Strong Vote of Confidence in Owners for Owners – and Some Ideas for the Future

Most years in early July, my wife and I spend a week or two in Spain, usually developing our golf swings (with moderate success) and exploring the pleasures of new wave, innovative Spanish wine (far more successfully). A great time for R&R, and reflection on the past year. This time, I also brought out with me the feedback replies from our owners on the first two years of Owners for Owners. Many thanks to everyone for their emails, telcos and face to face discussions. It’s really great that we’ve had such a positive response to what we’re doing. So, here is the feedback and recommendations for the future.

Overall approach and differentiation from syndicates

• Don’t change any of the basic principles and ways of operating.
• Keep the focus on everyone being genuine co-owners, not syndicate members.
• Don’t dilute the ownership experience with more owners per horse.
• Stay with six co-owners maximum per horse. That enables everyone to be close to the action.
• Maintain the not-for-profit organisation of OfO and the low cost base.
• So we definitely won’t be changing the core co-owner model. The plan is to maintain the current horse numbers and to replace them as they retire or are moved on.

OfO trainers

• Lots of positive feedback on the support and openness of the trainers on our roster.
• They were selected not only for their training ability, but also for communication with owners.
• Owners have enjoyed visiting other trainers as well as their own.
• Acknowledgement by these trainers of our owners when they meet them on the course is appreciated.
• We will continue to support our current group of trainers, and because we value their commitment to us, we want to maintain our loyalty and continuity with them. Therefore we won’t be adding any new trainers at the moment.

Horse buying policy and budgets

• Lots of concern about the bloodstock market, and the escalating prices and market dynamics.
• There is a clear feeling that ordinary owners are being priced out of the market.
• There is no desire to increase the maximum hammer price budget for OfO of £50k.
• This is one of the most important areas for reflection. No-one wants OfO to become more like Highclere or Thurloe. Chasing very high bloodstock prices leads to large syndicates and / or reduced overall quality for the same money, as the commercial syndicates try to maintain their margins. The view is that we need to consider more creative options that produce good value for money while hopefully buying well-conformed and well-bred horses that will take owners to the better races at better tracks.
• We’ve made decisions therefore to: invest in store horses rather than the ready-made Irish P2P winners (as per the new 3yo Flemensfirth for Charlie Longsdon); select a top-quality agent as our NH buying partner (and this is Gerry Hogan); avoid the increasingly prohibitively-priced sales such as Tattersalls Book 1 on the Flat and Brightwells on the Jumps; buy in France to take advantage of both their bloodstock and the prize-money premiums (we’re planning to revisit Arqana in Deauville with Karl Burke in the autumn); and buy several NH yearlings (two commissions have now been given – one to Gerry Hogan to buy and keep the yearling in Ireland and another to Anthony Honeyball and Rachael Green in the UK – for which the purchase budget will be c. £15k each).

Social events

• No-one wants to see these cut back, but equally few want to pay more to cover additional costs.
• There is no desire to have a standard charge built into everyone’s monthly / annual payments.
• Everyone loves the stable visits and “meet the trainer” mornings.
• The Cheltenham picnic was really appreciated.
• It looks as though we’ve got the balance about right. We’ll continue to organise visits, picnics etc.. There won’t be any standard charge, but we will let people know in advance if costs are going to be incurred. There were several suggestions about the possibility of OfO race sponsorship; attending the black tie ROA dinner; organising a golf day and barbecue. We’ll definitely look into these.

Communications

• Really pleased that everyone is happy with what we’re doing here, and the quality of the web site.
• The frequency and standard of communication seems to be right.
• Owners really appreciate being kept closely involved, and with nothing hidden.
• In response to the recommendations to go on Twitter, we have now done that. We’ve developed a “content calendar” where we communicate daily where possible on Twitter (which can also be read on the feed into the Home Page of our web site), weekly with the Sunday updates and fortnightly through the 1st and 15th round-ups to all our owners, plus the bi-monthly blog.

Accounts and Administration

• The complete transparency of costs and accounting received very favourable mention.
• Clearly this has been a problem area with some of the commercial synciates.
• Jack’s work on the admin and VAT reclaim is very much appreciated.
• The only changes here are that some owners wanted quarterly invoicing as a reminder, and also a six-monthly finance summary, particularly if a large surplus is building up in the bank account. We’ll do that and let owners know in advance when there will be a summary on any surplus.

Once again, many thanks for all your feedback. Do keep on letting us know about any potential changes or areas of innovation that we ought to pursue. And let’s hope we have a great time on the track in the years ahead.

I am always interested to hear your views so please do leave a comment. If you can't see the comment box at the bottom of this post then navigate to the post using the right hand navigation or click here > and scroll to the bottom of the page. Look forward to hearing your views. Thanks very much for sharing them.

Derby Day – Everything Crossed for the Burkes and Libertarian

By the time you read this, the result of the Derby may already be known. It is always one of my favourite races of the year, and it is great to have something to cheer about, after all the doping and corruption revelations of the last couple of weeks. It has had a special place in my heart ever since, as a student, I backed Morston at 25/1 just after completing Finals. I think I probably have fonder memories of that betting slip than I do of my degree certificate. It certainly guaranteed an enjoyable summer, with student days behind me. 33 years later, I ended up living alongside the Woolley Down gallops where Morston and Blakeney were trained – so, happy memories.

This year, I suppose everything depends on whether you believe Dawn Approach will stay, or not. With a few exceptions such as Sea The Stars, not many Guineas winners have done so; I think he may be a doubtful stayer, and definitely far too short a price. The Aidan O’Brien runners are bound to test him. Battle Of Marengo may be his best, but he seems quite exposed. Are Ocavango and Chopin any good? I liked the way Ruler Of The World won at Chester, and he is on my shortlist, but without any doubt the Owners for Owners community is bound to be behind Libertarian.

We had our final “Meet the Trainer” morning at Elaine and Karl Burke’s stables the day after the Dante. Most of us had backed Libertarian at 33/1, so it was a real privilege to be able to stand alongside the horse at Spigot Lodge. There may only have been a few of us there, but we had a terrific morning. I hope everyone else was forming an orderly queue outside various bookies, lumping on at 20/1+ for the Derby. We saw our horses Paradise Spectre and Aran Sky up on the High Moor gallops, did the posing with Libertarian and then took Karl and Elaine off to the Wensleydale Heifer for a good lunch. Amazingly, it was Karl’s 50th birthday as well, so there was a lot to celebrate. When we expressed amazement, he came out with the great line: “You don’t think I’m 60, do you?”

Anoraks like me love stats and history. Libertarian is the first Yorkshire-trained horse to have won the Dante since Dante, so it was a fabulous achievement by the Burkes. They bought him out of a breeze-up for 40,000gns. Despite having done the slowest time at the sales, he is a lovely, strapping son of New Approach and no matter what happens today he can only improve this season, and into next. Elsewhere on the web site I have sung the praises of Karl Burke and Lars Kelp in spotting high-potential horses. Look no further for proof. By the way, Spigot Lodge is named after Jack Spigot, the 1821 St. Leger winner, and The Flying Dutchman won the 1849 Derby from these stables, before his famous match against Voltigeur on the Knavesmire at York in front of a crowd of 100,000. But I bet you knew that anyway. The BHA’s Great British Racing campaigns have got a bit of catching up to do!

However, the main reason I’ll be cheering Libertarian home today is that it signals the return to the top flight of training for the whole Burke yard. Back in the dark days of 2009, when Karl was warned off for a year for passing information to a very dodgy character, Miles Rogers, there was a possibility that all their hard work and endeavour would have been in vain, with their whole livelihood falling apart. Karl had just won his first Group 1 with Lord Shanakill at Chantilly, and was on the point of breaking through to the top ranks of training. Within weeks the number of horses in the yard had dropped from 90 to 25, and most of the staff were laid off. It was an agonisingly sad time for everyone. We kept our faith in and support for the yard, and nothing will give me greater pleasure than seeing a good run today from Libertarian. Everything crossed. As a horse who will only mature with time, there is always a risk that he may not have the necessary luck in running at Epsom. Let’s hope that he breaks well and William Buick is able to have him in a forward position at the top of the hill. If not, never mind - his day is bound to come. I’m already on for the Leger!

Hats off to Karl, Elaine, Kelly and Lucy Burke and all the crew up at Spigot Lodge. As Derek Thompson would doubtless say: “Enjoy the moment.”

Patricians, Partners, Plebs ..... and Marodima

What is the connection between Andrew Mitchell, the Government Chief Whip, and a £2.5m guineas Galileo colt out of the dam of Authorised, purchased at last week’s Tattersalls Book 1? Both illustrate the British obsession with aristocracy, superior breeding and the supposed differences between toffs and plebs. Indeed in racing it sometimes feels as though we are trapped inside the famous sketch involving John Cleese, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett. “I am upper class, and naturally can afford the best. I own the best mares and stallions and go to the best trainers. Economic crisis – what crisis? I look down on other owners. They are plebs, and little people.” “I am middle class. I aspire to being a bigger owner, and buy the best I can afford. I envy the top owners and hope I find a Saturday horse one day. I go to mid-week race meetings but at least they are on turf. I look down on those who go to Wolverhampton and Southwell.” “I am a syndicate owner. I am lower class. I get what’s left over. I go to the all-weather and the gaff tracks. I know my place.”

The rarefied, platinum end of racing occupies a space that is completely disconnected with economic reality. It is a closed world where the top breeding interests and wealthiest people are increasingly appropriating all the real equine stars. This makes it exceptionally hard to compete. Indeed a friend of mine who had a Cheltenham Festival winner twenty years ago was lucky enough to find another star recently, but was offered a sum that was impossible to refuse, given the current economic climate and paucity of prize money in racing.

This goes right to the heart of what we are trying to do in Owners for Owners. Apart from the very privileged few, the rest of us need to link up with others and “join forces to buy better horses”. Unfortunately some of the largest syndicates are either far too expensive (with 60% + of the cost going into their overheads) or are buying low-quality “fun horses” with little probability of winning big races.

However, it can be done. I am lucky enough to be involved in Jamie Snowden’s nine-year-old warrior, Marodima. Many can remember his former exploits in the Arkle and Champion Chase. Alas, he then went into a decline with many physical problems, but has bounced back in the twilight of his career. From 12th January to 5th October this year, he has run nine times, winning five races and being placed in the other four. His rating has gone up from 112 to 143. We are now considering taking him further afield, possibly Auteuil where there is superb prize money and obstacles that suit his style of jumping. Partnering with ambitious young trainers, enthusiastic co-owners and courageous horses such as Marodima is a real privilege.