Robert Clay Midway

Robert Clay
Midway, Kentucky
November 3, 1995

(Transcript of lecture)

     The Equine Industry Program at the University of Louisville consists of a unique curriculum designed to train students in the business techniques, which will be necessary for the horse industry in the 21^st Century. As a business program, we wanted to provide our students with concrete examples of people who have demonstrated business skills in horse operations. This goal coincided with an award, named for the late John W. Galbreath, established in 1990 to recognize those in the horse world that have demonstrated entrepreneurial success, vision, and leadership.
     The award winners have each agreed to meet with the students at the University of Louisville to discuss and answer questions about the state of the industry. The recognition of business acumen is useful but the opportunity for future industry executives to learn from these business leaders is the most important aspect of the Galbreath Award.
     The 1995 winner, Robert Clay, addressed the students and faculty on November 3, 1995 and answered their questions about a variety of issues challenging the industry. From 100 acres in 1971 to over 1000 acres today, Robert Clay has built Three Chimneys Farm into one of the most successful horse operations in the world. His vision and management skills have been the instruments of his success. Our students gained many valuable insights from Mr. Clay’s presentation. In turn, the Equine Industry Program believes these comments should be shared with a larger audience.
     We appreciate the time and contributions Robert Clay has made to the Equine Industry Program at the University of Louisville. We would also like to thank the following people who were involved in selection of the 1995 award winner:

Jim Ahern Carol Alm Kent Hollingsworth

Buddy LaForge Rich Wilcke

Equine Industry Program
College of Business and Public Administration
University of Louisville
Louisville, KY 40292
Dr. Robert G. Lawrence, Director
Office: 502.852.7617

Robert Lawrence:

     Welcome to our 1995 Galbreath Award Lecture. Some of you may not know very much about the Galbreath Award. It is given annually to someone who has demonstrated exceptional entrepreneurship in the horse industry and is named for the late John W. Galbreath. Mr. Galbreath was an outstanding businessman and in addition, through his Darby Dan Farm bred both a Kentucky Derby and an English Derby winner. We initiated the award in 1990, giving it first to John Bell from Lexington, Kentucky. Today, we’re back to Lexington or at least close to it—in Midway.
     Our winner for 1995, Robert Clay, is also an outstanding horseman and entrepreneur. His success, as you know if you read the brochure, has been in what is commonly a graveyard for many horsemen, standing stallions. His farm, Three Chimneys, stands Slew o’ Gold, Chief’s Crown, and of course, the last Triple Crown winner, Seattle Slew. He has succeeded because he is a horseman but also because he pays attention to business; specifically by paying attention to his clients and by attracting some outstanding employees, including Dan Rosenburg his farm manager.
     Off the farm Mr. Clay has been equally busy. Among other organizations he has worked with the Breeders’ Cup, American Horse Council, KTA, and TOBA. He is one of the few individuals in the industry, truthfully, that recognizes that if the industry prospers, all horsemen prosper. That message does not always carry though the industry but Mr. Clay has been willing to put in the time to accomplish what he feels is important. Ten or 12 years ago, the late Rich Rolapp, suggested that I get to know Robert Clay because he has picked up the mantle left by Bull Hancock, Leslie Combs, and others in the tradition of earlier, great stallion managers. I did get to know him and since coming to Kentucky have enjoyed working with him on a number of projects. Mr. Clay has been a very strong supporter of the Equine Industry Program from the beginning. One of the first things we did was a seminar at the 1988 Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs, and Mr. Clay was one of our speakers. Two years ago when we did another program at the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita, Robert Clay again participated. He has worked with us in developing the Kentucky International Institute, that’s purpose is to expose people from the Pacific Rim to Kentucky’s horsemen and Kentucky’s horses.
     Today’s lecture is the end of a long process. We solicit nominations from around the country early in the year. Nominations are not limited to representatives from the Thoroughbred industry but are open to representatives from any breed or organization. Nominees go through a screening and then a final selection committee. The award is presented at the American Horse Council’s (AHC) annual convention because the AHC is an ecumenical association representing all breeds and interests of the industry. I am about the last person who knows who won the award but I can’t tell you how pleased I was when I heard that Robert Clay was the 1995 winner. I am equally pleased to present him here this morning.

Robert Clay:

     It’s a pleasure to be here this morning. I admit to being a little intimidated since I don’t get the opportunity to give many classroom lectures. I also wasn’t expecting such a flowery introduction. It is always difficult to respond to such things. I asked my wife once what to say and she said, “Whatever you do, don’t try to be humble because you aren’t that great.”
     Before I get into your questions, I would like to give a brief background on why and how I got into the business. Then I’d like to tell you a little bit about Three Chimneys Farm, and then spend a little time talking about an issue that I think is probably the most critical factor facing our industry right now; one that I am fairly passionate about. After all that, we’ll get into your questions. The challenge will be to finish in one hour.
     When I was in high school, my Dad who was in the tobacco business bought a couple mares from a friend, also in the tobacco business. About that time, I went with him for the first time to the Keeneland sales and was intrigued by what I saw. I went to college out-of-state and since I was from Kentucky and I had seen a little bit about what went on at the sales, I decided to write my business thesis on the economics of the Thoroughbred industry. That project really got me interested in the horse business. When I came back to Lexington, I got a job as an assistant foaling manager at Spendthrift Farm and that’s when the business really got into my blood.
     I left Kentucky for the Navy for three years (1969-1972) and when I came back I went to work as the truck dispatcher for a fertilizer company. This gave me a chance to get to know the farm managers in the Lexington area. Eventually, I was able to acquire an interest in that fertilizer company and finally became its president. In 1984, Cargill, a large agricultural conglomerate, bought us out and I got into the horse business full-time. That same year, I managed to attract Slew o’ Gold as our first stallion at Three Chimneys Farm.
     In 1973, I bought 100 acres and started boarding horses in a tobacco barn and established myself as a small commercial breeder. I decided that I didn’t want to get into the stallion business until we could get in at the highest level. We knew that we would need to create a niche that could compete with the GMs, Chryslers, and Fords that were out there. At the time, Claiborne, Spendthrift, and Gainesway each had 30 or more stallions. We decided to go into the stallion market with only six stalls and we actually designed the stallion barn so it couldn’t be expanded. The image we were creating was that of a very special place, i.e. “We are going to take care of you and your horse, and we will pay special attention.”
     I wrote a letter to Jim Hill and Mickey Taylor who owned Slew o’ Gold and told them what I wanted to do and asked if they were interested. To make a long story short, I was in Spain and got a phone call about three in the morning from Mickey Taylor. He said they had decided they were going to sell most of Slew o’ Gold and asked if I would be interested in syndicating him for $14.5 million. I took a big gulp and promised to call him back. Within an hour, I called Taylor back and told him I was coming straight home.
     In order to syndicate a horse at that time, you had to be able to call enough people in 48 hours to lay it off, and that is exactly how it happened. The horse was good enough that we could take on the risk and make enough calls to sell 40 shares. That was 1985 and it got us started. We stood exactly one stallion, Slew o’ Gold and had five empty stalls.
     The next year at Saratoga, Mickey asked me if I would be willing to stand Seattle Slew. They owned half of the horse and Spendthrift, where the horse had been standing, was in financial difficulty. They were going to have to make a move. That was a big break for us. The same year we syndicated Chief’s Crown for $20 million. Those were the days when prices were quite different than they are now. We got Chief’s Crown a week before the Breeders’ Cup, and then he won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, which was a big relief for the syndicate members and us. There is a lot of luck involved in this business…plus, being in the right place at the right time.
     I think the key to getting us established in the business, and perhaps the key to our whole existence in the stallion business today, has been the fact that we have positioned ourselves at the very top of the market. When the market tends to drop off, quality rises even further to the top. So the premise that got us started also enabled us to survive the downturn in the market in 1986.
     The other day someone told my son, who’s a senior in college, that if he had any advice it would be to encourage taking a big risk before you are 30 because if you fail, you can always try it again. I think that’s pretty good advice. It’s sort of what I did. The risks I took look bigger now than they did back then.
     Three Chimneys Farm has now expanded into about 1,400 acres. We have stuck to this concept of managing a small farm by dividing the operation into six divisions, each with its own manager who is responsible for a group of employees, certain horses, and a separate budget. These managers take care of their division as carefully as if it were their own, in a way that any small farm would operate. This allows us to provide a level of service on a small farm basis.
     Having a manager for each division has worked as an advantage in a couple of ways. First, we are able to attract a higher level of management by giving responsibility. Second, if we ever were to have a disease outbreak, the fact that we have isolated our horses lessens our risk. It’s worked very well for us. The disadvantages are that it costs a little more, it is a little further from here to there, and it takes a little more time. But in the end, we are able to attract more quality people, which attracts more quality horses, and allows us to give better quality service.
     What is the key ingredient to Three Chimneys’ success? I have to think that it is our integrity. It is our number one principle. We are not very good at deal making. What you see is what you get and you always get an honest answer. One of the written questions was about the personal traits of people who work for us. Well integrity is the main one and it has paid off for us in a big way.
     Let us move along now into what I consider to the most critical issue facing our industry today. I believe it is our inability, as an industry, to see what is going on around us. Let me give you an example of another industry. If in 1968 you had asked the question, “In 1995, which country will lead the world in watchmaking?” There would have been no question—Switzerland. The Swiss had 65 percent of the watchmaking market, and they made 80 percent of the profits. They were innovative, having invented the second-hand, self-winding, and waterproof watches. They took the position that they were the best and nobody was going to change that. That was in 1968.
     Twelve years later, in 1980, Switzerland had 10 percent of the watchmaking market share. They laid off 50,000 of the 60,000 watchmakers that worked in Switzerland. Why did it happen? In 1969, the Swiss invented the quartz watch, which is the battery-powered watch like we all where now. But they said to themselves, “This really isn’t what the public is going to want. We are going to make these watches tick like they always have.” As a result, an entire industry in Switzerland was lost. During that same period, Japan went from one percent of the market share in the watchmaking industry to today’s 33 percent. They saw what that quartz watch could do, and with all their electronic technology, you know the rest of the story.
     The point is, sometimes we don’t see what is going on right in front of our eyes and there are indicators in our industry today that tell us that if we don’t start paying attention to our declining market share, horse racing will end up in the same boat as the Swiss watchmaking industry.
     There are some good indicators on the breeding side. The median average for yearlings is up and in September, the Keeneland sales were up 34 percent. Fortunately, American breeders do not rely exclusively on the American market. Of the $300 million spent for yearlings at Keeneland this year, only $75 million came from domestic buyers. So we are very dependent upon foreign markets and, fortunately, the foreign market has been strong. We come back to the simple laws of supply and demand. There is more demand today for yearlings on a worldwide basis than there is supply and that is why prices are up. The world is getting smaller, travel is easier, communication is vastly improved and we all have an increased knowledge of the cultures and needs of foreign countries. So on the breeding side things look fairly good.
     But there are some alarming things on the domestic side in the racing industry. As I said, we often seem incapable of acknowledging evidence that is right before our eyes. Attendance at North American racetracks is falling. One week ago, even the Breeders’ Cup had a record low attendance of 37,000. Handle and purses over the last few years are essentially flat. The Breeders’ Cup handle was off $15 million compared to last year, down from $79 million to $64 million. In 1997, there will be 17 percent fewer three-year-olds running than there were in 1994. The owners in this country are spending somewhere between $1.2 and $1.4 billion dollars every year in expenses to run for $750,000 in purses. Fortunately, the reason for owning a horse is not only for financial profit. Men have been racing horses since ancient times. There is an intrinsic desire for one man to beat another with his horse and owners are willing to pay for that.
     I think our yearling market is up this year because the economy is good. There is a strong demand worldwide and there are more discretionary dollars out there. It’s not because of American racing because domestic racing has continued to lose market share to other forms of entertainment—casino gambling being only the newest challenge. The TOBA has done research showing that racing is not in the stream of consciousness of most Americans. The good news is that most Americans don’t feel negative about our product; the bad news is that they scarcely think of it at all. Racing is a viable, enjoyable product but generally not within the consumer’s zone of consideration. As an industry, we spend a lot of time generating attendance but little in creating fans. We don’t cultivate fans; we just try to get people in the door. If you asked most people if they know what a three-point shot is, they will know. Most people don’t know what a furlong is and until we start educating people about the nuances of our sport we probably won’t create many fans.
     The other thing that TOBA’s research showed is that racing is generally perceived as “not for people like me.” In some countries, racing is still very much a social experience and that aspect is a key one at the successful U.S. tracks of Saratoga and Del Mar. But at many racetracks in this country, people don’t feel that they are likely to find “people like them,” which is certainly in contrast to most other major sports.
     Most of the speeches given at industry gatherings over the last 15 years have said, “We have to get together.” Indeed a single voice and message are critical to our marketing, our well-being, and maybe even our existence. Why can’t we develop a single voice? We seem to be unable to create this macro-message that can raise public awareness and allow local tracks to attract customers on a micro-basis. It’s a real dilemma. Maybe we are confused because our environment is changing. Maybe we’re not recognizing a paradigm shift that is taking place, like the one in Switzerland in the late 1960s.
     Regardless, if we don’t participate and organize, the other forms of entertainment are going to eat us up. Until we develop the organizational focus to address these shifts in consumer demand, we are not going to increase market share. Maybe there is confusion as to how to deal with the shift. Maybe we haven’t figured out where we are heading. Maybe we need a new distribution method. Maybe there is technology that can put our product into more people’s hands. One solution being considered is to try to get every segment of the industry into one room by putting a lot of money on the table. Money talks. Until we can find a way to put significant money on the table, we don’t think anybody comes to the room and looks at these issues seriously.
     The best idea on the table to date to create these funds—maybe not the perfect solution but the best solution so far—is to create a check off fund similar to those for beef, pork, milk, orange juice, and many other commodities. If we took one-quarter of one-percent out of our pari-mutuel handle, we would have about $25 million dollars a year. That would be a meaningful start to getting people into a room and talking about how to create marketing leverage.
     Back in the early 1980s, the milk producers in this country were all milking cows but didn’t know how to get together to sell milk. They went to Congress and asked for enabling legislation to create a marketing promotion. This would allow all producers to send a few cents per gallon upstream to a marketing board comprised of milk producers, who would then spend that money to advertise milk. Today, the dairy industry spends $185 million dollars to market milk products and the beef people essentially do the same thing with $85 million dollars a year. These programs have been very successful. We have designed a bill similar to theirs. The essence is to raise enough money to create marketing leverage that will raise awareness of Thoroughbred racing.
     Before I close, I want to give you an analogy from a friend of mine from South Africa. He said when he was young he used to solve problems by hurling stones. He would throw the stone in the middle of the pond and the ripples would go out to the edge. As he got older, he figured out that the only real way to solve problems was to work on the outer edge of the pond and eliminate each ripple, one at a time. I think that is where we have come to in this industry. There has been a lot of stone throwing but we now have to devise practical ways to take care of ripples if we’re to get to the center of the pond. Now I will try to answer your questions.

Questions:

Tom Van de Rostyne, Equine Club President

Question:What does it take to be a successful breeder?

Clay: If I had an answer to that I’d be getting a fee higher than Rick Pitino’s. Certainly a lot of luck is involved with being a successful owner and breeder, and of course it helps to have a lot of money.

· Most successful breeders are ruthless cullers and I think you have to be.

· I think adopting a plan and then sticking to it is a key for many breeders. It takes a long time to develop a good breeding program.

· I don’t think you should ever buy an animal of lower quality than your worst one. If you have two mares, don’t buy a third if she is worse than the first two.

· Getting great advisors and trainers is important to being a successful owner and breeder.

· I think you have to try to reduce your odds at every turn. You want to breed to the best stallions you can afford and breed to as much talent close-up in the pedigree as you can afford. If you see a great basketball mother and a great basketball father, the chances are they are going to have a great basketball son or daughter. Same principle.

· You should look for active families that, at this point in history, are more active than others.

· You can’t assume that you know the answers because there aren’t any right answers. I think you have to ask a lot of questions and I think you have to go look at the animals. You can’t do this business solely on paper.

Question: What is the most important skill or knowledge you learned in college?

Clay: As many breakthroughs as there have been in technology and science, people haven’t changed much. I think the most important thing I learned in college was how to deal with people. Some of the courses that helped me the most in that regard weren’t in the business school but were in history, psychology, and art. To be sure, I needed the tools I learned in business school: accounting, finance, economics, marketing, but that never ends. It’s a continuing process because there are new tools developed all the time. For example, if you’re not computer literate you are already behind the eight ball. But I think the most important thing is understanding how to motivate and deal with people.

Question: What background, training, and personal qualities are required to be a vital team member at Three Chimneys Farm?

Clay: The most important attribute is to be someone that I can trust. That is number one, far and above anything else. If you want your employees to take risks, they have to come up with new ideas and you have to trust them enough to try to carry them out. Managing through fear eliminates creativity. You have to get people to try things. In order to do that, you have to trust them and they have to trust you.
     Our biggest motivator I think is the pride people have in what they do, their job, who they work with, and who they work for. So I think allowing somebody to achieve on a personal basis and to be proud of his or her accomplishments is really important. If you surround yourself with good people you are going to be successful. The personal qualities such as honesty, integrity, and work ethic are important but people are motivated by pride.
     On the training and background side, it depends on the job. Broad experience is preferred but youthful enthusiasm is appreciated. We want people with a customer service mind set because that is our business. If you have an arrogant attitude, forget it because arrogance does not sell.
     I think the ability to come up with new ideas is important—to be a paradigm shifter, somebody who is willing to look at things a little differently. It is important that employees have full knowledge of the product. Most of our managers have paid their dues and have a full knowledge of the product. The more knowledge of a product you can bring the better. Finally, the person must have a willingness to be a team player. Those aren’t very specific skills but that’s what’s important to me.

Question: How long have you used the company retreat? Has it been worthwhile?

Clay: Once every other year, we take everyone to Shakertown. If we can afford it, we go further away. I think it’s extremely important to look at yourself and your business from outside of your office, from a distance. One of the valuable parts of this is that it involves everybody in the strategic planning process. It makes everybody feel a part of the strategy so that when they come back they feel a part of what we’re trying to accomplish. Our slogan is, “The idea is excellence and our focus is your success.” I am convinced by the year 2000 that excellence is only going to be the price of entry. Everybody is going to have to be excellent. You have to be innovative, have to anticipate what is going to happen next, or you won’t be competitive. You’ve got to be able to predict what your customers are going to need. These retreats give us an opportunity to participate and think about these things together. Good anticipation is a result of good strategic exploration. It is an extremely important exercise for us.

Question: What was the greatest crisis that you managed?

Clay: In a larger sense, our greatest crisis was the downturn in the market. Seattle Slew came to us in 1986 and stood for $500,000. Last year he stood for $80,000. That is a reflection of supply and demand in the market but managing through it was our biggest crisis. It wasn’t an overnight or weekend crisis.
We try to manage short-term crises by collecting all the information available, and dealing with each situation as honestly as possible. That has worked well for us and usually diffuses the day-to-day mini-crises more quickly.

Question: Would you please explain the process of developing stallion syndications and why the Japanese have been successful in purchasing stallions?

Clay: Back in the 1980s we were basically syndicating everything into 40 share syndicates. The market turned down at the same time the tax laws were changing. We were unable to attract enough capital to sell horses in 40-share syndicates so we devised other ownership structures, including total ownership by the original owner. We divided horses into quarters, into halves, and in other ways.
Stallions are the key to central Kentucky’s industry. If we sent 40 stallions on a boat to Alaska tomorrow, we wouldn’t have any industry to speak of in Kentucky because there is no artificial insemination in Thoroughbreds. The mare would leave—and the vets, the labor force, the feed suppliers, the accountants, the lawyers, etc. The whole thing revolves around the stallions.
There is some shift going on right now. The Japanese, the Arabs, and one particular farm in Ireland have all become world players, and it’s become challenging for us to compete to keep stallions in this country. The Japanese have been the most active in the last two or three years. The JRA (Japanese Racing Association) is a government agency that buys expensive stallions around the world then takes them back to stand them in Japan. The purse structure in Japan is phenomenal. It fuels the price of bloodstock in Japan and makes the Japanese more competitive in bidding for stallions. Also they are buying U.S. horses with cheap Japanese currency. Now when a top horse comes along, where we used to compete with the local farms, we now must also compete with the Arabs, the Japanese, and the Irish. It’s problematic.

Question: What direction is Three Chimneys headed in the next five years?

Clay: We went to Shakertown this year for our retreat and went through the exercise of grading our priorities in terms of their importance to us, our company, our personal needs, and our capability to accomplish our goals. The two highest grades in terms of both importance and our capacity to deal with them won’t surprise you.

Attracting strong clients.
Keep existing clients happy.

Question: The recent recovery of the Thoroughbred market has prompted many farms to increase stud fees against the cry of the industry. Three Chimneys is no exception. Seattle Slew increased to $100,000 from $80,000; Rahy from $30,000 to $50,000; Dynaformer, $15,000 to $17,500; Fly So Free, $7,500 to $10,000. How do you see the industry responding to the increases in stud fees?

Clay: Stud fees are a function of supply and demand, pure and simple. Those who criticize farms for raising stud fees don’t understand that economic principle. If we didn’t think we could sell those fees for that much money, we certainly wouldn’t raise the price. We don’t set the prices, the market does. The good news is that as we are able to increase our fees, we have more money to go out and compete in the world market to bring back the best stallion prospects available. Pricing is a function of the marketplace. As I said, Seattle Slew started with us in 1986 at $500,000; last year he was $80,000. We raised him to $100,000 and suddenly there is an outcry. Everything is relative. The fact of the matter is Seattle Slew had a great year at the racetrack and a great year at the sales. We have always priced him according to the market; it’s that simple.

Question: On a global level, the Thoroughbred industry has been dominated by foreign buyers. How do you think that the U.S. Thoroughbred market will fare in the future given the increased competition for dominant bloodlines?

Clay: As I said earlier, I think it is a problem. We have to be creative in capital formation. Fortunately, wealth does transfer and currency relationships do change. The U.S. has the largest broodmare band in the world. Somehow we continue to regenerate our own bloodlines and raise racehorses with speed, so that there is a worldwide demand for our product. I do think we will be able to compete if we are fairly clever about it. If we can ever get our act together to the point purses start to increase to a viable level here, yearlings can sell for more money and stud fees can increase. We can be more competitive as a result.

Question: What is your opinion of artificial insemination? With an increasing international demand for selected bloodlines, will it become a viable alternative for the Thoroughbred industry?

Clay: My opinion on artificial insemination is that our breed should not allow it. Artificial insemination has the effect of diluting the gene pool. We watched the Standardbred industry in this country use artificial insemination and it basically decreased to a handful of stallions, with a whole population of horses influenced by these few stallions. I’m personally opposed to changing our policy. It does seem logical that rather than shipping the animal as far away as we ship them, to simply ship a vial and accomplish the same thing. I don’t think the governing bodies in our breed are going to change that rule.

Question: Some analysts of the Thoroughbred industry think that as more small tracks close, eventually only major tracks will survive. How do you see this trend affecting the breeding industry?

Clay: It already has. We dropped from 52,000 foals to 34,000 foals in about six years. We are producing fewer horses to race because there is less demand for horses to race. There are fewer viable racetracks and fewer viable racing centers. I think it’s already affected the breeding sector. Again it comes back to that paradigm shift of where are we going. Are we going to have a major league of five or six tracks? I think it’s possible, maybe even probable, that we’ll have a smaller number of tracks hosting live meets in the future but there still will be a need to supply horses for that smaller circuit.

Question: Do you think the Internet is a viable marketing tool for the horse industry?

Clay: If you don’t know how to get on the World Wide Web, you better hurry up. It’s essential for the management of any industry or business to stay on the cutting edge in technology. It’s a marketing tool. For us right now, the World Wide Web is a positioning tool and a marketing tool. We were the first farm to get on the Web and we get 150 to 200 hits a week from all over the world. As the world market develops, you have to be able to communicate faster. The answer is yes; it is a marketing tool for the industry. It won’t solve our industry’s marketing problems but it’s certainly a tool for us to use.

Question: To quote a NASCAR racing fan, “Most of us can afford a car, few of us can afford a horse. There is something about watching a stock car race around the track and knowing you have one just like it sitting in the garage.” It appears that the horse industry on the whole is not doing enough to market its product to the average fan. How do you think horse racing compares to NASCAR?

Clay: NASCAR has done an unbelievable job in branding the sport of car racing. We should use them as an outstanding example of organizational focus. Some would say owning a car is a necessity and owning a racecar is an extravagance. Owning a racehorse is also an extravagance. I would maintain that we could market our extravagance just as well as NASCAR markets theirs, if we can focus ourselves as they do.

Question: Society seems to be divided into two categories—people who know a little about horses and people who don’t know anything about them. Some people, namely children, if they were exposed to the horse in any way at all, might become interested in racing. But if more and more people are never even exposed to horses, then I don’t see a solid future for this industry.

Clay: There are elements of horse racing that can appeal to broad audiences and to specific audiences. We need to expose the intrigue of the Thoroughbred animal and the characteristics it possesses, the speed at which it runs, the majesty of the race itself, and the opportunity to bet that one is better than the other. I agree, our future depends on how successful we are in exposing people to Thoroughbred racing as a spot and as entertainment.

Thank you very much.

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Equine Industry Program
College of Business and Public Administration
University of Louisville
Louisville, KY 40292
Phone: 502.852.4859
Fax: 502.852.7672