Sheikh Fahad Al Thani, chairman of Qatar Racing, now spends more time in the United States, where he says the money is. He is a regular at the August Fasig-Tipton sale in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and the Keeneland September sales in Lexington, Ky. This weekend he returns to Lexington for the 43rd Breeders' Cup World Championships at Keeneland Race Course, featuring 14 races offering more than $30 million in purse money. He is hardly alone: 79 international horses were pre-entered, bred in nine countries across six continents.
Sheikh Fahad says the United States "has become the global center of horse racing," citing a wide pool of owners willing to spend heavily and the strongest day-to-day purse money in the world. For decades, international horsemen rarely crossed borders. Most purses were not worth the cost of shipping horses overseas. American races and the country's rich bloodlines have since drawn the sport increasingly to one place.
This year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale set a world record for a thoroughbred auction, generating $536.7 million in sales. Overseas buyers accounted for 21 percent of the money spent in 2025, up from 14 percent in 2022. Recent developments have also helped, including the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, launched in 2022 to punish performance-enhancing drug use, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025, which lets businesses immediately deduct the full cost of racehorses and other assets.
The Breeders' Cup World Championships were once aspirational, but international participation has risen 48 percent over the past five years, tracking a 44 percent increase in international Breeders' Cup Challenge races. Entry fees are waived for owners, and overseas entrants receive up to $40,000 in travel expenses. International horses have won 28 World Championship races over the past five years.
Source: New York Times Business · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing