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A few of us from a local pub are thinking of buying a horse to race on the flat next summer, it was supposed to happen last summer but never did, I think the figure we were looking to pay then was around £8,000.
Can I have some of your expert opinions on what the ‘average’ price is for a decent horse, and what advice/tips can anybody offer, are there any websites to look at that will help me?
How much is down to studying the horses family history and how much is down to stumbling luckily across something special?
Any advice will be appreciated, it is something I have wanted to do for a few years now, would love the days out seeing something I part own race, my friend owns a horse now that had an ok record on the flat recently so he must know a bit, but I just wanted to do a bit of investigating myself and don’t know where to start, where better than to ask you lot!
Sorry I forgot to add, obviously it’s keep and training will be important and we would probably use the same trainer who was responsible for the horse my friend owns, you will all have probably have heard of him but I won’t mention his name as he doesn’t know me yet and might not appreciate it.
Regards,
Chris.
Is there a GOD? Thats probably easier to answer than how much does it cost for a decent horse. In theory you could pick up a champ for 8k. Some of the recent big names in flat racing didn’t cost much more than that. But for every £12k superstar there are 100 £50k donkeys.
I’d be more worried about you buying one for the flat…..get yourself over to France and pick up a claimer in a Hurdle race. Jumps is much more fun.
ps You’ll need about 14k per year for training etc.
If its your first shot at ownership why not look for a decent syndicate operation initially. All the fun of being a full owner for much less risk.
Good luck
For a syndicate you are best off claiming one.
That way all the hard work is done (and paid for), and people who don’t necessarily understand racing can go out and have some fun straight away.Agree with Cheekster – a unraced 2-y-old is probably the worst choice for a first time owner. What you’ll get for that price will be the ones that are backward and/or bred to be 3-y-olds over a trip.
Then you have to run three times to get a handicap mark, almost certainly in races you can’t possibly win, but which cost just the same.
Buy something with a few runs under it’s belt, either by a claim, or from the sales and you’ll know what trip it wants, what ground and that makes it much easier to place in the right races.
I reckon that way you have about a 30% chance of winning a race within 12 months – from the breeze-ups, I’d put that at closer to 10%.
AP
For what its worth I would take advice from people who should know such as the trainer but ultimately make sure that it is you and your groups choice on what to buy, every trainer you talk to has a horse which "hasn’t shown its true potential yet, and will definitely win a race or two!!" so be very wary.
Contrary to earlier poster I wouldn’t touch the organised syndicates with a barge pole. On a few occasions I’ve worked out a syndicates income from members for a year, and then you investigate how much the syndicated horse cost at the sales, the difference between the two figures even taking into account training fees is often staggering, and you’ll normally find that the syndicated horse is only actually leased so if it turns out to be that one in a million world beater you don’t actually own the thing anyway. Motivator being the obvious example.
Was Motivator not a Racing Club. I’m talking about proper syndicates were ownership is split between a minimum number of owners. (ie 10 to 15) If the poster would like some recommendations I’m sure there are plenty people on here who could provide such.
Alan is the man you should listen to he beat me to the punch and I agree with him 100%…..anyway owning a syndiacte horse is crap, way too many owners…
If you are intending to put the horse with the same man as your friend what’s the problem?
Get a hold of one of the other guys involved, get your asses down to the yard and knock on his front door……he won’t bite you even if you are not in the market till next year….He will welcome you with open arms. He’s the man you should be asking to take you to the sales and help you find a horse…he’ll b glad to advice you on the best place to spend your cash (privately or which sales you should go)..that’s what keeps him in porridge.
If he offers to sell you a young horse, out the yard, tell him you are interested but your friends have insisted they have their own vet check him out. Don’t be shy at asking a jockey to go ride a bit of work on him if possible to make sure he’s not a boat. Plenty about that don’t ride everyday and would be glad of an extra 50/60 quid.tax free.
Note: If he is a big trainer with more than 40 or 50 horses I would perhaps look for someone a bit smaller…..Big Yard cost big money and anything with more than 3 legs is for sale at a price usually twice what it should be. Some would rip their own mother off.
Good Luck
If you want some guaranteed action on the flat next year, I’d go for something out of a claimer.
As has been mentioned, you can get a ready-made racehorse, but don’t go for one that’s been on the go all winter on the AW – he’ll probably be ready for a break. Look for a horse that’s run a few times recently (indicating soundness) that your trainer thinks he/she may be able to improve, for example, a horse that might do better over a different trip.
And you won’t have to part with any money until the spring!
Two questions you have to ask :
a) What type of horse do you want, eg sprinter, middle distance, hurdler, chaser, etc, etc.
b) Why do you and your mates want to own a horse, eg, just to watch him/her run, to land a one off gamble, prepared to be patient until a horse matures so he can do him/herself justice, a filly to be sold on for breeding – whatever.
If you don’t make these decisions then before you buy, you will probably be wasting your money.
Once you have made those decisions, look for a trainer that can handle that kind of horse, talk to several, make a decision as to which one suits you and the kind of horse you want and get them involved in the purchase decision, maybe picking horses for you.
Decide how long you are prepared to invest in the horse – need time before can run, laid up with injury for a while, what if there is no prize money in the first year and with the levels of prize money these days l you will always be paying out more than you take in. £14k is far too little to budget for a horse in training that is running – £17-18K is a more realistic cost. Check out with your chosen trainer a cost estimate and if she/he won’t help in that respect, go somewhere else.
Good luck, if you can get it right you’ll have a lot of fun.
Sorry, originally posted this in the wrong thread
richard
Agree with those who said buy out of a claimer. The one thing I would add is take into consideration the yard the horse is coming from. Certain trainers will have bottomed out their horse and left zero improvement whereas others will have been very easy on the animal and left you quite a bit to work with.
Chris,
Living in Cheshire you could do a lot worse than contacting Richard Ford
http://www.opera-house.co.uk/fordI didn’t expect so many replies! Thanks a lot everyone, will have a proper read through when I’ve got time and then print all your comments off and bear them in mind for when I speak to the others.
I think we already have one foot in the door as the person I know who had the last horse knows the trainer well so we won’t be complete amateurs, I would have been but with you guys being so clued up I thought best to do a little research of my own, so I am a bit wiser now and can have an imput when we have a meeting about it
If it’s to be as proposed last time then there were about 15 people from the pub really wanting to get involved, putting in about 500 quid each up front, and then 50 a month for his/her keep/training.
Thanks again,
Chris
Richard, in relation to your 2 questions, speaking for myself I’d like something along the lines of a Ouija Board/Dylan Thomas/Manduro
I’m not too keen on sprinters to be honest, and I want to own a horse for the thrill of the days out and hopefully seeing it do well, for the buzz more than anything, possible prize money would be an added bonus but isn’t top of my agenda, but I obviously won’t want to be losing money hand over fist as I’m not loaded.
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