Never invest in anything that eats 2

Harness trainers exist only through the generosity of owners paying the training fees of horses with no chance of a profit for most.

The prizemoney column is rather small for most stables but they are saved because generous owners continue to pay up for horses and allow trainers to be 'professionals' despite their horses not breaking even

I suppose it is like any lottery – the dream of being one of the lucky ones

Let's say a horse needs to win $30k to pay its way (that is $25k for the owners after trainer and driver take their cut)
Last season the average earnings per starter was $14,192 (with the average horse having 13.3 starts)

I suppose it could be worse but it does mean that the average horse/owner is winning half of what he/she needs to break even
I believe it is probably worse as the average is skewed by the big earners like the King and mates
Of the 2021 seasons 9,819 runners, I reckon the median horse (4,909th) would have been lucky to earn $10,000

I don’t think many people look at the stats avalable to us for trainers and drivers
On the Fields page don’t just click on a horse - click on a trainer and you will find at the bottom of the page his/her Top Horses for this season. It will give you an idea of how successful they are But if you want the bigger picture click on the Career Stats tab at the top of the page and you will see in the last column how much prizemoney they have won year by year
It gives you a good idea how successful they are, especially if you do the maths and divide it by ‘starts’ to get their average per start

Owner/trainers get around it but for the other owners – remember you are not just investing in horses that eat, you are also investing in ‘trainers who eat’ (so make sure you like the person :D)