Racing's Biggest Problem, And The Solution: Chance Timm

In a new TDN series, we are asking industry participants what racing's biggest problem is, and what the solution to that problem is. Today, Chance Timm, a bloodstock agent and partner at Grovendale Sales, shares his thoughts.

What do you think is racing's biggest problem?
I think the lack of a central unified body to regulate and manage racing for the greater good of racing has been a hole in the industry for a long time. There are secondary issues that need to be addressed and could be fixed.

What is the solution?
The best chance of tackling those issues would be some kind of universal overseeing regulatory body.

I think one of the most logical choices would be The Jockey Club. There's a lot of debate about what The Jockey Club's role is or isn't, and I'm sure there are holes in the argument, but for me, they hold the keys to the castle in maintaining the breed registry, the catalogue, the data, etc. They could leverage that authority for the greater good of the industry by being that regulatory body.

As for participants who would choose not to adhere to the policies that would be implemented, they would simply operate outside of the system, and those horses would effectively have significantly less value. I'm sure there would be people that would break off on their own, at some of the lesser tracks and it would probably be painful for a while. I'm sure there would be a lot of litigation involved, but I think ultimately through that process, the international community would support The Jockey Club. Eventually, most of the major tracks would fall in line, and the ones that wouldn't effectively become third tier or irrelevant racetracks, which being honest, some of them already are.”

I think you could learn a lot from international organizations about what to do, and obviously what not to do. The biggest problem in America is that it's such a vast country that, and our Constitution was built to respect that, and states have individual rights and power to manage their own affairs to a degree. The difference between racing in New York, both tangibly and culturally, is distinctly different than it is in Texas. Because of that, a governing body might not look the same as Horse Racing Ireland or the British Horseracing Authority for example, but I think it's something that's been needed for a very long time. And until we get something like that, a lot of the major changes that a lot of people are championing for are probably unlikely to happen. There are too many separate interests for there to be any kind of agreement. They're very far apart from each other in more than just miles.”

The HISA legislation has brought a lot of those major issues like uniformity and medication and safety under their umbrella, which I think has been tremendously helpful for this sport–both within the industry and public perception of the sport outside of the industry. But a more uniform and united approach to growing the sport and marketing the sport appropriately is also needed.

I think having that central body that's responsible for the overall conduct of racing would put campaigns in a better position to maximise their impact. For instance, Light Up Racing, an initiative like that is something that's desperately needed, and I applaud those guys for trying really hard to get it going. This is just one example, but I think without a unified body to support and fund it and make it happen, it's a perfect example of why we can't get things like that off the ground. It's a great idea, it's desperately needed, and no organizations wants to take that idea and maximize it and run with it.

I had a conversation with another industry professional recently. We were chatting about the downward trend of racing and how there are all these indicators that are that are on a continued downward trend: foal crop, handle with inflation taken into account, numbers of racetracks operating. I'm not an economist, but generally speaking, downward trends in anything continue downward unless something dramatic intervenes to cause it to plateau or even hopefully go the other way at some point. If we just keep doing what we're doing, I think it's very unlikely that racing will plateau or reverse to trend upwards over the next 20 years. I think during that time frame, racing is just going to get and smaller and, specifically from my perspective in the central Kentucky market, it's going to get more competitive, and more oriented towards the top 20 percent. It's been hard for a lot of people since 2008, and I think it's only going to get harder, especially in the commercial breeding market. At the end of the day, if people aren't breeding thoroughbred foals, that's going to have a negative impact on virtually every other aspect of the industry; foal crop impacts horse population in racetracks and field sizes, which equates to handle, which equates to purse money. If we don't find a way to change that, I think a lot of these other issues are trickle-down effects and, maybe this proposed solution doesn't directly impact that, but I think you have the better opportunity with one unified body in place than the way we're currently doing things.

–Emma Hunter is a first-year trainee in the Godolphin Flying Start program. She is a native of Cork, Ireland.