If owning a racehorse is your
dream, and as for most of us, there is a strict budget, you could do a lot
worse than joining a syndicate like the Foxtrot NH Racing Partnership VIII who
own Discay, trained at Claines by Richard Newland.
Syndicate ownership often means
the horse is leased from the trainer so there is no initial financial outlay
required to purchase the horse. An agreed monthly amount is then payable for a
fixed term to cover costs including stable fees, farrier, vets, travel to the
races, jockey’s riding fees etc. The more members, the lower the monthly cost.
When Discay (pictured below) won at Worcester for
the second time in a month last week, we poured over 50 glasses of champagne for
the celebrating winning syndicate owners and it was good to see so many happy
people sharing in the experience of successful ownership. Most trainers and
indeed some racecourses, have opportunities for syndicate owners and it is a
route that is well worth exploring if you are interested in getting involved in
this aspect of the sport.
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A horse with an interesting
background caught our eye in the Pitchcroft winner’s enclosure at the same
meeting as Discay’s victory. Macarthur, trained in Pembrokeshire by David Rees
travelled strongly to win the Class 5 claiming hurdle under a tactical ride by
Paul Moloney. The 10 year old’s last win came on the 21st June, 2008
in the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot under the trainer/jockey
expertise of Aiden O’Brien and Johnny Murtagh. In May and June of that year,
his purple patch also included victory in the Group 3 Ormonde Stakes at Chester
and third place in the Coronation Cup at Epsom, behind Soldier of Fortune. To
date he has won £202,729 in prize money.
Bumper winner at our last
meeting, Dancing Meadows is a horse to watch if she takes up her intended place
in the listed mare’s bumper at the Cheltenham Open meeting in November. The
filly went through the Doncaster sales ring last week and was snapped up for
£38,000 to stay in the yard of trainer, Gordon Elliott.
We all run out of superlatives to
describe the amazing achievements of Tony McCoy. The ‘McCoy factor’ has a very positive effect
on attendance figures as well as luck with the bookies wherever he rides. Thanks
to a hat-trick of wins last week, his latest milestone is to have ridden 100
winners in just 5 years at Worcester. McCoy’s form figures for the most recent
two meetings alone at Worcester read a staggering 1131313F11165. Derek Thompson was on hand on Sunday's meeting to get a few words from McCoy after this magnificent achievement, McCoy's aim, as ever, was "to stay off the ground".
Worcester Racecourse has recently
staged its share of the Ice Bucket Challenges currently sweeping the country in
aid of Motor Neurone disease, with jockeys Sam Twiston-Davies, Will Kennedy and
Andrew Thornton all enjoying a public soaking in the name of charity.
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Gates open at 12.10pm for racing
at Pitchcroft tomorrow afternoon. First race off at 2.10pm, A.P McCoy has five rides to enhance his already impressive Worcester record.
