Leg of a Horse - Panderjam

by Alistair Murchie

Leg of a Horse

Ever fancied owning a leg of a racehorse, but didn’t know how to go about it? Well, I did and I found the answer in an advert in The Spectator of all places – the mouthpiece of solid conservatism and anti political correctness, but also the home of a regular column by Robin Oakley, retired political correspondent and one of the best writers about the turf to be found anywhere.

The first thing to decide is how much you want to spend. With annual bills even in the less expensive yards running to around £15K for training, insurance, vets, jockeys’ riding fees, transport and so on, ownership does not come cheap, and that’s before you’ve even bought the horse. Oil sheikhs and multi-millionaire Irishmen may have strings of one hundred horses or more, but for those with shallower pockets, syndicates are the best way in and can provide fantastic fun for a relatively small outlay.

There is a wide range to choose from. One of the best known clubs is Elite Racing (www.eliteracingclub.co.uk), which boasts over 20,000 members and has become highly successful by employing its considerable funds to buy top class horses capable of running in the best races. Annual cost? Less than two hundred pounds, but then you are one of so many joint owners that you may not feel all that involved.

At the other end of the scale is Highclere Racing (www.highclereracing.co.uk), which runs the Ascot Racing Club, owners of Motivator, the winner of the 2005 Derby. More involvement certainly and the chance of a Classic winner, but at a price. Membership of Highclere syndicates starts at around £7,500 a year and some are as much as £30,000 or more.

I’ve taken the middle route and have a small share of three horses, a couple of two year olds for the flat season and a hurdler for the winter to give me an interest all year round. In two of them I only have a one hundredth share, so hardly a leg of a horse, at a cost of about £500 a year all in.

Last year was amazing. One of the three was hopeless, but a two year old filly trained by Ralph Beckett (www.rbeckett.com) won twice and was placed three times out of eight races, while the hurdler, trained by Nicky Henderson, won two and was second twice from five runs. What’s more, he ran at all the best courses – Newbury, Sandown and twice at Cheltenham, including at the big festival meeting, where he disgraced himself running his only bad race of the year, finishing 23 of 24!

If you would like to dip a toe in the water, why not buy a share in a two year old filly called Inflight trained by first season trainer Tom Dascombe at Lambourn. She hasn’t run yet, but is due to make her bow in the second half of June. He’s very welcoming to even the smallest owner, so you’ll have the chance to see behind the scenes and get a real idea of what the game is all about. No website yet, but he can be contacted on 01488 - 71839.

Good luck and hope to see you on the racecourse one day.

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