How Was Your Summer?
Newsletter #66
George talks…
It’s been a while.
The intensity of the summer heat (wind and rain) had me allergic to typing. I checked back on my previous correspondence, it’s been 6 months! While a lot has changed, everything is still the same.
I’m still going to write about horses.
But what’s changed you ask?
At the turn of the new year I tease out my vision for the future, a battlecry of how we intend to grow the syndicate. The only currency in horse racing is winners. We all know this. Although a syndicate is a little different, you have only one metric, experience.
But, having a winner is the ultimate experience of owning racehorses.
If you do everything else wrong but have winners you are doing a poor job, likewise if you are doing a fantastic job of providing an experience but don’t have winners, it’s akin to having a superb Sunday roast without the gravy.
We have been fortunate to hit both bullseyes (winners and experiences) this summer, so let’s do a double take and I’ll bring you all up to speed (with plenty of gravy on top).
Summer Recap
Our summer fun kicked off with the unveiling of our first NH syndicate. VISION OF HOPE was purchased cheaply from BBT trainer George Boughey. We had a relationship with James Owen as he expertly pre-trains our horses when they arrive in the UK. He had mentioned to Thomas that he had taken out his National hunt training license and we were keen to support him.
VOH is an excellent jumper over a hurdle and we felt with the correct ground (good to firm) she could get her head in front, but she needed to learn how to settle. This was the main issue with her first couple of runs for us.
Queue Harry Cobden…
Before the race at Huntingdon we had a plan to ride her from the front, to let her find her stride and settle. But the start was a disaster. Harry threw the instructions out the window, rode her completely cold, out the back.
I nearly turned the tv off.
She sluiced home snugly by 3/4 of a length!
A certain owner celebrated so hard that night, he couldn’t open up his pub the following morning!
The filly then ran a gallant race next time out to come second to a rapidly improving horse from the Keatley yard.
But she wasn’t done yet.
May was now firmly in the rearview mirror and the summer sunshine of June had us all sizzling with excitement over the looming debut of our 2 year old filly by Dandy Man named BIGGER THEN GIGA. This is a filly we race in partnership with the Moores brothers of Moores Racing as well as a bunch of friends and colleagues involved with our syndicate. An eclectic group who for most had just purchased their first ever racehorse, Moores brothers included!
BTG didn't disappoint the loyal contingent who made the journey to Lingfield. She ran an impressive race finishing best of the lot to be a very close third.
BIGGER THAN GIGA Tuning up for her First Start
The dream was well and truly alive.
VOH turned out again on the 23rd June at Market Rasen. Now with a method of settling her (ridden cold), she conjured up a late turn of foot to win and survive the stewards room to record her second win.
To have our first NH horse win twice for us was fantastic. Celebrations were again held into small hours.
A big few days for our syndicate and with the pressure on, we turned BTG back out again for her second race at Kempton. Favourite with the bookmakers we went there full of hope. Kevin believed she had come on significantly at home, she was more professional and was working well.
She put the race to bed in the final furlong and relished the 7 furlongs of the Kempton all weather.
Check out the Racing TV interview of our team and some owners here.
But she wasn’t finished yet.
For many July was all about complaining about the rain. When you have an exciting horse in training, you check the what’s app group every morning to see how your horse is, the weather is an afterthought in the back of your mind, unless of course you are ground dependent.
After just shy of a month off the track we turned out BTG in a competitive novice at Kempton.
Under a penalty this was a tough ask.
Our filly bounced out the gates professionally and bossed the race. She battled hard to the line to win by a head, we again survived the stewards room.
Winner number 4 on the board.
This was an exciting performance that had us all dreaming of the Tattersalls Somerville sales race.
Sales races divide opinion among racing people. Some say they take good horses away from the pattern 2 year old races, while others say they are an important incentive to buy horses and give people a chance at winning a decent pot that owners will then reinvest. I’m firmly in the latter camp. We sourced BTG from the Tattersalls Somerville sale. This race is only open to horses that have been in that sale. With £100,000 up for grabs this is an opportunity that can’t be passed by.
Unfortunately the race last weekend didn’t go to plan. BTG ran well below par telling me that it was a run to just put a line through.
She will be back though.
Apart from the result, the day at the Newmarket July course was probably the best days racing I’ve ever attended. The syndicate was treated to the best racecourse experience imaginable with plenty of fun had by all.
These are the journeys a racehorse can take you on. This was our first big Saturday runner and it was a a proud moment for Charlie, Thomas and myself but it has only whetted our appetite to source horses for our owners that can take us back there again.
We purchased the second of our NH string in July. COOLNAUGH HAZE was sent to James Owen in Newmarket and had been training well.
We didn’t really know what to expect for his first run but the bookmakers did have him as favourite.
The horse breezed home by 7 lengths under Alex Chadwick bringing home our 5th winner of the summer.
We have made just two purchases for our NH string and both are now winners, a very pleasing result that had the phone ringing for the next few days with enquiries about when we were sourcing our next one!
Statistics
I took stock of our numbers this year.
We have raced 4 individual horses. 3 out of 4 have won at least once.
Between them they have ran 18 times, yielding:
5 Winners
3 Seconds
1 Third
Our winners to runners percentage is a healthy 28%.
The satisfactory element of our numbers is the monetary spend that we made to produce these results. The total outlay on our 4 horses was a paltry £47,500.
The prize money earned by our horses so far this year totalled £26,562.54 (I won’t complain about prizemoney today).
We aren’t going to trouble McManus, Magnier or Tabor anytime soon but we do feel we can provide an unrivalled experience even on a shoe string budget.
Exciting times ahead to say the least, and these horses aren’t done yet.
VOH was sold last night at Tattersalls, she was a brilliant little mare for us over the summer, the very best of luck to her going forward.
BTG is on a small break but has oodles of potential if we were to step her up in trip. COOLNAUGH HAZE has significant targets over hurdles in September and we could try him on the flat and in time he may jump a fence.
Join In On The Action
While we are pleased with the numbers, we are hungry to keep the success going and improve the quality of our string. We have had great reaction from people to get involved with us. Our latest recruit, COOLNAUGH HAZE was sold out within an hour of his purchase. We had several previous owners reach out after he won wondering why they hadn’t the opportunity to buy into the horse, we didn’t have time to advertise the horse!
With this in mind, if you are a follower of ours and potentially would like to nab a share, we invite you to submit your thoughts below. This helps us with weighing up demand when we hit the sales over the next couple of months.
Any submissions will be collated and added to a list upon which you will receive first refusal on shares right after the gavel falls in the sales ring.
Sales, Sales, Sales
As per usual we will be attending all the upcoming yearling and horse in training sales. We would love to welcome anybody who wishes to attend the sales to join us as we work the barns in search of our next winner.
Give us a call or reply to this email to firm up dates.
The sales we are attending are as follows:
Tattersalls Somerville Sale
Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale
Goffs Orby sale
Tattersalls October Yearling Sales Book 1/2/3/4
Tattersalls HIT Sale
We will be continuing to do the same thing when heading to the sales. Our budgets and strategy will be the same. We have no problem heading to the sales and coming home empty handed if we feel the value was not on offer. Unlike other agents or buyers who feel pressure to buy just because, we will only pull the trigger if our whole team agree on a horse and we can stand behind the animal before you guys ever hear about it.
Thank you
Lastly, I would like to thank all our supporters since we began the syndicate. Like any business it’s the early support from friends and family that help get the engine running. We have a bunch of followers from as far afield as Canada and Australia and as local as our next door neighbour at home in Kilkenny.
A thank you to all subscribers, any previous owners, current owners and even people who have mentioned us in conversations at dinner, spreading the word helps us grow. A like, a share, a comment on social media is a small step in getting our name out there, it all helps.
This week coming…
Tattersalls Somerville Yearling Sale
Jockey Club Stakes, Saratoga, USA
Pacific Classic, Del Mar, USA
Prix De Moulin, Longchamp, France
Grosser Preis Von Baden, Germany
All the Best,
George
The BBT Introduction to Horse Racing Ownership