Thursday Thoughts with Jason Beem Nov. 5, 2026

A good Thursday morning to you all! Breeders’ Cup wind down seems to be coming to an end after a week of discussing the races, fallout, and event have all started to slow. We move further into November, which I always have maintained is a low-key good month of racing. There’s the changing of seasons as many of the winter time tracks start to run like Tampa, Gulfstream Park Championship meet, Fair Grounds, Churchill Fall, and more. Thanksgiving weekend is always huge for racing and underrated in terms of big weekends. But I do miss the Fall Highweight Stakes, such a fun novelty event at this time of year. 

I saw a tweet from Mike Repole recently where he was discussing big money owners getting together to buy in on big horses. He basically said he’ll do the occasional partnership but for the most part likes to own on his own or with one other person or group. Barstool Sports’ founder and horse owner Dave Portnoy echoed the statement and said he basically feels the same way. Portnoy now owns horses under the stable name Go Go Greys Stable. 

The realities of horse ownership are that the costs are very high. Having people care for, train, feed, and clean the horses costs a lot of money. I think most training operations at big to medium tracks will run an owner upwards of $3,000 per month and higher for the bigger name outfits. It's too costly for most everyday folks. Ownership groups, or partnerships, are a great way for people to get involved in owning horses at a more approachable price point. 

Repole and Portnoy’s point I think was discussing owners who own horses at the top levels and by all accounts are extremely well funded. They aren’t going partners because they can’t afford to do it on their own, but my guess is they’re doing it to try and spread their money around to get into ownership of many quality horses as opposed to just a few. Obviously the goal for these type of horses and groups is to win the Kentucky Derby (G1) and other prestigious races as well as secure stallion deals later on. Now, I never want to be in the habit of telling other people how and where they should spend their money and it’s great that they’re investing in our game. But to echo the comments by Repole and Portnoy, I think it’s not the most sporting way to approach horse ownership. This isn’t a question of doing something wrong, I think it’s just a question of what’s more interesting and exciting for the public. 

To me there is something great about one person or stable owning a horse. Part of that is because their silks become part of the horse’s identity. It’s the jersey to represent the team so to speak. One of the annoying parts of these bigger partnerships is that they will often have the horse switch silks between races so that every owner gets to experience a race with their colors. While I understand this, I do think it takes away from the horse’s identity with the public and fans. If we all watch a horse win the Kentucky Derby in one set of silks and take all those pictures and millions of people watch the replay of the race, it’s always weird to then see them show up in the Preakness (G1) or Belmont (G1) in a different set of silks. Again, this isn’t a big issue, but I do really think it is part of the experience of being a fan of a horse. 

Every time Zenyatta ran it was always in the Moss silks. It became a big part of her entire historic run and personality. Same for Easy Goer, same for tons of horses over the years. Again, technically these owners aren’t doing anything wrong by creating these super groups of ownership. But it’s also hard to root for these mass groups and to identify with their horses and their programs. It seems to be happening more and more so I’m sure we won’t see this go away, but as a fan, I do hope people go back more to just running their own horse or in very small groups. 

Have a great weekend everyone!