New recruits to the RaceShare string With the winter being quieter until we increase our roster of jumpers, all attention turned to the Tattersalls October Horses-in-Training sale in Newmarket, where we were delighted to add two new horses to the RaceShare team. This also meant we added two new trainers. The first was Golden Maverick costing £105,000, proving the quality of bloodstock RaceShare has been buying and at a considerable cost. He is a five-time winner from 15 starts on the Flat for Ian Williams in 2023 and will go hurdling soon for the first time under the care of Jamie Snowden. The second was Robusto, a horse who improved massively for Sir Mark Prescott in 2023, winning four times and he cost just over £68,000. He is trained by Eve Johnson Houghton and will continue to run on the Flat in 2024. Both horses give RaceShare owners new blood to buy into, with shares costing £49 each. The RaceShare string is now seven horses strong and we have lots of action to look forward to.
Treasure Time runs a blinder at Kempton Treasure Time hadn’t been seen since a very green racecourse debut at Newbury in June, so we went into his next start at Kempton on October 11 with cautious optimism. During that period, he was gelded, so we hoped he would show the benefit of the operation, but William Haggas was cautious whether our son of Time Test might just need another run to sharpen him up. However, he surprised us all with a professional performance, producing a serious turn of foot in the home straight to almost reel in the leader, being beaten into second by only a neck. RaceShare always goes the extra mile for owners on racedays and we arranged a box for the evening, so around 40 owners and their guests joined us - each of them paying £10 to be there, with a meal included - so that they could all feel involved with their horse. Trev’s performance made the evening even more special!
Click below to watch a first class debrief from jockey Cieren Fallon sent to owners after the race…
October Stable Visits - Andrew Balding October began with a stable visit to the stunning yard of Andrew Balding’s in Kingsclere, Hampshire. It was a typically late British summer and the weather stayed kind to us, thankfully. After enjoying some hospitality in the famous silks room, we spent the first half of the morning on the gallops before heading into the yard for a tour. Scampi came out to meet owners in between and looked an absolute picture. His season was over and he was ready to go on his winter holiday, so it was great to see him just before he went. He even had a photo with all the owners, such is his incredible demeanour. Scampi had an incredible first season for his RaceShare owners, winning twice in ten starts and producing a number of other solid efforts in defeat. Here’s to another successful season in 2024! We recorded the entire visit for owners who could not attend, so please click the play button to give it a watch!
October Stable Visits - William Haggas A week later, we were off to William Haggas’s Somerville Lodge, where we were joined by regular RaceShare contributor and popular ITV presenter, Oli Bell, to see Treasure Time. Once again, we were blessed with sunny weather. Oli presented the visit and William was on excellent form, telling owners such wonderful stories about the history of the yard and some of the incredible horses he has trained there. Treasure Time came to meet everyone and, as Scampi did, he stood like a lamb and had photos with all the owners. Treasure Time had just made that highly promising second start at Kempton and William talked us through his plans to send him on holiday now that he has proved he possesses significant ability.
La Pulga and Jolly Nellerie hitting the track Our other runners over the past three months were La Pulga and Jolly Nellerie. La Pulga rounded off a 12-race campaign in 2023 with a fantastic effort on his all-weather debut at Newcastle in early October, finishing second in a quality race. He couldn’t quite build on it on his final two starts, but he was probably in need of the well-earned break he is now on and we can’t wait to see him back in 2024, giving owners the type of thrills he provided when winning at Hamilton in June. As for Jolly Nellerie, he has had two starts this season, the latest was his first over fences and we are likely to see him over further next time around two and a half miles - which Venetia Williams believes could be the key to seeing him bounce back to the excellent form he has to his name in France!
Shared Ownership Days at Cheltenham and Ascot Ash and Nick from the RaceShare Team went to Cheltenham on 27-28 October for the Great British Racing Shared Ownership Days, where we had a trade stand. Ash also attended the next event on 24-25 November, We were delighted to support GBR's initiative to grow syndicate ownership, and how important it is that companies like RaceShare can offer owners an affordable share in a horse, whilst giving them an excellent ownership experience. Lots of people came to talk to us over the four days at both venues and GBR were great in organising multiple interviews for Ash with the likes of Frankie Foster and Aly Vance, which were shown live on screens around the racecourse seen by well over 20,000 racegoers. Click the play button on the next page to watch that!
Lydia Hislop’s consultation sessions Lydia Hislop, one of racing’s most respected broadcasters, has been involved with RaceShare since before its inception as a consultant. The RaceShare team meets with her throughout the year to run ideas past her and seek her opinion on various matters, so this has had a tangible impact on the experience an owner receives when they buy a share. In October, Lydia spent two days talking to numerous owners asking for honest feedback on their experience so far. This has led to numerous enhancements and food for thought as we grow and develop as a business, which is invaluable. Lydia was crowned Broadcaster of the Year for the third time in early December at the Horserace Writers and Photographers Association Awards, proving what a credit to our sport she is.
Competition lunch at Dishoom Also in October, we held a pre-Champions Day lunch with Oli Bell & Lydia Hislop at Dishoom in London. We had opened the competition for eight places to owners, plus another two places as part of a social media prize, which also comprised a share in one of our horses. Ash, Oli and Lydia joined the ten winners for an amazing lunch at the popular Indian restaurant in Covent Garden. It was great to get to know some new faces and this was another example of the social events we organise at RaceShare.
RaceShare Merchandise Launch In November, we were delighted to launch our first ever range of merchandise comprising a selection of branded items for our owners. So many owners had requested it and the response to the launch was excellent. Oli Bell modelled the items for the online shop and soon our owners will be seen donning our colours on a racecourse. There are only a small number of calendars left so get your orders in now!
Successful renewal period October and November was also a really interesting time for us at RaceShare, as it was our first ever renewal period for the customers who purchased a share since we launched a year earlier. It was interesting because this was where we found out how we were truly doing; we knew we had built a large community of owners, including now over 1.4k alone on our private Facebook group for our owners, where we have had exceptionally positive feedback, but you never know for sure until you invite the owners to part with cash and renew their shares for another year. We were absolutely delighted with the high renewal rate and we have all our brilliant owners to thank for that. The new term began for those people on November 10th and our two new recruits gave owners the chance to add new talent to their portfolios.
New and improved Monthly Owners’ Show Following feedback from owners, our exclusive monthly show hosted by the brilliant Ross Brierley was ‘revamped’ slightly giving owners an overall shorter programme to watch each month. The November edition comprised a brilliant interview with Jamie Snowden, one of our two newest RaceShare trainers, and Ross’s catch-up with Oli Bell. Also as a result of Lydia Hislop’s consultation sessions with our owners, we made the show available for the first time as a podcast on Spotify and Apple, so that owners could listen on the go.
Scampi and Lily the cat go viral It’s not often you post a video on social media and receive over 250,000 views on X (formerly Twitter) alone, but that’s what happened when the video opposite of Scampi and his new friend Lily the cat from Hillwood Stud was released to the public! Scampi seems to have made a great companion whilst on his winter holiday and you can see what a gentle giant and incredible demeanor he possesses. The cat appears to love the attention! The video was reposted by the likes of ITV’s Leonna Mayor and Great British Racing, giving Scampi even more attention from the general racing public after his achievements on the racecourse in 2023!
A taster of some of the other great content our owners receive…