Trends in Horse Racing Fields and Their Effect on Purses

By Himanshu Joshi

image: depositphotos

In the last six decades, the horse racing field sizes have gone through tremendous innovations. There has been an enormous decline in the field size numbers. Field consisted of an average of 9 horses per field in 1950 to an average of eight horses in 2010. A sharper decline has also been seen in the average number of races a single horse runs per years. Research shows that the number declined from 11.31 in 1960 to only 6.2 in 2010. The decline in number of races a particular horse runs per year has a direct, declining impact on the size of the field.

If you think the decrease of the field sizes is rather insignificant, then you are terribly wrong. It has a direct impact on the handle. Even a single additional horse in a race can make a difference of up to $100,000 in the handle. Over the years, punters have shown immense interest in big field horse races. They regard the bigger fields as long shots as the payoff they get are usually larger than the ones in small field races.

Throughout the years, there has been a remarkable decline in the handle as a consequence of decline in the size of horse racing field. The handle, in turn, has an enormous, direct impact on the purses. The purses have extremely decreased in the last six decades. This has discouraged many horsemen from thorough breeding. They no longer see it as a lucrative business that it was before. However, as much as the overall purses have reduced, the average purse per horse has increased by 26.8% in the last decades. This is mainly because the field sizes are declining; hence the purses are shared by a small number of horses. In the past, the purses were distributed among so many horses due to the big fields and as such, the average purse per horse was not a big amount.

Horse Racing - Field Size and Betting

By Himanshu Joshi

image: depositphotos

A recent research by Stats Jockey Club, which was established in 1894, shows that the horse racing field size has a direct impact on how people bet. The Jockey club is an organization that seeks to improve breeding and thoroughbred racing. Among all the other statistics, the field size statistics in connection to betting were alarming. Nowadays, the field size in the race tracks has considerably reduced. The fields no longer have as many horses, as it was some two decades ago. The average field size in 2010 had 8.19 horses as compared to 9.07 horses per field in 1950. The drop in field size may seem insignificant. However, for every extra horse that enters a horse racing field, there is a $100,000 increase in the average handle.

This is significant because the handle directly affects the purses in that, the purses increase with elevating handle. The purses have a direct connection to the urge of horse owners to breed more horses. Larger purses incur more thorough breeding. Consequently, more horses are bred hence a reflected increase in number of the field size. This is, therefore, a huge circle that is particularly vital to the horse racing industry. This is the circle within which betting is based on. For most people, betting is what makes this equestrian sport worthwhile. It simply wouldn't be fun without betting. It has been proven, especially in Triple Crown and Breeder's cup races, that the larger the field size, the more the betting. The more spread out the field is, the higher the chances that people will bet on some of the extra horses to make profits, which many end up losing.