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." -- Andrew Beyer, in a recent column for DRF.

It worries me that the three-year old horse population is dropping even as it seems that dominant three-year old horses seem to have have become rarer. Shouldn't it be easier for an elite horse to come out of a smaller crowd?