A start-up co-founded by the former head of the Formula 1 (F1) auto-racing series has announced plans to launch a Thoroughbred league with 10 teams drafting from a pool of 80 horses purchased by the start-up for races to be held in 2027, the founders announced recently.
‘drf.com’ stated that the start-up, which is being called the Horse Racing League (US), is headed by Greg Maffei, the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Liberty Media (an American mass media and entertainment company) which purchased Formula 1 (the highest class of international open-wheel, single-seater auto racing in the world) in 2016, and Danny Epstien, the head of the investment company Skylark.
‘Upgraded’ Hospitality
The start-up Horse Racing League said it plans to heavily market the league through the social media channels and that its events would feature “upgraded” hospitality and food and beverage (F&B) options along with live entertainment.
‘Learning from the Industry’
‘drf.com’ further stated that Epstien said that the team behind the league has been working on the concept for the past 18 months – “We’re very excited. We took a lot of learning from the industry and we want to make sure we get this right.”
Three Groups
According to the league, three groups have already committed to joining: WinStar Farms (an American Thoroughbred horse breeding and racing farm), Godolphin (the private Thoroughbred horse racing stable of the Maktoum family of Dubai) and a partnership of Gary Barber, Vinnie Viola and Chris Pucillo (veteran Thoroughbred horse racing owners). Epstien declined to disclose the fee to join the league.
League ‘Franchise’
Under the Horse Racing League’s plans each of the 10 teams will purchase a “franchise” in the league that will make them eligible for a November Draft featuring 80 horses purchased by the league. Each team will select eight horses during the Draft and those horses will then be owned by the teams in the literal sense of the word.
Informed Epstien, “They will be drafting and buying horses from the league. They will own those horses. And this is why I think this league is very different from the other leagues. We want parity, we want strategy and that’s why we came up with this Draft concept. They are not bringing their own horses and forming a team from their own horses.”
‘Allowance-level’ Horses
Epstien said that the total budget for the horses purchased by the league has not yet been set. He said the league will be looking for 80 “allowance-level” horses.
Three Events
In 2027, the league plans to hold three events – one in February, one in March and one in April. The two earliest events will take place at either Santa Anita in Southern California (a famous horse racing track Northeast of Los Angeles), or the Gulfstream Park (a Thoroughbred horse race track, casino and outdoor entertainment and shopping destination in Florida). The third event will take place at Keeneland in Lexington (US) (a historic Thoroughbred race course and the world’s largest auction house for sport horses).
Dirt-Turf
According to Epstien, four races – two on dirt, two on turf – will be held during each event which will take place on an already scheduled race day with six or more other races also on the card. Each of the teams will be able to enter one of the eight horses on their roster in each of the four league races. The purses of the four races will be provided by the league.
The teams will earn points based on the finishing positions of their horses in the league races. The points will be used to determine the league’s champions in several divisions such as turf, dirt, or overall.
Race Card
For the race card itself the league is planning on being the nominal operator of the racetrack that day in much the same way that the Breeders’ Cup (an annual, two-day international series of elite Thoroughbred horse racing championship events) currently operates the track during the two days that feature its 14 races. The track will be paid a fee and the league will have a right to certain revenues generated by the event, Epstien said.
Flesh-and-blood Animals
The horses are flesh-and-blood animals and there is no guarantee that a horse drafted in November will be available for a race under certain conditions four or six months later. Epstien said that the league rules will allow the team owners to replace a horse on their roster lost to a physical issue by buying a horse on the open market that has a “rating” that is equal to or less than the horse that had to be replaced.
Horses’ Rating
Equibase (the official database and data collection agency for North American Thoroughbred horse racing) has developed a rating for horses that has been slowly introduced at the United States racetracks over the past year but Epstien said that the rating that will be used by the league for the replacement horses has not yet been determined.
National Thoroughbred League
Similar concepts have been devised for horse racing in the past, including, most recently, the National Thoroughbred League (an innovative, city-based professional horse racing league), which initially had plans to purchase horses on the open market and divide them up among the teams based in cities across the United States headed by celebrities that did not necessarily have roots in the game.
Hospitality Service
The plans for direct ownership were quickly scuttled and the National Thoroughbred League is currently a hospitality service holding live events at tracks in the United States with benefits for its members.
Racing-centric Groups
When asked what would make the Horse Racing League different from the previous start-up efforts Epstien said that the Co-Founders have focused on bringing “experienced” horse racing entities into the fold as the team owners. He said that the league is currently in discussions with several other racing-centric groups as the potential team owners.
‘Great Stewards’
Remarked Epstien, “We’ve brought in great stewards of the sport so that we could do it the right way. We want to bring in the best people from the industry, people that have ties to horse racing or the equestrian world, so we have 10 teams that are stable.”
Under the Gun
With November just four months away the league is under the gun to get all of its players on board prior to the Draft. If successful, Epstien said, the league plans to expand to six racing events a year by 2029 – “We’re talking about 24 races a year out of 30,000 that are currently run. If this works then we brought new fans and the rest of the industry will hopefully get behind it. Our take is that everyone wins here.”
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