At the heart of the Thoroughbred racing industry, OwnerView hosts monthly conferences connecting owners and trainers with industry experts.
The May 5 panel OwnerView, moderated by OwnerView project manager Gary Falter, dove into the importance of owning a Thoroughbred farm and what goes into the responsibilities. The panel included Bill Justice of Justice Real Estate; Gayle Van Leer, an equine adviser and bloodstock agent; Mike Levy of Muirfield Insurance; and Nicole Hammond of December Farm.
For Hammond, the most important thing about owning a farm is being able to have control over how her horses are raised. While it comes with a lot of responsibility, seeing the farm grow in front of one's own eyes is priceless.
"It's one thing to be a broodmare manager on a farm and take the lead, but when you're actually owning them, and you're in control of and seeing everything every single day, I think for me is the main thing," Hammond said. "I get to make all the decisions. I like to be able to know exactly what's going on and really just make the decisions day to day, seeing what their temperatures are and just the little things that people take for granted. A lot of people think that they show up in the paddock one day, just looking the way they do, without realizing all of the extra work and all of the things you do every single day when it comes to raising them."
Van Leer said you have to be "all in" when it comes to owning a farm. In recent years, farms have had a harder time finding good staff, and staff that stays on for a long period of time, which drives the importance of being a hands-on farm owner even further.
"You have to be part of the farm, part of the life of the farm," Van Leer said. "But I think as the years go by, it gets more difficult. It's a lot harder to get really good staffing. So you have to know that you have to be all in as you're not just the owner of the farm. You have to put your blood, sweat, and tears into it as well. And there are great rewards for it, but it's really time-consuming."
While it is important to cover how to run a farm, Justice looked at how hard it is to come across them on the market.
"They don't come on the market very often, but they're out there," Justice said.
They are out there, with big farms such as Coolmore, Resolute Racing, and Don Alberto making purchases for farms with substantial land for Thoroughbreds in recent years. The suitable properties are few and far between, which is a struggle when it comes to wanting to own your own land.
Levy dove into the tax advantages of owning a farm.
"Tax-wise, on owning a farm, you have depreciation of your structures and your land, different schedules," Levy said. "Right now, we're in a period where if you make $250,000 a year and you go buy a broodmare for $100,000, that $100,000 comes directly off your taxable income that first year. Farms generally can show a loss. You're going to have to be making money somewhere else to be able to keep showing that loss."
While all four panelists covered different aspects of owning a farm, they really highlighted the pros and cons for people wanting to own their own Thoroughbred farm someday.
