Owner has a go at his trainer on Social Media

Posted by Brett Pepper on various facebook pages

After been in the Horse racing industry for many years I find myself up against an unscrupulous and vengeful trainer who has colluded with a big time owner who has convinced all of the existing owners of UNPARALLELED who won the Dingaans in 2014, and for the last 8 months has not raced to lodge a dispute against me and attempt to sell my horse on Auction. IN THE TRAINERS WORDS "THE HORSE IS UNSOUND AND HAS CHIPS IN ALL HIS JOINTS AS WELL AS BEING A VERY BAD BLEEDER AND WONT EVEN FETCH R250K ON AN AUCTION" It’s a sad day in racing when even the horse racing authorities refuse to assist smaller owners like myself. You may auction my horse and steal money from me (including the money you owe me) but in the end KARMA will get you and I hope I'm around to see you get what you deserve. You may ask why I'm posting this, it’s very simple I made a business decision to move one of horses to another stable and was subject to a barrage of verbal & written abuse. The message is simple if you want to own a racehorse certainly don't buy this one with all it’s a afflictions rather go to a reputable trainer

Very unsavory situation to be in and I wonder what the truth is?

.....you cant run with the big dogs.....if you piss like a puppy.....it seems like this oke wants out and wants more than what the horse is worth.....they should sell it on auction and if they think they can get a few more stake cheques above the patch ups to keep it going then buy it back.....now that he has told the world that the horse is a bleeding cripple he may still have to swing in to the medical costs....and will get squat... :ohmy:

A very awkward and embarrassing situation - that it comes to this, and on social media.

Hi all, herewith my info at hand -
I know the Trainer very well. He is extremely hard working, dedicated and very much hands on.It is only a matter of time until he seriously challenges the log leaders.
It is an emotive issue losing a horse, for any Trainer. This is magnified once the horse you are losing has done well for you and is one of your favourites. So, the Trainer was obviously upset by this and reacted accordingly.
As for Unparalleled, the reason that he hadn't run for months is because he has issues with his joints. He is also a bleeder, so this will cost some time and some money. The horse has the ability and form to be worth this extra cost and effort.
But when the departing Owner cancels the Authority to Act and then demands R600k for his 10% share, things will get heated....
The latest offer to the departing Owner was R100k for the 10%, which was flatly refused. (Now that the word is out on the bleeding and joints, that offer would surely not be realised at the pending Sale....?)

Apparently the Owners account is in credit by R9000 as per the longstanding agreement on stakes. As the Owner still has other horses in the yard, final settlement is due on completion of all and will duly be done.

Brett is a very nice person and I have always had good dealings with him. What has happened now is simple emotion and I still hope that an amicable settlement can be reached. Going public on the issue is not a good thing, imho.

Horses are moved or sold regularly in UK.IF the trainer has sent abusive letters and I would like to see the proof,then the trainer has acted unprofessionally.

It happens in all businesses but with racing you have the extremes of highs and lows both financially and emotionally.
So fall outs in racing do tend to be more bitter than normal ways of life

Have a good new year

There is a trainer named Brett who had a horse. The horse he had he nursed and trained to become a future champion.Then along came a big offer and he lost his horse. And a few other horses.

There is a trainer named Brett. Guess how he will feel when the horse of the year will repeat it's big race double down in the Cape. And another horse of the year award?

....doubt if the trainer has any time to put anything in writing.......written communication in this game is not a prerequisit.....but this oke is skirting very close to a defamation suite for putting is laundry in the public domain..... :huh:

Muhtiman wrote: ....doubt if the trainer has any time to put anything in writing.......written communication in this game is not a prerequisit.....but this oke is skirting very close to a defamation suite for putting is laundry in the public domain..... :huh:

I agree - Any person with half a brain can work out who the trainer and other owners are. Also in this case the poster actually asks people to share this on their own time lines which shows his intent.

" The message is simple if you want to own a racehorse certainly don't buy this one with all it’s a afflictions rather go to a reputable trainer "

Now that is one clear and very damaging statement.


I think that owners need to be responsible and have a proper contract drawn up when buying a horse. I bet most people get married with an ANC now why would you not have a contract drawn up to decide how to settle disputes when your relationship with either your partner or trainer changes?

Obviously this is now public knowledge and if I go on Louis's figure of 600k for 10% then I think that is really unreasonable as that horse even without his injuries is firstly a gelding an secondly would never with that amount in stakes.
The sad thing is now we can all speculate and judge either side because a decision which could have been kept private if the correct contracts were in place now is put into the public domain by the aggrieved party.

The written abuse is probably sms.

I feel a bit for the poster (whether right or wrong is of no concern to me) but this isn't the 1st time a trainer and owner force a minority shareholder to do something they are not entirely happy to do. In fairness though any owner who doesn't own 51% of the horse must understand that at some stage he is going to be on the losing end of a decision.

Normal story, find a trainer you trust and get along ethnic and stable your horses there.

Thanks to louis for the extra facts. Being offered 100 k for that share with the problems and having not raced for so long i think is a very fair offer. The only way to resolve is take the offer or go to auction and risk getting less and honestly they will get less.To auction is the way to get what the market will pay , if its 200k or 2m the market will determine and nobody can argue. Normally partners will bid and are entitled to bid. If the horse gets a bid of 200k and that the highest bid then tough luck or stick your hand up.Its the fairest way to go. Maybe by him withdrawing the authority to act could have been that nobody was taking him seriously and being a very small percentage owner he couldnt get action.Thats my thought on it. 100k take and run, the horse is getting older and problems.Now all that the partners have to do is bid and if it goes to 500k they just have to pay 50.