"Sheikh Mohammed’s breeding operation breeds 'a lot of horses in Kentucky that run in Europe without medication, and they run very, very successfully,' including Discourse, a top filly in Europe by the sheikh’s stallion Street Cry. 'They’re all top 2-year-olds in Europe, and they all run medication free, so I don’t know why they need it in America when you don’t need it in Europe.'"

"The continued down-sizing was expected, as 2011 marks the sixth straight season foal numbers will fall. The 2005 foal crop was up 1% compared to 2004, reaching 38,361, but numbers have dropped each year since, down to a projected 27,000 live foals for this year. The Jockey Club expects the numbers to continue to fall in 2012.... In figures released Thursday, the Jockey Club said 23,558 live foals had been reported through September 7. That figure, believed to be about 85% complete as more reports are expected, is down 13.8% compared with last year at this time when 27,233 reports had been received."

"While Jockey Club officials will begin to assess totals submitted by stallion owners this month, the estimated foal crop this year is 27,000 -- a 10 percent drop over the prior year and the lowest number since 1973, says Club spokesman John Cooney. The registered foal crop has steadily decreased since 2007, now approximately one-fifth its size then."

"There it is, the 19-hand Clydesdale in the room. The issues of takeout, field size, and horsemen’s representation are all subordinate to a single, monumental reality: The sport is running short of horses."

"At this year’s Santa Anita Park winter/spring meet, purses paid totaled $29,335,718 over 65 days, up from $28,005,440 for 73 days in 2010. Average daily purses increased 17.6%, from $383,636 in 2010 to $451,319 in 2011. Field size at Santa Anita, however, went from 7.77 horses per race last year to 7.61 this year even though its synthetic surface was replaced with dirt at the urging of horsemen. Through 37 days of this year’s Hollywood Park spring/summer meet, purses paid totaled $15,080,052, up from $13,299,606 last year. Average per day increased 13.3%, from $359,449 in 2010 to $407,569 in 2011. Field size at Hollywood Park has dropped as well, from 7.81 last year to 7.64 this year."

"Handle through two of the three leading national account-wagering platforms in the United States declined in the first quarter of 2011 compared with the first quarter of 2010, according to the platform operators and regulators in Oregon, where the platforms have betting hubs. The decline signals a contraction in the account-wagering market for perhaps the first time. Combined with a slight increase for the third large account-wagering operator the overall 7.9 percent decline is the first significant quarter-to-quarter drop for the leading operators in the account-wagering sector, which has been the only growing component of the national wagering market over the past several years. The decline far exceeded a 1.8 percent contraction in race days during the quarter and was a significant component in an 8.5 percent decline in total wagering on U.S. races for the first three months of the year."

"Somehow, the sport has to find a way to improve its betting product, because a time bomb is ticking. The United States is struggling this year with a horse shortage because only about 32,000 foals were born in 2008 -- the current crop of 3-year-olds. In 2011, the Jockey Club estimates the size of the foal crop at 24,900, so there will be no escape from the horse-population crisis in the next several years. It seems almost inevitable that fields will get smaller and horseplayers will wager even less."