I dreamt of owning a racehorse ever since those first vists to Taunton Races at the age of 11. Those dreams came true when my friends and I bought our first horse, a 4 year old mare called Tashlee Grove in training with our friend Brian Forsey when I was 18. She never got to the racecourse but a few horses later I had my first ever winner in my own colours on 14th May 1991, when Lady Primrose won a selling handicap hurdle at Newton Abbot under young jump jockey Carl Llewellyn (who went on to win the Grand National on Party Politics the following spring).

There followed one more winner in my colours (Aldahe at Lingfield Park over hurdles) before grown up things like work, mortgage, marriage and children took up more of my finances. I became a serial Syndicate member with Elite, Full Circle, Henry Ponsonby to name but a few before I took a share in Outset with Mark Kilner Racing. Outset was very successful on both the flat and over jumps and took me to some big racedays which gave me a taste of the life of the owner.

In Autumn 2005, I took the plunge and took a share in a 2 horse syndicate with Highclere Thoroughbred Racing. The 2 horses were Squadron trained by Amanda Perrett and Treat trained by Mick Channon. Treat surpassed all my wildest dreams by finishing 2nd in the Fillies Mile at Ascot as a 2 year old and then 4th in the 1000 Guineas before eventually being sold to Sheik Mohammed to stand at Darley Stud in Japan.

In Jan 2008, I bought into my first horse managed by Middleham Park Racing, Bonnie Prince Blue, quickly followed by my first 2 year old Victoire de Lyphar. I have become very impressed by the syndicate and Nick, Tim and Mike who run it and have got carried away to the extent of now owning shares (generally 5 percent) of 18 different horses in separate syndicates with MPR.

I thought I would share my thoughts and experiences with anyone who might be interested. If you have any interest in racing, I hope that my experiences may tempt you into the wonderful world of racehorse ownership.

I hope you enjoy reading my blog.

Thursday, 13 October 2011

Unlucky at Kempton and Off to Cheltenham

Guava, trained by Richard Hannon, went to Kempton this evening, attempting to defy a 6lb penalty following her long awaited first victory at Nottingham last week. Guava broke slowly and Sean Levey tucked her away on the inside rail. As the field turned into the straight, Guava struggled to find a gap and Sean had to manouevre to the outside before he could make his run. The winner got first run but Guava swept past her field to just fail to get up, finishing a 1/2 length second.
When I bought into Guava, Richard Hannon was hoping that she would be a Royal Ascot runner but she is quite small and has taken a long time to strengthen up and find her form. A £30,000 purchase from Doncaster last Autumn, we looked like we might have to let her go for £6000 in sellers and claimers but we will now have to see what the rest of the season holds for Guava. She may be out next week off her new mark of 65 (1lb less than tonight) to strike while the iron is hot.
I have already comitted to 2 new yearlings for next year and 3 jumps horses and need to move horses on each year in order to afford to keep paying training fees. Guava is one of those horses who may be able to maximise her value late in the season before being sold on. We will see.

Tomorrow is an incredibly exciting day, with Mad Moose running at Cheltenham. I have been a member at Cheltenham for the last 15-20 years and this will be my first runner there for a very long time. MPR share ownership of Mad Moose with trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies, and this will be his second run for us following his excellent 7th place in the ultra competitive chase at Market Rasen two weeks ago (Ostland, the horse that finished 2 places behind us came out this week and won by the length of the straight!!). I hadn't intended getting involved in another horse this year but the chance to have a horse with Grand National winning trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies and the man that rode my first winner Carl Llewellyn, was too good to miss. We also have Talksport's Ian Abraham (Moose) in our syndicate and I know that the Moose will be keeping his listeners up to date with Mad Moose's progress towards a dream run at the Festival in March.

Mad Moose is top rated over 3 miles of the Prestbury Park circuit but as with most Novice Chases at Cheltenham, jumping will be the name of the game and we will hope he jumps round safely and gets competitive at the end of the race.

We also sell our very promising And He's Dreaming at the Select National Hunt Sale after racing. He is probably the best of the 10 young National Hunt horses we bought as an experiment 18 months ago. He has run very well on his two bumper runs and will certainly go on to be a very nice horse in time. We have learnt a lot from the venture, not least that you cannot rush these big jumps types, you have to wait until they tell you that they are ready.

More runners over the weekend, I hope to update you on my string (with pictures) probably on Sunday.
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1 comment:

  1. ParForTheCourse13 October 2011 at 15:19

    Dave interesting read. Good luck tomorrow. I'll introduce myself if I see you round. Kev

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