Owning a horse

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Norm Smith Medallist
Jun 9, 2013
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tombomb

Norm Smith Medallist
Sep 8, 2007
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There is supposedly a story of Dr Turf speaking on some panel at a Spring Carnival Lunch a few years ago and he was asked what his advice would be to people who want to own racehorses.

And his response was, take all your money out of the bank and set it on fire in your living room as it will be more efficient and less expensive.

He was later informed that the luncheon was set up by some horse syndicator and they were the ones paying him to be there.
 
Sep 9, 2000
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There is supposedly a story of Dr Turf speaking on some panel at a Spring Carnival Lunch a few years ago and he was asked what his advice would be to people who want to own racehorses.

And his response was, take all your money out of the bank and set it on fire in your living room as it will be more efficient and less expensive.

He was later informed that the luncheon was set up by some horse syndicator and they were the ones paying him to be there.

Anyone owning to make money is mad. It’s the feeling of owning a winner that is addictive and rubbing shoulders with the big names. I’ve met several big names through ownership and even stood side by side with Darren Weir inthe owner/trainers lounge at the Valley.
 

rank and file

Norm Smith Medallist
Jun 9, 2013
6,125
6,715
michael mitchell country
AFL Club
Richmond
Other Teams
bell park
Anyone owning to make money is mad. It’s the feeling of owning a winner that is addictive and rubbing shoulders with the big names. I’ve met several big names through ownership and even stood side by side with Darren Weir inthe owner/trainers lounge at the Valley.
I've always wanted to meet a 'colourful racing identity.'
 
My old man bought into one of Gai's horses a year and a half ago

Bought a 10% share, not exactly sure how much it cost him but it would have been around the $15k-$20k range I'm guessing. Gai even kept a 50% share in the horse so my old man was obviously pretty pumped about this thing

Thing had a trial and won by about 4 lengths. The horse it beat was bought for $1m+. Still needed another trial or so as it wasn't race ready but obviously had speed.


Anyway it got injured and spent the next 12-18 month out consistently injured. The owners were advised to sell the horse as it was unlikely to race and they were better off to cut their loses and move on. So they did

A few months pass and a mate of my old mans rings him and tells him his horse is racing in a maiden up at the Sunshine Coast. Obviously my old man was confussed but looks it up and low and behold there is his old horse ready to run. To rub salt into the wounds it gets up by 4 lengths. Then a couple of weeks later it runs again in the Sunshine coast and wins by a couple of lengths this time. has a spell comes back and wins again making it 3 from 3.

Its ran a few times since but I don't think it has won in its last 4 or 5 starts. But it's still fair to say my old man wasn't happy although he has moved on a bit since it's first win a year ago
 
Mar 17, 2014
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My old man bought into one of Gai's horses a year and a half ago

Bought a 10% share, not exactly sure how much it cost him but it would have been around the $15k-$20k range I'm guessing. Gai even kept a 50% share in the horse so my old man was obviously pretty pumped about this thing

Thing had a trial and won by about 4 lengths. The horse it beat was bought for $1m+. Still needed another trial or so as it wasn't race ready but obviously had speed.


Anyway it got injured and spent the next 12-18 month out consistently injured. The owners were advised to sell the horse as it was unlikely to race and they were better off to cut their loses and move on. So they did

A few months pass and a mate of my old mans rings him and tells him his horse is racing in a maiden up at the Sunshine Coast. Obviously my old man was confussed but looks it up and low and behold there is his old horse ready to run. To rub salt into the wounds it gets up by 4 lengths. Then a couple of weeks later it runs again in the Sunshine coast and wins by a couple of lengths this time. has a spell comes back and wins again making it 3 from 3.

Its ran a few times since but I don't think it has won in its last 4 or 5 starts. But it's still fair to say my old man wasn't happy although he has moved on a bit since it's first win a year ago
This sounds like the Richie Callander Lil Ceaser rort all over again. I would almost bet that nothing has changed in the sales of old racehorses
 
This sounds like the Richie Callander Lil Ceaser rort all over again. I would almost bet that nothing has changed in the sales of old racehorses
yeah look it hasn't done much after the first 3 starts but my old man was ******* pissed off none the less
 

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tombomb

Norm Smith Medallist
Sep 8, 2007
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This sounds like the Richie Callander Lil Ceaser rort all over again. I would almost bet that nothing has changed in the sales of old racehorses

I don't think it would be anything like the Lil Caesar rort.

I'd imagine the horse described in the Waterhouse story would have been sent to a public online auction where anyone could buy the horse - including the existing owners.

It is the danger of going into a syndicate. The trainer can't operate a business model where they have multiple owners all arguing amongst themselves about whether or not to get rid of a horse that isn't performing. They have to make these unilateral decisions. It is really up to the owner to be proactive and contact the trainer to discuss the other options.

My advice to people who just want to have fun as a horse owner is to follow the various online sales (like Inglis) and then follow up with buyers of tried horses - especially ones being sold by big city stables.

You will at least know that the horse is educated well and received good medical care. Plus the bigger stables often won't have the time or space to train horses that aren't going to be competitive in city races, but that doesn't mean they can't be very competitive away from Melbourne and Sydney and you can still have a lot of fun. Watching your horse win a BM50 at Kempsey is a lot more fun than watching it run last in a Pakenham maiden.
 
Has anyone had a look at The Racing League?
I bought a share with the Vic Husslers, sounds like it will be a lot of fun.

From my brief knowledge of it it looks like a complete rip off
 
From my brief knowledge of it it looks like a complete rip off
yeah I’ll see how it goes but I don't think we will make much money, just more the enjoyment of following and watching the horses go around. TRL purchased 9 yearling at the Magic Million sales just last week.
 

Jammer

All Australian
Jun 26, 2007
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I think what might be a really interesting exercise
Would be to track the racing records of all horses purchased at
2 or 3 of the big Sales/ Auctions say from 2015.

Yes insanely time consuming however
I’d be prepared to throw a few hundred at someone on Fiverr or Upwork to do it . Would be interesting how many horses
Won a race and which ones won multiple races

I cannot image u can get these stats any where and u would need to do each horse individually ???

If any of u would be interested in this
Let me know as it will probably motivate me enough to post the job.
 
Oct 10, 2010
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Do the math 5% share ave training cost say $50 a week 50x 52= $2600 x 20 = $52,000. So just to break even your horse has to win about $70,000 a year as the trainer and jockey also take 5% of prize money. Still interested?
 

checkraiseulite

Norm Smith Medallist
Jul 23, 2010
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5% is actually quite a large share to have by yourself.

you don’t get into ownership to make money from the prize money.

you get into it to have fun with mates and get some inside word from the trainer - if your horses pay their bills then you’re laughing.

admittedly i have been fairly lucky but i would recommend ownership and getting started with 1,2,2.5% shares in horses.
 
Mar 17, 2014
10,853
12,742
AFL Club
Collingwood
5% is actually quite a large share to have by yourself.

you don’t get into ownership to make money from the prize money.

you get into it to have fun with mates and get some inside word from the trainer - if your horses pay their bills then you’re laughing.

admittedly i have been fairly lucky but i would recommend ownership and getting started with 1,2,2.5% shares in horses.
Squami had the Lunar Fox form but couldnt do much today!
 

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