anyone on here own horses in a private syndicate

ciano911

Right, bit of a shot in the dark but me and a few lads are thinking of buying a race horse. None of us have done anything
like this before so the main questions we have are about how do people work the on going money side of things.
After we put up the original amount whats the easyest way to pay the trainer, vet, food etc. Obviously I am a complete
novice at this so any helpful advice or stories would be great.

ft9

Set up a bank account for the syndicate, get a cheque book, at least 2 signatures required for each cheque.

Winning Ways Racing

Great to hear new people coming into ownership. I was told recently that there's no money in Ireland but for the first time I filled a syndicate before we went to the sales.

I will give you my insights and see if its useful:

Syndicate agreement - make sure you have one as you will always get differences of opinion whether your horse is good or bad. Make sure there is a deadlock provision in it. I'd be happy to send you over ours to use as a template or check out the Go Racing website for an idea of what you should have in.

Syndicate manager - select one member to be the liaison between the syndicate members and the trainer

Budget - decide how long you plan to hold the horse for, work out a budget to training costs, racing costs (€500 a race), vet/farrier etc of say €200 a month, up front HRI registration fees and ongoing annual fees and a contingency of €200 a month

Payments - it is a real pain to get cash out of members every month, particularly if the horse has problems. It is much easier to get 6 months up front and then every 6 months, collect the next 6 months fees. If you have built in a continency, this means you won't be short if one member decides to leave.

Paying your trainer - I generally pay on receipt of an invoice as we don't have any cash issues with our syndicates and no paying for a month doesn't help us in any way. However, paying in advance or on receipt of invoice might is probably worth a euro or two off the monthly fee. Don't be afraid to challenge the fees for your trainer but do be aware that some trainers feed their horses differently depending on deals they have done. They might also give a discount for cash but most are happy with cheques.

Enjoy it!!

Technophobe

Also make sure that the person you choose to be the HRI link person for your syndicate (receiving statements, passes, transferring moneys etc) is reliable and willing to do it...
..Its a pain in the ass to do a changeover- with all forms having to to be filled in again with member sigs etc, letters submitted etc etc..

Main thing is to enjoy it and accept only people that are genuinely interested, but more importantly genuinely going to pay their way...Its an expensive sport so no harm in brushing up on the various fees re declarations, jockey fees, owners fees etc etc..make sure all prospective members are aware of such costs.....