Racehorse Ownership - Views & Experiences of a Syndicate Member

Racehorse Ownership - Views & Experiences of a Syndicate Member

Ever since my very first days of being on a racecourse aged around 10-year-olds whilst attending the St Leger at Doncaster with my family. 

I've always been greatly interested in & fascinated by all the elements of horse racing.

Of course, there are so many elements to the horse racing industry via breeding, ownership, betting, form studying & much more. 

You can read more about horse racing via the betting school article horse racing form made easy.

Over the years I've done what I can to find out more, to get involved, and of course, a huge part of that has come via meeting people in the industry to discuss issues with them & learn from them.

I've had friends who have worked as bookmakers, odds compilers, authors, tipsters, I've got friends who are owners

I currently work for a bookmaker and of course, I've had the great pleasure of meeting many great knowledgeable racing enthusiasts via being a member of OLBG.

I absolutely love being involved with OLBG and enjoyed many hours meeting fellow members, discussing various horse racing related issues and I just love sharing my views in the hope they'll offer interest and benefit those that read.

One of the topics I've seen come up regularly on OLBG is that of racehorse ownership & it's one that always seems to have generated a fair level of interest 

I thought it would benefit OLBG members to look at the subject and get the views of somebody who is directly involved as an owner.

In the last 6 months, I've made contact with & got to know fellow OLBG member Jamie Brownlow.

He is a member of Middleham Park Racing as a syndicate owner and so I thought it would be fascinating to ask him a few questions about his involvement, his views, positives, negatives & even syndicate horses to look out for.

I sent Jamie the following questions & below are the answers he came up with, his own personal views based on his experiences as a syndicate member/racehorse owner

How & when did you first personally get into horse racing ?

My interest in horse racing began when I was very young and first became aware of the Grand National. 

I must have been around 7 our 8 years old when I first watched the Grand National around at my nan's house with all the rest of the family, 

We all had a very small bet and my mum put the bets on for us all.

I cannot remember the horse name but it finished 4th place in the National

That's what first got me into horse racing & I been interested in horse racing ever since.

How are you now currently involved in horse racing?

About 8 years ago after discussions with my wife & assessing our family situation at the time I decided to be a house husband, it was agreed by both of us to be the best way forward.

As part of the process, I decided to get a loan out to pay off my debts, sort out the family finances, etc but after doing that I had a bit leftover and so I decided that I wanted to do something different that I had a real interest in.

I was greatly interested in horses so I made the admittedly very big & at the time largely unknown step into syndicate ownership.

At the time while I was working I saw an advertisement in the Racing Post of an advert of Middleham Park Racing and decide to have a chance to have a go so to speak.

That's where the story start's speaking to Tim Palin about the syndicate etc. 

I am involved in several horses with Middleham Park & I help out with videos and with social media duties on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

What do you feel are the positives/benefits of being a member of an owner's syndicate?

I feel very lucky to be involved as an owner with Middleham Park Racing. 

It's great as a social side experience you constantly meet new friends at the stable visits and also at the racecourse.

Also getting to meet & standing shoulder to shoulder with the who's who of trainers in the horse industry is a fantastic extra bonus that is all part of the experience of being involved as an owner.

Other huge benefits include being in the winning enclosure after your horse has won, it's a truly great feeling & it feels like your football team scoring a winning goal in a vital game.

Winning is great of course but a real positive is that it brings people together to win lose or draw (dead-heat).

At the stable visit, you have the chance to see your horse/horses up close, to see what they are doing on the gallops, get the latest views from the trainer and speak to the trainer at the yard one to one.

With the syndicate I'm in they put 100% effort into improving the communication of information to owners via newsletters, news bulletins, emails etc.

What, if any, do you feel are the negatives of being a member of an owner's syndicate?

The truth with horse ownership is that you are not going to please everyone in any syndicate ownership 

In my opinion, people have different opinions and will want to do different things with the horses but can't always get what they want.

What is your best advice for people thinking of getting involved as owners?

I would say have a look at websites first to check out all the details of the syndicates available, 

Have a look at the horses they are selling

There are a few affordable syndicates out there and it's just about finding the right one for you.

I'd also recommend personally phoning the trainer about the syndicate to get more information. 

Try and speak to owners who are involved with them.

 Location is important if you don't mind traveling to see your horse up North and running etc that's great, have a think are there trainers in the syndicate who could be local or nearer to you.

What's been your best experience as an owner so far?

There are so many great experiences that I could talk forever about, so many great memories experienced so far being involved with the syndicate.

First one was Latenightrequest running at Doncaster in a big Handicap in November 2 years ago, 

Watching Paul Hanagan riding her and pulling away from the field to win by about 4 lengths.

Being there as an owner to watch her win was a truly great experience, walking with her into the winner's enclosure, and the presentation.

Another great experience was having a first runner as an owner at Cheltenham and actually watching our horse win at Cheltenham.

That was something truly special, the horse who gave us those great memories at Cheltenham was TOWERING trained by Nicky Henderson.

He's still in training now and been schooling over fences at the moment

I'm actually going to see him on the 15th May at Nicky Henderson stable, 

I'll add my thoughts on that via OLBG Facebook & twitter.

Those are 2 of my own greatest experiences as an owner but as I said there are so many to talk about & I could go into detail on many more.

Given your connections to the syndicate, which horses have you got high hopes for this season?

There are a few with high hopes to keep an eye out through the season.

On the flat there is Ventura Storm he won at Newmarket in the listed race in the Craven Meeting. 

He's got an entry in the Dante, German Derby, and Italian Derby at the moment.

There a horse called Atlantic Sun very nice horse high in the class of handicaps.

Donjaun Triumphant who's at Richard Fahey stable did really well as a 2yr old big things from him this season.

Lexington Abbey with Kevin Ryan won at Nottingham he could be aimed for the Ayr Gold Cup this year.

Overall there are so many interesting horses within the Middleham Park syndicates & I'd say just keep an eye out for those famous light blue colours.

Have you got any potential dark horses for the season?

Clam Fandango with Keith Dalgliesh on the flat although not so dark now after impressive win the other day.

Heatongrad 2yr old with Richard Fahey. 

Will give three for the National Hunt followers Armaan's Wish and Divine Spear with Nicky Henderson and  Close Escape with Keith Dalgliesh.

I hope you find those views from Jamie Brownlow on racehorse ownership as a syndicate member to be interesting & useful in some way, remember to make a note of the horses Jamie mentions.

Feel free to offer your thoughts, questions & general comments on here or contact me on twitter @tbuckleythinks or catch up with Jamie @BROWNLOWJ74