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I think keeping 14 horses in training costs quite a bit, I may be wrong.
Then there are the 10 or so brood mares and all the youngsters that have to be looked after. I dread to think how much the vets bills per year are.
Fee’s, vet bills, farriers, wages, transport this list goes on….I think the money will soon go don’t you!
We’ve had plenty of winners this year too so we are very successful for a small outfit!
I’d hazard at around £1,500 per month per horse so that would be around £252,000 per year on training fees. Another £100,000 on entries/jockeys etc. and it’d be around £1,200 p/m for a mare and foal so another £144,000 on that in addition to say £500,000 on stud fees (Providing the average fee is £50,000 per mare) and £144,000 on keeping the yearlings at grass and training.
That would be expenditure of around £1,114,000 and a total income of £4,400,000.
Do Elite have to register their accounts with Companies House at all?
https://theracingforum.co.uk/horse-r … 76314.html there’s an interesting thread on the expenditure etc. Particularly interesting are the references to holding companies owned by Mr Hill and dividend issues
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The Elite Racing Club’s accounts are due at the end of this month, Martin, and I’ll be looking through them as soon as they become available; it will be interesting to see how they compare to the summary I posted on the aforementioned thread.
As far as 20,000 people paying for one man’s hobby goes, how can it be viewed as anything else? Yard vists can be arranged for free anyway, obtaining owners’ badges is a complete lottery, the newsletter isn’t worth £2.95, horses run in the colours of sole director Anthony Hill, no member is actually considered an owner, returns are reduced according to mid-season acquisitions, revenue generated from any sales bypasses members completely and every ounce of profit (or as good as) is removed at year end.
I’m sure many of Dandino’s expenses will be covered by the terms of his invitation – shipping, stabling, trainer accommodation etc – but I doubt very much whether that will extend to Matthew Budden and the remainder of the ERC team. Will they miss the race as a a result? Probably not and it will be the members footing the bill.
Again.
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I understand members of Elite are emotional and possessive about their charges. I cannot understand anyone saying that sending this horse to Japan is good management. The Japanese sent a B team to the Arc last week aand managed second place. How on earth is Dandino going to be competitive with the A team Japanese runners?
Self serving management at its worst imo. The trainer did a great job with a slightly inferior animal in Turkey this year. Surely there are plenty of more suitable targets for Dandino in 2011.
BTW – Spelling is not just sitting idle and wasting time in the stable. It’s the period for growth, recharging the batteries, relaxation and recovery. I’d be giving him a good rest and looking at an Aussie Cups campaign in 2011 if he was mine.
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BTW – Spelling is not just sitting idle and wasting time in the stable. It’s the period for growth, recharging the batteries, relaxation and recovery. I’d be giving him a good rest and looking at an Aussie Cups campaign in 2011 if he was mine.
He’s a 12F horse as the Leger showed. He needs good to firm going. He has a good turn of foot, and likes going for home 2F out off a strong pace. And right now he’s enthusiastic about the game and hates being beaten. If he takes after his mother he’ll not be better as a 4yo.
Frankly, a place in the John Porter followed by maybe an average Group win on the continent is not very appealing. Now is the time to give him the chance of a really big race over a suitable course and distance. And it will be
fun
, for goodness sake!
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It’s depressing to read the usual suspects squeezing the vitriol onto their keyboards, concerning the management of Elite Racing.
I for one do not begrudge Mr Hill his profits. He runs a damned good outfit, with superb weekly newsletters and an annual programme brimming with interest and potential excitement.
Quite why the outside carpers continue to whinge about all of this, when the pleasure that so many of the members get (nowhere near 24,000 of them, as Mr Wilson’s air-plucked figure has it) is so massive.
Please think before selfishly trying to sully the experience for us. Not that you will succeed.
While the questioning of any set of accounts is quite correct I’ve always felt there is a air of ‘knowing the cost of everything and value of nothing’ when it comes to those critical of Elite Racing.
Although not my cup of tea, I’ve yet to come across anyone who was not happy with their members of Elite Racing and the enthusiasm of membership expressed by Pinza is the normal response,
Imv, if Dandino running in Japan provides excitement and enjoyment to the members of Elite – is there really that much wrong in doing so
It’s not exciting if Dandino can’t win, surely? Hoping the horse will improve 15lbs on his previous form will be just that – hoping.
This is the hardest of the International 1m 4f turf races at this time of year outside of Europe by a long way. HK Vase, BC Turf, Canadian International etc are all easier.
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You’re entitled to your opinion, Pinza, as I am to mine.
Please don’t tell me what I should and shouldn’t think.
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Please don’t tell me what I should and shouldn’t think.
I am always mindful of the wise words of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth (First of that name):
"I would not put a window in men’s souls"
. No. My gentle finger-wagging was not about
thought
, Armchair, but about
feeling
. I have not told you what to
think
, as I’ve no idea as to what that might be. What I have (I trust politely) begged you to do, is to consider other people’s
feelings
and not diminish the pleasure they get from Elite Racing.
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It’s not exciting if Dandino can’t win, surely?
That is where you are
wrong
! I didn’t think he could win the Leger (though he was 3rd favourite at the off) but it was a tremendous thrill to see him running in it at all.
I’ve been a member of Elite since 25th December 2000 My first runner was Knighted at Wetherby 26th Deember 2000 2nd Behind Creon. I’ve loved every minute & as Pinza points out the thrill of Danny running in the Leger was just that, I was away in Gainsborough on a world war two reenactment but sloped off to watch the race in William Hill dressed as a WREN as it turned out with the girl that rode Danny as a two year old. I’ve yet to see a runner in the flesh but shout loudly at the TV really loudly !! If Danny runs in Japan I know he will not disgrace himself or the club if he wins well it’ll make my year. The clud deserves some good news after the recent loss of Kabayil & the New Appraoch filly. The club also bred Danny sothat will make it all the more special.
I take it some people that are critical of the club are not members jealosy perhaps clouding their judgement after all if Danny was owned & trained ny anyone other than Elite & James Given would there position be different.
If the horse was owned by a syndicate of 15-20 I could understand people getting emotional, they see him at the track, on the gallops etc.
Good luck if you feel any emotional attachment but it’s the same as buying shares in a bank, then not seeing any profits and cheering when someone takes out a mortgage.
Btw I hope all will be cheering when they pay their £285 for 2011 whilst Mr Hill issues his share dividends and takes another £300k out of the club.
I’m not in the club for the money & very rarely have a bet I LOVE the horses as magnificent examples of gods creation. power speed grace compassion humilty are all to be be found in the HORSE.
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I have plenty of first-hand experience of Elite Racing Club, sovies friend, so jealousy certainly doesn’t come in to it. And neither does the fact that Dandino is trained by James Given.
What would I have to be jealous of, anyway? That I’m
not
paying £200 a year for the privilege of
not
owning any of Anthony Hill’s horses? That I’m
not
paying £200 a year to receive
nothing
from the sale of any club asset? That I’m
not
paying £200 a year to
not
get owners’ badges?
Come to think of it, I’m jealous as hell.
People are entitled to feel as attached as they want to an organisation such as Elite Racing Club, but they have to realise that no-one is obligated to feel the same way. The facts, figures and structure of the club, as well as my own interaction with its administrative staff (albeit several years ago), tell me that it’s one man’s enterprise being paid for by 20,000 strangers.
If you don’t agree that’s your prerogative, but remember that yours isn’t the only valid opinion.
Well, I’ve been a member since the mid-90s and I do feel an emotional attachment to several of the horses, particularly the ones I’ve seen as foals – like Dandino, who was a funny looking thing – and mares like Ffestiniog who I first saw as a 2yo.
However, I’m not really bothered about the Japan Cup; when I joined the club it was because they had plenty of jumping interest and that’s my love. The news that really affected me this week was that Ruling Party will miss the season with a tendon injury, leaving us with effectively one horse for the winter (Paquet Cadeau, returning from a year off). There are a couple of youngsters to run in bumpers but they’re unlikely to run too often.
While some might see it as funding one man’s hobby (and another’s ego), as far as I know there is nothing else of equivalent cost that would provide me with some sense of involvement in racing. For the last couple of years I have thought long and hard about renewing, and have tried a couple of other things in parallel, but in the end I always have because there doesn’t seem to be anything else.
I keep trying to persuade a more flat-orientated friend of mine to become a member so I can let mine lapse and just go on the stable visits with her!
Btw I hope all will be cheering when they pay their £285 for 2011 whilst Mr Hill issues his share dividends and takes another £300k out of the club.
While I’m not totally up with the financials, I feel I should point out that it’s £185, not £285, and that with the "loyalty" discount it’s usally less than £185.
Also, there are about 12,000 members, not 20,000.
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If you don’t agree that’s your prerogative, but remember that yours isn’t the only valid opinion.
A positive opinion from somebody who is emotionally involved, as Roseblossom is, and as other Elite members are, has to be considered much more "valid" (ghastly word!) than a negative opinion from somebody who isn’t. End of.
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