Page 98 - November 2021

FINANCIAL PLANNING
SETTING A TONE FOR RACING – PAST AND PRESENT
by Cade Peterson,
Financial Planning Associate
Cade Peterson
Growing up on a farm you might hear,
“A dollar ain’t worth a dime no more.” That’s farm talk meaning that the value of the
dollar isn’t what is used to be. I heard a quote the other day that I wanted to share. “If you think money can’t buy happiness then you don’t know where to shop.” Judging by the recent yearling sale figures, happiness comes from buying yearlings. Some people grow
up thinking they need to save every dollar
they make and protect it at the bank. Others realize that, in fact, a dollar ain’t worth a dime no more, and they need to focus on growing their wealth. It’s all about the time value of money. Your money has a greater value now than it does in the future because the cost
of things keeps rising. Inflationary pressures are making headlines. In this light, I thought it would be interesting to take a trip back in time and examine the careers of some of the all-time great jockeys to see how purses in their day would compare to today, after adjusting
for inflation. For this article I was fortunate enough to interview several very successful
and well-known jockeys about their careers. I heard some awesome stories about their favorite memories and favorite horses. Aside from sharing some interesting stories, I am going to take each jockey’s highest year purse earnings and adjust it out to what that jockey would’ve made in today’s dollars in hopes of illustrating how significant inflation can be.
G.R. CARTER
I was fortunate enough to talk to G.R. and learn
several amazing things about
his career. G.R. is the all-time leader by money earned and is considered one of the best to
ever do it. When I asked which was his favorite horse to ride, he mentioned three names: The first being Stolis Winner, All-
American Futurity winner in 2008 with
total earnings of $2,242,661 ($2,849,556
in today’s dollars). He also mentioned
Be A Bono, a winner of $1,313,348, and Dashing Perfection, who had 9 wins in
1997. When I asked G.R. if he retired on
his own terms, he said. “For sure. Retired reasonably healthy. I hate to see guys get hurt and that’s the end for them.” He didn’t have much he would’ve done differently with his career. “There’s not much I would’ve done different. I stayed hooked for 35 years. Did everything I could do.” G.R. was quick to give credit to others in helping shape his career. He had a cool story to share about
the first trainer he ever worked for, Bill Lau. He said Bill taught him everything about the race track. “Unfortunately, he was killed in a car accident when I was a senior in
high school. I wish he could’ve seen how everything turned out for me,” said G.R. Towards the end of our conversation, G.R. shared a moment he was most proud of with his career. “The whole process of becoming the all-time leading money earner. It was pretty rewarding and gratifying to have that happen. That all came to be in 2008-2009.”
“If you think money can’t buy happiness then you don’t know where to shop.”
96 SPEEDHORSE November 2021