Just to add a few thoughts to this thread.

Along with some of the other ways mentioned, all major sports also "handicap" through the draft in which the "worst" teams draft first (or at least get in a lottery to draft first). I am not sure that the leagues really want parity but they at least want to give every team some "opportunity" to be competitive.

The idea of a standard set of allowance conditions in racing makes a lot of sense to me.

Of course, this is way down on my list of priorities right now. Let's clean up the drug problem (the momentum seems to have been lost with the delay in extended testing for graded stakes) and then fix the flawed business model.

After we get to the point where we can all legally and conveniently watch and wager on(with a reasonable net takeout) any race in North America with some assurance that the horses are running clean...

Then we can worry about standard allowance conditions...

Chris