We’re Back…
Newsletter #62
George talks…
I’m not sure if you have ever heard of Wim Hof?
To give you a short synopsis, he is probably the reason why your friends are chattering about how they now take cold showers. About how great they feel, and why you should start doing it too. I have travelled down the cold shower route in the past and even graduated to the cult that is sea swimming. If you think the cold shower posse are loud and proud, check out a sea swimmer’s Instagram page. I studied Wim Hof and his methods for winning the battle over the cold. His main weapon is deep breaths, “breathe in and let it out”. Although I was swimming in the sea last November, letting it out.
My biggest exhale of 2022 happened on December 13th.
Our 2 year old filly with George Boughey, ATTRAZIONE finally got her head in front after narrowly placing on her previous three starts.
ATTRAZIONE sheds her maiden tag at Southwell.
We had one goal for 2022 for Brownsbarn Thoroughbreds.
To give our owner’s a winner.
While we are proud to see the BBT silks cross the line in front. We were ecstatic for the filly herself. She had a busy autumn/winter campaign and she was desperately unlucky on a couple of occasions not to get her head in front.
But we are most grateful and thrilled for her group of owners. After her first three runs it took a lot of imagination to keep the faith. For many in the group, it was their first time to own a winner. There were cheers, tears and pints drank, with everyone equally pleased for the filly as we were.
It was moving to read the messages of joy and of support from all involved. Horse racing is a tough sport, it takes a bit of guts and character to go through the ups and downs but the sweet feeling when one crosses the line in front is unrivalled.
With the singular aim of a winner achieved, the first step, as a team we can’t wait to get our teeth sunk into 2023.
The newsletter has been on a sabbatical for a few weeks. We had intended to go into stealth mode over the Christmas period. November and December was a hectic month for us. We had regular runners and sales to attend. We planned to spend time with our family, regroup, reflect on the year and plan for 2023. I trekked up to Dublin for our annual pilgrimage to Leopardstown over Christmas, recharged and weighing in a couple of pounds over at the scales. I was taking the Christmas to new years hibernation period in my stride.
Then I got sick before new years and spent the next 10 days in bed and the next couple just miserable.
After copious amounts of honey and lemon, I hit the gym last week, a sure sign that I was back to myself.
As chief writer, editor and publisher of media at Brownsbarn, I apologise for our extended absence from your inbox and social media channels!
No prize for guesses as to what my new years resolution is…
Before I sat down to write this newsletter, I opened the newsletter I wrote to square off 2021 and frame our goals for 2022. The theme was based around the idea of momentum. To build on what we had learned from our first year and improve.
After a quick glance at high-level numbers for the year, I believe we’ve achieved that.
During 2022 we campaigned four horses, in total they ran 20 times producing:
1 winner
5 places
3 Fourths
Our runners finished in the top four 45% of the time, giving us all something to shout about. And believe me, shout we did. Yes, we aren’t going to threaten Godolphin next year but I feel the momentum is building.
Our owner’s community has doubled, our social following has quadrupled. We now have a combined following on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok of 4000 people and counting. No Kim Kardashian, but momentum.
A racing syndicate isn’t all about the stats though.
In March we held our first Cheltenham preview night. In July we hosted a group of owners in Newmarket for the July meeting. We were lucky that we could finally meet at the racecourse to see our runners in action (Goddamn Covid). We met owners in Southwell, Kempton, Wolverhampton, Ripon, Chelmsford, Yarmouth, Brighton, Lingfield and Newcastle.
The feedback we received after our events buoyed us with hope that they really are the cornerstone of the experience for people. Owning horses comes with winners and losers. But if you can get out on a Saturday, walk the gallops, chat about horses and meet a few interesting people, it helps smooth the ride.
Syndicates are the model of the future for horse racing. One has to only look at the top of the racing ownership tree. The leading owners in the world are now regularly partnering up and pooling their resources both financial and human when buying their racehorses.
So while I look back with pride on 2022, being the eternal pessimist of the Allen family, we will be putting massive pressure on ourselves to do even better in 2023.
But what does that look like?
That’s on the agenda for next week’s newsletter, for now it’s good to be back!
And, no, it won’t be just taking more cold showers.
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