[defrost]

There is a wee bit of money to be made winning a race, sure.

Here's a question though (can vary by country and racing industry), how do the winnings from racing (as a distribution) compare to the earnings from pedigree breeding, stud fees, sperm straw sales, etc.?

I agree there's room for disruption, just as there is from (say) the iron grip of the US Home Owners Associations and other cartels, but expect a lot of regulatory push back from the insiders.

The, ah, American Quarter Horse Association won't let any old nag run if they can help it.

[basch]

If someone came in and moneyballed the sport with no name horses, wouldn’t their stud fee rise with wins? New lineage would start.

[defrost]

You'd expect so and it's bound to have been done, it's still one of those domains where the establishment (owners, trainers, breeders, jockeys, track associations, etc) is weighted against outsiders.

Money would count, but I dare say it'd need a bit of crafty social engineering running in parallel to crack in.

Caveat: I'm not a horse racing / polo insider - I did some contract work years back and rubbed shoulders with a bunch of millionaire horsey types.