This is the time of the year when horse racing takes center stage in town. But often when we think of horse owners, the picture is decidedly white.

Butch Mosby is a Black horse owner who wants to change that narrative. As one of the owners of Open Gate Horse Ventures, he spoke with LPM’s Michelle Tyrene Johnson about what it is like to own race horses and the finish line he is galloping towards.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Michelle Tyrene Johnson: Could you tell me about Open Gate? What inspired you to start it?

Butch Mosby: I like to say that I kind of tripped and fell into the industry. Simply because I had no intentions of getting into the horse race industry. I randomly met a gentleman that went to the same school that I did, Murray State University, and we got to talking about sports. I asked him what he did and he said he was in the horse racing industry. And then he pretty much gave me a six or seven month tutorial on how to be in the horse racing industry. And I was so intrigued by it. Then we kind of just jumped in.

MTJ: About how many Black racehorse owners are there? What is your experience been working in the industry?

BM: There aren’t a lot of us in it, especially from the ownership side. Obviously, when you go to the track, you see us working at the track or working with the horses somewhat, but there’s not a lot of ownership at all.

And so anytime we see another Black person, it was like, Hey, how you doing? It’s like, come on over and hang out with us. But you know, we’re very intentional about what we do. We saw that there was not a lot of us in it, and so we decided to form our own group.

And so obviously, we’re not limited to just Black and Brown people. We do accept people from all walks of life, but we are Black-led and Black-managed, and I think that’s important.

MTJ: How long have you been doing this?

BM: It’s been a very short time. This is our second year. It’s a long-term investment because when you buy a horse, you typically buy them at one year old, and they’re not eligible to start running until they are two years old. So that first year is just waiting to see the horse, see if he can develop and hit the track, and then their peak run time is when they’re three. And so this is our first year having horses that are three years old.

MTJ: I noticed that you had at least three horses that ran at Keeneland recently. How did they do?

BM: They didn’t do as well as we thought that they would do. But being at Keeneland, which is a very high-end environment, and the competition is very stiff. I think we did okay, and we were happy to be there.

MTJ: How many horses do you have total?

BM: We have a part ownership of 10 horses. When I say part ownership, most of the industry operates in syndications, and you buy shares of horses. So we may own 15 or 20% of a particular horse, may own 5 or 2% of another horse, and we partner with other syndications, so we kind of share the risk of the horse.

MTJ: I can only imagine how exciting it must be to see a horse that you have any actual investment in going around the track. If I got $2 on a horse, I’m excited to see it doing well. What’s that like for you as an owner?

BM: There’s nothing better than seeing your horse coming down that stretch, especially when he’s got a chance to win. And so it’s pretty exciting, plus you’ve got a lot of investment involved in as well. Our bet is on the back end, not necessarily the front end. We’ve already made the investment now it’s time to see if anything’s going to come out of that.

MTJ: What’s next for you?

BM: We’re going to try to do an Open Gate summer program for young teenagers who would be interested in horse racing and equine studies and then do a whole program and teach them about it, so they can get that in their minds early on. We want to see if we can open more doors, open more gates.

MTJ: What role does representation play in your interests and your goals?

BM: The general public doesn’t know that Black people were at the beginning of this industry. And so we hope that it opens the eyes and opens the doors and opens the minds of people to want to go back and research to see what role Black people played in horse racing.