Greg Maffei, the former chief executive of Liberty Media, and Danny Epstien, the founder of investment firm Skylark, have collaborated to launch a new seasonal horse racing competition, the Horse Racing League (HRL), in the US.
The competition, which will debut in February 2027, will feature 10 teams competing across several US-based events (yet to be announced) across three prominent US venues: Santa Anita Park (California), Gulfstream Park (Miami), and a season finale at Keeneland (Kentucky).
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Further discussions are already being held to expand into three more cities by 2029.
The organizers of the new competition point to the success of the annual Kentucky Derby race as a key signifier of US interest in thoroughbred horse racing, claiming that the sport has a global fanbase of 36 to 48 million to be leveraged, and pointing to a US market of 200 million live event attendees and sports fans as another well of interest to be tapped.
Maffei, who oversaw the massive growth of the Formula 1 (F1) motor racing series under his leadership at Liberty Media, said: “Formula 1 demonstrated what can happen when you bring fans to a historic sport in a modern way through storytelling and social media. Horse racing has all the thrilling elements: exciting competition, heritage, drama, glamour, and star power.
“The HRL brings the excitement of teams to follow, dramatic rivalries, high-stakes betting, and a championship that builds race by race.”
Maffei stepped down as Liberty’s president and CEO at the end of 2024, ending a 19-year tenure.
Under his leadership, Liberty Media has significantly grown its media, sports, and entertainment assets, including massive growth in F1 and the acquisition of Dorna Sports, the promoter of MotoGP.
Several HRL team owners have already been confirmed, including horse racing organizations Godolphin and WinStar, which will each have one team in the league, and a third team co-owned by private equity investor Chris Pucillo of the firm Solus, media, film executive Gary Barber, and, perhaps most prominently in the sports industry, Vinnie Viola, owner of the Florida Panthers NHL team.
Viola himself added: “Horse racing already commands one of the largest single-day audiences in American sports. Investing in a team-based concept designed to carry that momentum across a full season is what makes the HRL so exciting for us.”
The inaugural live draft of the HRL will take place this year, with each team selecting eight horses to compete with.
The HRL is the latest seasonal horse racing competition to be launched with major investment in the US in recent months.
For example, the Premier Jumping League, the new global showjumping competition, has sold its first franchise ahead of its launch next year, with US investor and race car driver Jason McCarthy acquiring a team for $50 million.
Earlier in 2026, a report published by Spotlight Sports Group (SSG) suggested that the lack of a unified global calendar means that race organizers often fail to capitalize on interest surrounding major events such as the Cheltenham Festival or the Melbourne Cup throughout the year.
Speaking to GlobalData Sport (Sportcal), SSG B2B managing director Sam Houlding suggested: “We've got to gain really good cut-through from racing as a product. Making sure that we tell really strong, simple narratives across the sport, ideally to end up in more of a season narrative.
“People understand things like league formats, knockout competitions, and qualifiers. Racing is a series of one-off events. It has some well-attended and well-viewed global festivals, but once that's done, we move on to the next one. So I think there's a lot of opportunity there.”
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