Gibbs Island wins his first two races
One of our latest purchases, Gibbs Island, made the perfect start to his hurdles career in the early part of 2025, havingbeenboughtfromtheFlatwhere heachievedaTimeformratingof92.
Sentintotrainingstraightafterthesales, Tom Lacey readied him for his debut at Sedgefield, where we organised a privateboxfor75owners,whopackedit outtosupporthim.
Sent off at 100/30 in the market behind the 4/7 favourite, Gibbsy travelled well into the race and outbattled the hot favourite, Surrey Belle, in the closing stages - with the pair well clear of the third and a mile in front of everything else.
A step up in class was inevitable after that impressive start and his next assignment was the prestigious Class 2 Victor Ludorum hurdle at Haydock in mid-February. A small but select field of five went to post and despite being keen for much of the race, he ledtwohurdlesfromhomeandtookoffover thelast,goingontoscorewitheaseat4/1.
Gibbs Island takes us to Cheltenham & Aintree Festivals
Owninganunbeatenhurdlerwithtwowins from two starts - and a particularly impressive last-time-out success - he had allthecredentialstostepupinclassagain and head to the Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle four weeks later. A huge task awaited - a Grade 1 at the biggest meeting of the Jumps season with packed crowds and manymorerivalsinnumberandinquality.
But over 200 owners attending exemplified theimpactthesehorseshaveontheirlivesan incredible level of support - and the dream was alive as the final day of the Festival arrived. It was hoped that with more runners and a faster pace, Gibbsy would settle better, but that unfortunately didn’t happen and he ultimately gave his chance away with over exuberance. He got away with it at Haydock, but not in a race like this where you need everything to drop right on theday.
This result didn’t dampen our enthusiasm and Tom Lacey and the RaceShare team were keen to have another go at a Grade 1 at Aintree’s GrandNationalmeeting,whichisalways a very different set of conditions to Cheltenham - most notably a flatter track. He produced a somewhat disappointing finishing effort having travelled nicely into the race, all the more so as Give It To Me Oj, who he beateasilyatHaydock,finishedfourth.
This left us the strong impression that, despitebeingingreatformathome,hewas not at his peak and we felt he may have gone'overthetop'fortheseasonandcould really benefit from winding down for a little
Shortly after, he was indeed sent on his summerbreak.Someracehorseownerswait years - or even a lifetime - to have a Cheltenham or Aintree runner and our boy wasabletotakeinbothFestivals,soitreally was wonderful to be involved on two huge
Yes,hecouldn’trealiseeveryone’sdreamof aGrade1win,butweknowwehaveaclassy horseonourhandsafterthatHaydockromp and next season should be another cracker withhim-andhe’sonlyafour-year-old!
Marlacoo wins at Ayr!
Our RaceShare100 jumper - stablemate of Gibbs Island - became a winner for the first time over hurdles (and in RaceShare silks) when comfortably landing a novice hurdle at Ayr in February for Tom Lacey and Stan Sheppard. This five-year-old bumper winner who cost £85,000 at the sales madeanexcitingstarttolifeovertimber earlier in the season with placed efforts at Warwick and Wetherby, before unfortunatelyfallingwhenfanciedtoget hisheadinfrontonBoxingDay.
He bounced back from that to run a blinder in second at Sandown in January, the form of which has worked out really well, and went one better at the Scottish track next time. The market got it right and he proved to be a class abovehisopposition.
At the time of writing, his next start isn’t far awayandwearehopinghecankickonfrom here and into next season, with the Jumps drawingtoaclosethismonth.
Our third horse with Tom Lacey - and our other RaceShare100 jumper - Spaceport made his hurdles debut the following day at Catterick, but unfortunately was found to have fractured his pelvis after struggling to lay up throughout the race. He has completed his box rest and has begun walking exercise with a view to possibly runninghimontheFlatlaterinthesummer.
Golden Maverick wins again!
February was a good month for RaceShare and Golden Maverick was another winner in the black, white and gold. What’s usually one of the worst months of the year was brightened by theRaceSharestring!
InJanuaryatAyr,Mavwasbeatenat1.01 on the betting exchange, which means he was 1/100 to win in-running, because he had gone clear of his rivals with one tojump-butheclatteredthefinalhurdle andgiftedtheracetoanopponent.
That’s a very rare occurrence and it’s pretty painful to see it happen full stop, letalonetooneofyourhorses!
However, he made amends next time out at Carlisle, but after making racing look so straightforward at Ayr and trading at such short odds, it was almost the opposite this time as he made his jockey Gavin Sheehan work for his riders’ fee with pushing and shoving for a large portion of the race. He traded at around 100/1 in-running this timealmost looking a lost cause - before coming home with a wet sail to get up in the dying strides.AfterhisAyrdefeat,itwasarelieffor us owners to be the ones agonising over whetherhewouldgettheretosnatchvictory from the jaws of defeat! But he did, and in doingso,registeredhisthirdvictoryfromten startsintheRaceSharesilks.
HewasafallernexttimeatStratford,butwe are looking forward to seeing him bounce back soon and his trainer Jamie Snowden is exploring the option of running him on the Flatthissummer,whichwouldbefascinating tosee!
Three seconds for Robusto
Some horses just seem to want to keep you on your toes, and you could not make up a few of Robusto’s trips to the races this year! Starting with his first run afterfourmonthsoffthetrackinJanuary at Kempton, all we hoped for was a promising pipe opener, but he ran one of his best races to date, being beaten only a neck at 9/1! He backed that up with another runner-up effort at Southwell, before throwing in an inexplicable performance at the same track. Sure enough, he bounced back at Wolverhampton three weeks lateranother second place - but it could so easilyhavebeenavictory,becauseafter one of his opponents unshipped its jockey at the start, the loose horse caused havoc in the home straight and Robusto was inconvenienced on more thanoneoccasion.
His champion apprentice jockey, Billy Loughnane,wasunabletothrowthekitchen sink to try and win in the straight, for fear of running into the back of the wayward, riderless horse and he was ultimately collaredclosehome.
Like day follows night, Robusto’s next start backatKempton-overthesamecourseand distance as his win last July and excellent returnthisyear-wasashadedisappointing.
He is a great example of the trials and tribulations of owning racehorses and, frankly,wewouldn’thaveitanyotherway!
With the Flat turf season now in full flow, optionsareplentyonallsurfacesandweare excited to see where he takes us and what antics he can get up to this spring and summer!
Beautiful weather for our spring stable visits
Ourspringroundofstablevisits-where we hold one visit for every horse and can usually accommodate every owner who would like to attend - began on 22 March at the yard of Eve Johnson Houghton for Robusto. Owners were taken up to the stunning private gallops in the Oxfordshire countryside by his trainer and then we had a tour of the yard and met Rob at close quarters as he was washed off and tucked away in hisboxfortheday.
A week later, we headed to see the RaceShare100 pair of Ann Terry at John & Sean Quinn’s in North Yorkshire and the following day down in Berkshire for our first ever visit to see Breathe Easyour unraced two-year-old - at Andrew Balding’s.
We were impressed with how Annie had wintered as she strutted herself on the gallops, with both father and son trainer theretochattoownersfortheduration.
At the Balding’s, Andrew’s wife Anna-Lisa gave us a full tour of Park House Stables, steeped in history, after heading to the gallops to see Breathe Easy do two steady canters. He clearly has a great mind and temperament as not many two-year-olds would be willing and able to stand with ownersforaphoto!
Since then, we have been to see Marlacoo(TomLacey),RedMirage(John & Sean Quinn), La Pulga (Charlie Johnston)andGibbsIsland(TomLacey), so it’s been a really busy time for our owners and we have been blessed with beautifulweatherforalmosteveryday.
Fingers crossed that remains the case for our remaining visits to see Scampi (our retired star and first trip to see him attheNewBeginnings’retirementhome in Yorkshire), Treasure Time (William HaggasinNewmarket),Buccabay(Stuart Williams, also in Newmarket), Golden Maverick (Jamie Snowden in Lambourn) and Spaceport (Tom Lacey in Herefordshire).
We can’t wait to meet more owners at thesespecialeventsverysoon!
Flat team ready to be unleashed
WiththeFlatturfseasonwellunderwaynow, our team of horses for the level are gearing up for their 2025 campaigns and this is one ofthebesttimesoftheyear.
The team is headlined by Treasure Time, who of course was an emphatic winner of a £100k heritage handicap at the elite level York Ebor Festival last August. He will head straighttoRoyalAscotfortheHuntCup,one of the most prestigious handicaps at the meetingoveramile.
Lastyearwashighlysuccessfulwithhimasa three-year-oldandtheprospectofhimbeing even better this year at four - which natural progressionandhispedigreewouldsuggest heeasilycouldbe-isprettymouthwatering.
Ouronlyotheryearlingpurchasetodate since Treasure Time was Breathe EasywhocamefromTattersallsOctoberBook
2 sale - and he is pleasing Andrew Baldinginhishomework.Julytimeisthe current estimate for his racecourse debut and of course we hope he can follow in Treasure Time’s footsteps. He iscertainlydoingeverythingrightsofar!
Another of our last-time-out winners is AnnTerry,forherRaceShare100owners, who was an easy winner of a Leicester fillies’ novice race in October - ending a productive five-race two-year-old season in style. She will tackle handicap companythisyearoffanaboveaverage openingmarkof73andwecan’twaitto see how she gets on with a winter on her back and the resulting time to matureandgrow.
La Pulga could be the first of the lot to appear with an entry at the time of writing and, after another successful season with two wins in 2024 - doubling his previous year’stally-weareveryhopefulofmanybig Saturday racedays ahead with him off his nearcareerhighmarkof90.
Buccabay and Red Mirage complete the team of seven Flat horses (including Robusto, with the additional possibility of Golden Maverick and Spaceport running on thelevelatsomepoint).
We are hoping for improvement from Buccabay for Stuart Williams, who is a master at finding the key to horses, while RedMirageisaregularfirst-time-outwinner, so let’s see if he can do it again on his imminentseasonalreturn.
Cheltenham Festival Preview
Along with all the anticipated racedays and stable visits - and our regular updates - we offer plenty of additional elements to ownership with RaceShare, including our preview shows for the CheltenhamFestivalandRoyalAscot.
Our Cheltenham Preview panel was hosted by Oli Bell and he was joined by Lydia Hislop and Ross Brierley to take owners through the four days of unrivalledJumpsaction!
The tipping highlights came from Lydia, with Air Of Entitlement winning the Mares’ Novice at 16/1, and she also pointed owners to Kargese in the CountyHurdle,whoobligedat3/1.
Ross noted Jango Baie as the big danger to thehotfavouriteandhegotuplatetowinat 5/1 and he followed up with Marine Nationale (5/1) in the Champion Chase. As the host, Oli offered fewer selections, so it wasgreatthathemanagedtogiveBambino Feverinthebumperat4/1.
Next up will be Royal Ascot and we look forwardtotheteamgettingbacktogetherto work out who wins what at the best Flat meetingoftheyear!
