At a track in Wyoming’s sagebrush sea, horse racing flourishes amid a national decline

At a track in Wyoming’s sagebrush sea, horse racing flourishes amid a national decline

ROCK SPRINGS—It’s about an hour before the final day of the 2025 Wyoming horse racing season begins, and Ron Moorhouse is manning a scale in a backroom of an administrative building. The 72-year-old is responsible for weighing jockeys ahead of the races at Sweetwater Downs, a blue-collar track outside of Rock Springs. Moorhouse was a jockey himself for 12 years. He used to weigh in at 110 pounds and developed a stomach ulcer from purging what he…