Calling Owners

If you are an owner, please come to my rescue

I became an owner to have some fun and enjoy the game at the same time.
How can I?
I purchased total of 190% shares spread thin across a few horses since January this year (all purchased at 2016 ready-to-run sales and some even earlier)

To date, I have only seen 2 of them run. (3 races in total)

Is this normal and is this the "Lows" and pain a new owner has to go through before getting any enjoyment out of the sport?
Not forgetting that this 190% of shares equates to over R20k a month in stables fees for the keep of the horses.

All I get told as an owner is that the horses are doing well and will run "soon".
Mind you, I definitely believe that the horses are doing well because I've seen them getting worked and have huge potential but FFS "soon" since April???

Please help me to help myself.
I really want this to be an enjoyable experience OR have I just chosen the wrong stable???

Congratulations... You being screwed! Horseracing ownership is one thing I discourage..only people benefit in horseracing are operators and jockeys...and your trainer. Are you in kzn?

GP

Its a hard long game, the highs are very high but the lows can be long drawn out and expensive.

The hardest and longest is the breeding exercise.

All the best, as you will see its hard to cash out or walk away, as the prices to sell are at a low and currently a huge excess of horses.

Once you find a decent trainer, the game will come a pleasure

20/1 perhaps you could enlighten us on what you were told by the trainer or whoever asked you to "invest" prior to buying the horses?

The word "invest" is probably the wrong word where horses are involved but having horses with good trainers can be fun, Shams, Goosen are a couple of good examples and many more i am sure .

Having owned horses since 1978 my mantra has, for a number of years, been :

I wish I had bought fewer horses and more Porsches!

Both are expensive but the latter actually does what it says on the tin. It is also relatively easy to buy a model which appreciates in value over time & the overall ownership experience is nothing short of remarkable.

hi 20 to 1

it's a loong road this game, I've owned shares in horses for over 25 years now. There are definitely HIGH'S & LOWS.

I have NOT had a runner in ages... the last one we accepted to race in KZN..... THE RACE WAS SCRAPPED DUE TO INSUFFICIENT ENTRIES ..... 7 I think were accepted & they scrapped the race :evil: :evil: :evil:

I now have shares in 4 horses..... * GUESS WHAT...... ALL 4 are in acceptances at the moment......so just maybe I'll have a runner or 2 in the next week.

It's hard game this 20 / 1 & youré forever wishing the weeks to pass so that u can have a runner...... only to be disappointed MOST of the time, when they do run !

BUT, when they WIN...... you forget about the Low's.

wish u good racing...... & a runner or 2 soon.

Shouldn't you guys complain to the RA

20/1, you got involved in ownership to have fun & enjoy the game.
How can you?
1. Define your idea of having fun, to yourself i.e., set parameters and stick to them.
2. Ensure you have a contract with the trainer, i.e. clarify training fees, pre-training amount & full race training amount with clear timelines. Nobody can say how long it will take to get a horse race ready but you can establish clear costs so that you are not paying full race training fees for 6 months without a run. Horses more than 4 months away from a race should be at a spelling farm trotting at 60% of the cost. I have very little respect for trainers that fill their yards with horses that are 6-9 months away from racing and charge the full training fee.
3. Define enjoying the game to yourself and if this includes getting info from the yard so that you can punt then understand that the only long term winners are Bookies & the Tote and you will not enjoy the game. Set a monthly budget to spend, money that you are willing to throw away without a return and this will give you an indication of how many horses you want to be involved in.
4. Trainers select horses on what they see & read off a page, nobody, I repeat nobody can tell the ability of a yearling whether you pay 30k or 3Bar it is a gamble. The odds increase when you buy a yearling out of a Black type Mare but that is no guarantee either.
5. Develop a relationship with a Trainer it will make your racing more enjoyable and from the feedback here there are some great trainers to get involved with.
6. There are some really seasoned owners & trainers on this site that can help you but if you are not clear in your mind regarding your expectations and the reality of owning a horse then you will never have fun.
7. I have owned +/- 26 horses in the last 18 years, either in partnership or on my own. Five of them have won a race, three of them have won more than one race. I have been blessed in that one of them won a Grade 1, another ran second in a Grade 1 and one of them won a million rand race. The odds are ridiculous and stacked against you but there is nothing like backing yourself to take on the best and beat them.

All disclaimers apply as in horse racing ownership it is an individual high that only you can put a price on.

Well said Tiger.

Couple of things come to mind...
1.Have a face to face with the trainer and get definitive answers as to to how far these babies are from having their first runs.
2. How do the other partners feel about it.. and are there prepared to move the horses.

3. If you need to move some to KZN, you have the Goose or you can pop me a PM with breeding etc and I will try and help to place place them with KZN's Champion trainer... though all boxes are full at this point of time BUT we can get around it if absolute necessary.