653. Does Horse Racing Have a Future?
This episode of Freakonomics Radio visits the Keeneland September yearling sale to explore how thoroughbred racehorses are bred, evaluated, and sold, and how record auction prices coexist with a shrinking foal crop and declining racing industry. Breeders, buyers, economists, and horseplayers explain the economics of stud fees, the risk-reward profile of buying unproven horses, and how simulcasting, legal sports betting, and computer-driven wagering have transformed the gambling side of the sport. The episode closes by examining racinos, historical horse racing machines, and regulation as key forces that may determine whether horse racing has a viable future in the United States.
652. Inside the Horse-Industrial Complex
This episode examines the modern thoroughbred horse industry, from elite breeding operations in Kentucky to the lived experience and economics of being a jockey and a backstretch worker. Former jockey Richard Migliore describes the physical and psychological demands, risks, and rewards of his nearly 30-year riding career, while industry participants like economist Jill Stowe and farm operator Mark Taylor explain the business structures, sales markets, and breeding strategies that underpin the sport. The conversation also explores how immigration rules shape the racing workforce and how long-standing breeding rules, especially the ban on artificial insemination, help keep Kentucky at the center of the global thoroughbred economy.
Crypto Pardon, Amazon Automation, and Reagan Tariff Ad
Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway discuss Kara's trip to Korea, plastic surgery culture among tech workers, and Donald Trump's tariff threats against Canada triggered by an Ontario ad using Ronald Reagan's anti-tariff speech. They analyze U.S.-China trade and the pending TikTok deal, Trump's pardon of Binance founder CZ and what it signals about corruption and crypto, Amazon's push to automate its warehouses with robots, and Trump's bailout of Argentina, framing these stories within a broader critique of speculative gambling economics and erosion of rule-of-law, before closing with reflections on sports betting and the war in Ukraine.