotting Association. It currently costs $66 to join and $50 to renew each year (a $154 and $132 three-year membership, for new and renewing members, is also available). The USTA charges nominal fees for the paperwork that will be needed (registration, transfers of ownership, eligibility, exports, DNA-typing, etc.).

Many owners also opt to join and pay dues to state or local horsemen’s associations that aim to work on their behalf in areas of mutual concern. Most state or local horsemen’s groups also provide liability and sulky insurances.

Extras, Etc.

As you become more knowledgeable and involved, you’ll want to subscribe to Hoof Beats, the world’s best magazine devoted to harness racing, and purchase important reference books such as the Stakes Guide; Trotting and Pacing Guide; The Care and Training of the Trotter and Pacer; the Sires and Dams (a breeder’s reference); or consult such online references as PATHWAY or RACEWAY Lite, all of which are described later in this publication. All will be invaluable aids to your involvement in the sport.

For more information on these publications, call 877.800.8782, ext. 3, or visit www.ustrotting.com.

Always discuss potential expenses with your trainer, even before buying your first horse. In talking with him and with owners already in the business you’ll get a handle on what you might expect to see on your training bill. As we mentioned earlier, if you are a new owner you should feel free to ask a prospective trainer for samples of bills that trainer has sent to the owners in his or her stable, and ask about the charges listed on them.


Questions? Call us at
1-877-800-USTA(8782) ext.2
 
e-mail us at:
owners@ustrotting.com
 
Download Owner's Guide(PDF)

FAST FACT:
Each expense represents an offset to the purse income you earn in racing, so make sure that you keep all bills and receipts so you have them for your tax preparer.