Syndicates help racing to beat lockdown blues by taking members closer to action
Racing has taken a huge hit from the pandemic but one growing group in the sport is providing a welcome boost despite the sport continuing behind closed doors.
Syndicates and clubs, a major vein for the lifeblood of the sport, are increasingly popular, adapting to the testing times.
The attraction of ownership has been blighted by no stable visits, days out at the races and reduced prize money, but necessity has been the mother of invention.
Syndicators, breeders, trainers and jockeys have embraced socialmedia videos and webinars to arguably bring syndicate shareholders even closer to their horses.
Dan Abraham, chairman of the Racehorse Syndicates Association and head of Foxtrot Racing, reeled off staggering numbers that show the body has 80 members, which translates to representing 9,000 people and more than 700 horses.
No wonder it has the ear of racing’s chiefs, having been set up because of dissatisfaction with the Racehorse Owners’ Association failing to beat the drum for syndicate members, who are paying anywhere from £100 to £10,000 or more for shares in horses.
While there are some notable abstainers from the association, it numbers high-profile organisations, including Highclere, Middleham Park, Hambleton, Nick Bradley and Foxtrot Racing. Middleham Park has engaged 10 more trainers to make 44 in all for its biggest team of syndicated horses in 2021. Foxtrot has 30 syndicates, up from 22, with clubs boasting record numbers this year.
This is all the more surprising considering the negative press from the mismanagement of the odd club in the past two years, most notably the disbanded Supreme Horse Racing Club, which owned top-flight Irish chaser Kemboy.
The biggest positive to come from closed doors has been the media rights’ holders easing a damaging block on filming on racecourses for syndicators wanting to show members their horses in the paddock and get pre and post-race news from their trainer and jockey.
Owners, sitting at home, are also brought other up-to-the-minute news about their horses, from racemorning briefings and gallops’ videos. There has been another trend in the expansion of syndicates, as Abraham explains: “People say syndication is a stepping stone into full ownership, which it is, but recently it has been a parachute for people dropping out of ownership.
“Existing owners have decided they don’t want to be solo owners, committing so much but don’t want to leave racing and syndicates have offered them a solution.”
Racing can be thankful that people who may have viewed racing as a rich person’s sport have a growing affinity with it by getting closer to the action.