are any of you and owner of a race horse?

china

china

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just watching the racing on channel four and wondered what it would be like to be an owner and what sort of costs are involved. just wondering how worthwhile it is. might be able to convince the family.
are any of you an owner? whats involved?
 
My mum's friend is an owner although her horses aren't the best shall we say ;) has meant we get free tickets to watch :p

Pm my mum if you want (double_choc_lab) as she'll know more than me!

Also iirc you're south west? The owner in question horses are at a trainers in Somerset I believe.
 
One of my friends owns a number of racehorses - there are significant costs involved. Firstly you must decide if you want a flat, NH or P2P racehorse. In Newmarket the average cost of training/livery is £45-£55 per day, with some yards charging significantly more. On top of this you will have any veterinary costs, worming, farriery, transport, entries, jockey fees etc. My friend budgets £2000 per horse per month for these costs. Some months it costs a lot less, some months a lot more. It really depends on how many races they enter, and where in the country they are, if the horse has any problems etc.

There are cheaper ways to do it of course, some P2P yards charge a lot less, the costs involved are not as great, but neither are the owners 'perks'. It really depends what you want. My friend spends a lot of time at the trainers yard and on the gallops with the trainer, as well as attending race meetings all over the country, but then she has 4 or 5 horses in training at a time, and a lot of money to spend!

Another option is to join a syndicate - I have looked into this - we were offered a chance to join a syndicate for £45 per week - for this we got passes to the owners areas when the horse was racing, and a share of the prize money it might win. It did not entitle us to any money made from the horse once at stud or if he/she was sold. However, it meant no hidden extras, so if the horse was injurred/needed veterinary treatment etc, we had nothing to pay towards that. You can also buy into a horse, so if the horse cost, say £10,000 and you paid £2k, you would own 1/5th - but this would mean you are then liable for 1/5th of any costs incurred. However, if the horse was sold, or went to stud, you would be entitled to 1/5th of those earnings as well.

I am certainly no expert - we are still looking for a horse to buy into at the moment, so I do not know of all the legal formalities etc surrounding it - but I have done a lot of research as it is something we are thinking of doing. Hope that helps - I am sure there are people on here much more able to advise you in more detail,
 
If you are a small owner who wants to do it for the fun of it then would suggest either a small trainer or a syndicate eg Elite are very good. If buying a yearling you can spend anything from £800 upwards, a few thousand should buy you something that will win. If you find a trainer who you get on with, they should be capable of buying you something in your price bracket.

Training fees are around £1,200 per month, you may well find cheaper if smaller trainer not in a major training centre, plus farrier, vet, all the usual. Any trainer will let you come to watch work, evening stables etc and will normally call you once a week with update.

If you get to the racecourse then each runner gets an allocation of 6 owners badges (some racecourses are more generous, some not!) Prizemoney is currently going through the floor and there was a maiden race run last week with horses that cost six figures as yearlings racing for £1,500 first prize. As you can see that hardly covers a month of training fees, then deduct trainers 10%, jockey's 10% etc. Basically don't do it for the money!

I know plenty of people who have done it and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, but must admit even though I work in the industry I don't think I would ever buy a horse to race, to breed maybe, if I had surplus cash, which won't ever happen as I already own a horse 'for pleasure'!
 
I am hoping to buy a point to pointer. Its going to cost me around £6000 a year, bearing in mind I *hopefully* will be riding it myself and working part time at the yard where it will live.
 
thank you for the replies. i will look into this sydicate thing as see what happens, if i can get my mum involved then it might be an idea to look in to.
 
Depending if you were interested in NH or P2P......

We train a few pointers in the South West, with varying success, our best horse cost £2000 and has won five points. We try and organise a small syndicate every year to help cover some costs, for as little as £50 a month. For this there is no 'ownership' of the horse but you are named as owners for racing purposes and can enjoy some of the aspects tradional owners do at a fraction of the cost. We welcome as many people to be involved as possible and try and keep it affordable. Support from a small syndicate makes it more fun as you have more people to share with you the ups and downs. We keep costs low because even if we didn't have syndicate support, we would do it anyway!

One word of warning tho, once you become involved in racing, which ever side of it, you'll be hooked!!
 
china said:
just watching the racing on channel four and wondered what it would be like to be an owner and what sort of costs are involved. just wondering how worthwhile it is. might be able to convince the family.
are any of you an owner? whats involved?
Click to expand...
Racing is exciting to watch when you are an owner. Costs can be high if your horses are not successful and they pale into insignificance when the horses are winning big money races. If the cost of running your own racehorses is out of reach then as others say you could become part of a syndicate.
 
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