Last updated: October 6, 2026
If you only follow horse racing on Kentucky Derby day, it’s fair to wonder whether anyone still cares about the sport the rest of the year. Track closures, smaller fields, and headlines about racehorse deaths haven’t exactly helped its image.
Here’s where the sport stands, what’s changed, and where I think it’s headed after more than 30 years as a racehorse owner. I’m looking mainly at U.S. Thoroughbred racing.
Table of Contents
Is Horse Racing Still Popular?
The Kentucky Derby still draws a huge audience. NBC Sports called the 2026 race the most-watched Derby on record, with more than 19 million viewers across NBC and Peacock. But a big Derby audience doesn’t tell us how many people follow racing the other 364 days of the year.
There’s still a lot of betting, too. The Jockey Club reports about $11.04 billion wagered on U.S. races in 2025. Most of that money is bet away from the track, through simulcast outlets and online wagering apps, which is how a grandstand can look empty on a weekday while the betting pools stay large. Handle measures money wagered, though, not the number of fans.
How Much Has Horse Racing Declined?
Wagering and breeding show the long-term decline. The race count shows what changed in the latest year.
| Measure | Earlier figure | Latest figure |
|---|---|---|
| Wagering on U.S. races | $15.18 billion (2003 peak) | $11.04 billion (2025) |
| North American foal crop | 44,143 (1990) | About 17,000 (2026 estimate) |
| U.S. races run | 30,852 (2024) | 29,401 (2025) |
Sources: Jockey Club wagering data, Jockey Club foal crop data, and Equibase race figures reported by Thoroughbred Daily News. Wagering isn’t adjusted for inflation, so the real drop is bigger than it looks.
The foal crop is the number I watch most closely. It’s fallen from 44,143 in 1990 to an estimated 17,000 in 2026, a drop of about 61%, and today’s foal crop becomes tomorrow’s racing population. Fewer foals means fewer horses to fill races a few years later, which puts pressure on field sizes and on how many cards a track can run.
Equibase also reported that average wagering per race day rose 3.27% in 2025, even as total wagering and the number of races fell. To me, that points to the money being concentrated into fewer race days, not a broad recovery.
Why Horse Racing Has Shrunk
There’s no single reason the sport has gotten smaller. It’s a handful of things stacking up.
More ways to gamble. Fifty years ago, the racetrack was one of the only places many Americans could legally bet. Now casinos, lotteries, and sports betting all compete for the same dollars.
It’s harder for the small owner to stay in the game. Racing doesn’t just need horses. It needs people willing to pay the monthly bills while those horses get ready to run. Training, vet care, and shipping add up long before a horse earns its first purse. In my experience, you can’t count on those earnings covering the bills. When the cost of owning a racehorse gets harder to justify, it becomes harder to bring in new owners and keep existing ones involved.
Welfare and trust. Drug scandals and high-profile breakdowns give people reasons to question the sport. Lower fatality rates matter, but racing still has to show that protecting horses comes before filling races or chasing another win. Performance-enhancing drugs remain a sore spot for fans, and so do racehorse deaths, even with the numbers improving.
What’s Keeping Horse Racing Alive
Casino money. In several states, including Louisiana, racetracks with casinos put part of their gaming revenue into purses. That support keeps racing going in places where wagering alone couldn’t pay for it.
Safer racing. The Jockey Club’s Equine Injury Database reported 1.07 racing-related fatalities per 1,000 starts at participating tracks in 2025, down 47% from 2009, according to Thoroughbred Daily News. That’s real progress, but a lower rate doesn’t make any single loss acceptable. Keeping horses safe still has to come first.
The people still in it. Owners, breeders, trainers, jockeys, exercise riders, grooms, vets, farriers, and track workers keep the sport running even though the industry is smaller. They’re the core racing has to build on.
What Does Horse Racing’s Future Look Like?
I don’t expect horse racing to disappear, but I also don’t expect it to return to the size it was in the early 2000s. The word I’d use is consolidating, not dying. There are fewer horses, fewer races, and fewer small owners than there used to be, but the sport still has major events that draw enormous audiences and serious money behind its best racing.
The bigger question is whether racing can turn that core into the next generation of owners and fans and give people a reason to care about more than one Saturday in May. If it can, there’s a future for the sport. If it can’t, I think we’ll keep seeing a smaller industry built around fewer tracks, bigger races, and the owners who can afford to stay in it. That’s a different world from the one many longtime horsemen remember, but it’s not the same thing as the sport disappearing. If you’re curious where to start, the road to the Kentucky Derby is the easiest way in.
About Miles Henry
Racehorse Owner & Author | 30+ Years in Thoroughbred Racing
Miles Henry (legal name: William Bradley) is a professional horseman based in Folsom, Louisiana. He holds Louisiana Racing License #67012 and has spent over three decades managing Thoroughbreds at premier tracks including Fair Grounds, Delta Downs, and Evangeline Downs.
Expertise & Hands-On Experience: Beyond the track, Miles has decades of experience in specialized equine care, covering everything from hoof health and nutrition to training protocols for Quarter Horses, Friesians, and Paints. Every guide on Horse Racing Sense is rooted in this “boots-on-the-ground” perspective.
30 of their last 90 starts
Equibase Profile.
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