South’s syndicate keen to get back to Heart of the matter
If you’ve been a regular at racecourses in West Sussex over the past quarter of a century, you’ll have likely seen the dark green and blue diamond silks of Heart Of The South Racing. We caught up with Eloise Adamski to find out how business is faring in the UK industry shutdown and discover more about how a hobby turned into a successful small business.
Everybody is facing similar issues during the coronavirus lockdown and horse racing is no exception. And Eloise Adamski is forthright about the challenges affecting the industry, and Heart Of The South in particular.
“We were in shock when we heard racing was going to be postponed, initially until the end of April. Our main focus was looking after our owners and making sure they knew what was going on,” she said.
“We are supporting and working with our trainers as much as we can. A couple of our National Hunt horses, ones that would have no chance of running in May had already gone on an early holiday.
“We don’t want to let our trainers down because they need horses to keep themselves afloat. The four trainers we use, we have such a good working relationship with them and we want to do what we can to support them. So, although the National Hunt horses have gone on breaks early, they will be come back early.
“We have two other National Hunt horses with Gary [Moore] and luckily(ish) they will both act on good ground – so the plan is to keep them in training and hopefully get a race soon.
“Then all of our flat horses, who had just stepped up into fast work, have just come back into conditioning work again and we’re taking every day as it comes – but hopefully we’ll get the nod and and they’ll step back up to fast work ready for racing then.
“It is a really scary time. I think Gary and the team are quite lucky in that their yard is very spacious and there’s no-one else really around.
“For my Newmarket trainers it’s different. They’re in close proximity. They are being understandably very cautious.”
Heart of the South are one of the longest standing syndicates in racing – but they started small.
Eloise said: “My dad, John Penny, ran a telecoms company and sold that around 25 years ago – then retired, wanted a hobby, loved horses and I’d been involved in riding since I was five. I used to do pairs cross-country with Jamie Goldstein.
“We both had really fast ponies and used to just go out and go for it. My parents were good friends with Jamie’s parents and that’s how my dad’s love for racing was cemented.
“Once he retired, he was looking to get involved with syndicates and ownership, and there was nothing really available at that time – so he thought ‘I’m going to set up my own little company’ – that’s how Heart Of The South started. It was pretty much as a hobby for a number of years for my dad, a couple of his friends and old work associates.
“He put a syndicate together with the late Roger Curtis – and had a few horses there – then a couple with Gary. But dad found it was becoming unmanageable for him as a hobby. I was in events – working at Brighton and Fontwell racecourses – and he decided we could turn it into a small business. I’ve been doing it for about 12 years now. We now have about 16 syndicates.
“Each syndicate has between 10 and 20 owners.
“I have two children, so I work part-time, then I have a full-time employee who has been with us for seven years, Sam Bridle – she’s West Sussex-based. She came to us on a work placement the government were offering, for people to do work experience for eight weeks. She was absolutely amazing.”
The syndicates have been a huge success over the years, with horses taking them to the likes of Cheltenham and Ascot. Long may that success continue.