Racehorse ownership/syndicate

TheMilkyPirate

I've thought about a share in a horse for a while now and it's something I've always wanted to do if even just for a year or two. Is anyone here a member of a syndicate? To be honest I wouldn't have much of a clue how it works.

I was looking on this site: http://www.racehorseownership.ie/sourcing-your-horse/syndicates-and-clubs/ and there seems to be a lot of attractive options for ownership there. Do they have horses put by for these syndicates? I'd imagine they wouldn't be very good or is it just luck of the draw? I presume you get tickets to the races etc when your horse is running?

Is 5 or 10% a worthwhile share in a horse?

Gavin "shels"

There was a thread on here about syndicates before. Worth searching for them.

I was involved in one before with Henry de Bromhead - turned out to be a donkey so in essence it was a waste of money. Me and my mate had 10% between us iirc, €80 for it. He was involved in another which won a good load of races. So it's the luck of the draw with these types of ones.

My dad has just become involved in one in the local pub, it's their second horse. €300 for 5% (if I remember rightly) and they get it for 9 months. First one they got a few months ago has already paid for is upkeep for about 2 years with winnings. This is a lot more precise, the owner knows the trainer so in turn is getting a horse with decent pedigree and potential.

kiers47

Tbh i always look at the racing clubs.
Supreme, Michael O Callaghan, Gordon Elliot there are countless ones there as being great value.

The MOC one got great coverage at Galway last year.
Now granted there are an absolute bunch of people in the thing. But if you are only really looking for the odd race day experience as an owner then i think it is a great idea. Think it is relatively cheap too and there are a few horses in it.

It depends what your looking for i suppose. But it could be a good entry to things and if you wanted to take a bigger ownership in one yourself you could go down the other options after that.

irish_major

kiers47 wrote: »

Tbh i always look at the racing clubs.
Supreme, Michael O Callaghan, Gordon Elliot there are countless ones there as being great value.

The MOC one got great coverage at Galway last year.
Now granted there are an absolute bunch of people in the thing. But if you are only really looking for the odd race day experience as an owner then i think it is a great idea. Think it is relatively cheap too and there are a few horses in it.

It depends what your looking for i suppose. But it could be a good entry to things and if you wanted to take a bigger ownership in one yourself you could go down the other options after that.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Think these racing clubs are one of the biggest scams in the country. You're guaranteed no return, in some I believe you're not even guaranteed free entry into the races on the day, trainers often use it as a method of earning a ball of cash while training an unexposed 2 year old, if the 2 year old wins a few, race club ceases to own horse and horse is sold for good money. Even if the horse won and you were in the club I don't really see how you get a kick out of it.

OP, if you could get 5 or 10 like minded friends. You should head to either a horse in training sale or a claimer. Pick up a 5 or 6 year old that has previously been rated higher than its present rating. Often horses just go stale in yards. Even watching a few low grade handicaps, picking out one that you think might have scope to improve back to a mark where it has been successful from before. Pick up the phone and ring the owner and see if they would be open to selling. Send horse off to a trainer who has proven they can improve horses, Richard O Brien and Damien English spring to mind. If 10 of you threw in 1k each, you'd get a well handicapped horse for circa 5k and let the rest cover your training for a while. Much better way of doing things than these clubs.
Have been doing this the past few years, breaking even and thoroughly enjoying it. Nothing like sourcing your own and then they win, even when it's at a low grade.

kiers47

Tbh i know nothing about them only the advertisements. I have no experience of them i dont even know how much they cost but i assume they are cheap.
Was only a suggestion so ill take your word for it.

Peintre Celebre

irish_major wrote: »

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Think these racing clubs are one of the biggest scams in the country. You're guaranteed no return, in some I believe you're not even guaranteed free entry into the races on the day, trainers often use it as a method of earning a ball of cash while training an unexposed 2 year old, if the 2 year old wins a few, race club ceases to own horse and horse is sold for good money. Even if the horse won and you were in the club I don't really see how you get a kick out of it.

OP, if you could get 5 or 10 like minded friends. You should head to either a horse in training sale or a claimer. Pick up a 5 or 6 year old that has previously been rated higher than its present rating. Often horses just go stale in yards. Even watching a few low grade handicaps, picking out one that you think might have scope to improve back to a mark where it has been successful from before. Pick up the phone and ring the owner and see if they would be open to selling. Send horse off to a trainer who has proven they can improve horses, Richard O Brien and Damien English spring to mind. If 10 of you threw in 1k each, you'd get a well handicapped horse for circa 5k and let the rest cover your training for a while. Much better way of doing things than these clubs.
Have been doing this the past few years, breaking even and thoroughly enjoying it. Nothing like sourcing your own and then they win, even when it's at a low grade.

One thousand percent absolute scams. They value cheap pedigree horses at about five times their worth. Pissing money away springs to mind. Way better option picking one up from a claimer

Peintre Celebre

Gavin "shels" wrote: »

There was a thread on here about syndicates before. Worth searching for them.

I was involved in one before with Henry de Bromhead - turned out to be a donkey so in essence it was a waste of money. Me and my mate had 10% between us iirc, €80 for it. He was involved in another which won a good load of races. So it's the luck of the draw with these types of ones.

My dad has just become involved in one in the local pub, it's their second horse. €300 for 5% (if I remember rightly) and they get it for 9 months. First one they got a few months ago has already paid for is upkeep for about 2 years with winnings. This is a lot more precise, the owner knows the trainer so in turn is getting a horse with decent pedigree and potential.

I can assure you Gav Henry woulsnt have been giving away 5% for 80 quid. Even if you meant 80 quid a month it was probably nearer 2.5% with no actual ownership rights if sold

convert

irish_major wrote: »

in some I believe you're not even guaranteed free entry into the races on the day.

Any owner, syndicates and clubs included, are only entitle dot 4 AIR cards, so if you've more than 4 members in the syndicate (and most do) not all will be entitled to free entry on the day the horse is running.

Information about syndicates can be found on the HRI website: http://www.hri-ras.ie/information-centre/faqs/ownerships/

irish_major

convert wrote: »

Any owner, syndicates and clubs included, are only entitle dot 4 AIR cards, so if you've more than 4 members in the syndicate (and most do) not all will be entitled to free entry on the day the horse is running.

Information about syndicates can be found on the HRI website: http://www.hri-ras.ie/information-centre/faqs/ownerships/

In fairness to the HRI, they've added an option of requesting an additional 4 passes when your horse is running so you'll be entitled to 8 tickets no matter what you're set up as.

famagusta

irish_major wrote:

In fairness to the HRI, they've added an option of requesting an additional 4 passes when your horse is running so you'll be entitled to 8 tickets no matter what you're set up as.

You can now get passes for all Syndicate members, we have 15 in ours, everyone gets in free every time, good job.

Shemale

Peintre Celebre wrote: »

I can assure you Gav Henry woulsnt have been giving away 5% for 80 quid. Even if you meant 80 quid a month it was probably nearer 2.5% with no actual ownership rights if sold

Our one was 85 monthly fees and I had 5% share, we paid 400 for purchase, breaking etc. He had a few that were leased so no fee up front.

chancer007

forget about racing clubs, just generic info for the casual racegoer

plenty of trainers have some excellent websites, maybe get in touch & state ur willing to join a syndicate.
no harm dipping the toe with 8/10 others with the bills split.
plenty of options out there.

have often thought about joining a syndicate in the UK, flights are cheap as chips, more winnable races over there, far greater choice of trainers as well

take your time & have a good look around.
best of luck

Gavin "shels"

Peintre Celebre wrote: »

I can assure you Gav Henry woulsnt have been giving away 5% for 80 quid. Even if you meant 80 quid a month it was probably nearer 2.5% with no actual ownership rights if sold

No ownership just €80 a month for 5% (wasn't 10%).

TheMilkyPirate

Very informative info here thanks especially with regards to the racing clubs as that was where I was leaning initially. I see there is a Tattersalls autumn horses in training sales every year in the UK is there similar here?

convert

Goffs do one in October/November (depending on which site you look at) https://www.goffs.com/sales-results/sales
https://www.goffs.com/sales-results/sales

Definitely worth going to have a look and get an education if nothing else.

BumperD

8-10 friends and buying your own is way to go. It’s just a cost after all to chop it up between you. I was involved in a syndicate before with a paid mgr, they are not worth their mgt fee, it doesn’t take much “managing”. Search boards for last discussion, loads of good advice along with all above, good luck with it pirate.