The New Zealand yearling sales are over. Horses bought and sold, passed in and farmed out to new homes. It’s an exciting time for the harness racing industry in general. There are how-many-hundred horses going off to be trained for the track, some will get there, some will not.. one to two might even be champions.
So how do you convince people post-sale that they’d be better off parting way with a bit of cash to own a racehorse than spending it on the multitude of other things crying out for their pay packet?
At least part of that problem can be solved by fractional syndication or ownership models. It’s become commonplace… it’s also become a necessity. Prospective owners don’t grow on trees,and the times of people owning a horse outright have, unfortunately, disappeared. That’s a shame but with escalating costs of training being past on to owners it’s the inevitable reality.
Fractional ownership is becoming more and more popular. Like most things it has its positive and negative aspects. Harnesslink recently highlighted an article (which can be viewed here) regarding the first Australasian winner, ( a two year old pacer called Girl From Oz) for the TheStable.ca. The Stable.ca promotes fractional ownership and was created and championed by Anthony and Amy Macdonald, The concept now boasts an 800 -strong ownership group, mostly North American based. A major feat indeed.
Closer to home both the Breckon Farms syndicates (Tailored Elegance being among their “Savvy Six syndicate runners) and Alabar Racing syndicate have had their fair share of successes when getting syndicated runners to the track. The celebrated victories of Chase Auckland ,who has amassed more than $740’000 in stakes earnings to date, have resulted in a rush to the birdcage by a sea of owners and a rush to find more glasses for racetrack officials so that everyone can have a glass of bubbly.
A new addition to the syndication or ownership “marketplace” is “Off N Racing”. Set up by harness racing man-who-wears-many-hats Andrew Fitzgerald (he’s held various positions within the industry having spent time both in and out of a sulky) Off N Racing can be seen as another entrant to the “small costs-big fun” that syndication implies. In fact the motto of “100% of the fun at a fraction of the price” sums up Off N Racing’s mission quite nicely.
If there’s one advantage Fitzgerald has it may lie in his relative youth (he’s 24 years of age ) and his ability to engage an ownership group through use of social media. He currently handles social media communications for a number of stables and is keen to implement newly evolved industry-ready software (think Prism) to further and streamline trainer-to-owner interactions. In other words he’s keen to bring a slightly more professional and structured way of actually letting owners know what the bloody hell is going on with their horse!
A look into the 2020 National Standardbred Yearling Sale results reveals Fitzgerald wasn’t shy to stick his figure in the air. He acquired 4 lots all of which are currently being syndicated. The pick of them, at least to his eye, coming in the form of Lot 90 “Nortie Nortie” A well bred son of Andover Hall whose road to a sales series race, and its relative riches, seemingly the easiest given both the attrition rate (not all that many trotters emerge at two years of age to start with ) and respective differences in abilities of trotting lots on offer in any given crop.
He’s ticked the “youthful and motivated” box when locking in trainers with both Michael Purdon (whose started his training career successfully enough with One Guy Hall and Copperfield recent winners of note) and Regan Todd engaged for training duties alongside the proven and steady hand of Graeme Rogerson.
As with most syndication experiences the “Off N Racing” concept will most likely live or die by the quality of its service towards syndicate members.
That’s always been the way and always will be.
Syndicate members need to feel involved, valued and that their financial input isn’t taken for granted no matter what percentage of ownership they have.
The stable visits and duel sulky events Fitzgerald mentioned when talking to him regarding the venture, while not new, would appear promising ideas that, if conducted well, could provide a slightly different, if not eye-opening, backstage-view to what training involves for syndicate members. Wider “big picture” or out-of-the-box ideas to involve owners should only really be welcomed and tried as what starts out an idea can prove successful but only if given the chance to develop and thrive.
As for the perfect syndication outcome? Fitzgerald is quick to point out that providing “a good experience in harness racing ownership” is at the top of his priorities.
That’s a simple enough aspiration most probably shared by all in the syndication game. In the ever-crowding battle for ownership dollars it’s the delivery of it that holds the real promise.
Ben McMillan