652. Inside the Horse-Industrial Complex

How does Kentucky keep itself atop the thoroughbred industry? Is a champion stallion really worth $200,000 per date? And how many hands can one jockey have? (Part two of a series, “The Horse Is Us. (freakonomics.com/the-horse-is-us)”)

• SOURCES:• Emily Plant (emilyjplant.com/about), thoroughbred researcher and statistician.
• Jill Stowe (agecon.mgcafe.uky.edu/directory/jill-stowe), professor of economics at the University of Kentucky.
• Mark Taylor (taylormadefarm.com), president of Taylor Made Farm.
• Oscar Gonzales (chrb.ca.gov/board_members.html), vice chair of the California Horse Racing Board.
• Richard Migliore (equibase.com/profiles/Results.cfm?type=People&…), head racing analyst for Fox Sports and New York Racing Association, retired jockey.

• RESOURCES:• "Horse racing industry braces for crackdown on illegal immigration (npr.org/2025/05/19/nx-s1-5385010/trump-immigra…)," by Ximena Bustillo (NPR, 2025).
• "Conceptualizing the Kentucky Horse Industry as an Economic Cluster (elcr.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/EconomicCl…)," by Lori Garkovich (Bluegrass Equine Digest, 2009).

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