Owner Spotlight The Stories Behind It All

There were plenty of celebrations at Roscommon on Monday as the ManAboutHorse Syndicate cheered home their first winner Hitthehayson trained by Ian Donoghue, a result that not only highlighted the thrill of success on the track but also the joy that shared ownership can bring. Formed by a group of friends with a shared love of racing, the ManAboutHorse Syndicate was only recently set up. They had the thrill of watching their first runner become their first winner, a day they will never forget.

We caught up with syndicate agent John Paul Kelly, who reflected on the excitement of that Monday afternoon in Roscommon and how syndicate ownership has opened the doors for more people to experience the realities and rewards of racehorse ownership in Ireland.

How did you become involved in Racehorse Ownership?
I was involved in the point-to-point scene a few years ago with a couple of horses. However, I recently chatted with friends about wanting to get involved in racehorse ownership, but this time on the track. We thought it might be beneficial to form a syndicate and to get involved directly with a small trainer, as it might work out better for us. Derek, who is involved in the syndicate, rang Ian Donoghue about a month ago and asked him he would be interested in taking on a syndicate. Ian rang us back a week later and said there was a horse called Hitthehayson that might suit our budget. We don’t have big money to spend, we just wanted a few days out and a bit of craic along the way.

How did the Syndicate come together, and what inspired you to start this journey in Racehorse Ownership?
There are people involved in four neighbouring parishes, and we wanted to keep the syndicate to a maximum of 10 members. We were short of a couple of lads, and one of the syndicate members was out a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday night with friends. As the night progressed and more pints were swallowed, two of his friends gave him the money to get involved; however, they didn’t realise until the next morning that they were after joining a syndicate! It’s fair to say that the night out paid dividends in the end.

What has the Ownership experience given you?
We are all involved in hurling and GAA, sure it’s as good as winning a county final! That buzz of having a winner was just incredible. We were all getting involved with the view of having a great day out and hopeful of a good run with being there or thereabouts, and most importantly, both horse & jockey coming home safe, with a view to looking forward to another day out. We just couldn’t believe it when he won first time out for us!

How did you spend the Raceday with the syndicate? Did you all attend together and make a day of it?
One of the lads in the syndicate loves going to the races early. By 8 a.m. on Monday, we were all on the bus heading to Roscommon, and we still missed the first race. We stopped in Thomas A Murray’s pub there in Roscommon, he happened to be sponsoring a race on the same day. We stopped for a couple of pints and landed in to see Willie Mullins' horse cross the finish line in the first race. We were in Roscommon at half 11 and still missed the first race, you couldn’t write it! The celebrations continued after the race, we stopped in again at Thomas Murray’s on route home for a celebratory drink, we said to him if we got on well, we would stop in again on the way back, we couldn’t let the man down, could we! We headed back to our local and finished the night there.

It was a great day out for the syndicate members, even the bus driver said he’s driven many a lads round the country and had never had a better day out than he did on Monday.

What was it like watching your horse cross the line in front?
There are only two lads in the syndicate who can remember the horse crossing the line as we were jumping around that hard. I don’t even think I even saw him pass the winning post either. When he jumped the last, I said that’s it, he’s home and hosed. There are no word to describe that feeling; it was just magic.

Although relatively new to Racehorse Ownership, do you think it has sparked interest with friends and family?
I definitely do, the buzz around the local parish here has been great. It’s a big racing community, and I’ve had so many phone calls from people to say how delighted they were to see the syndicate have a winner. We've even had a few people contacting us to see if they can get involved as well!

Any ambitions or plans for the future of the syndicate?
We rang Ian Tuesday morning and he said he ate up well and he came out of the race great, he’s happy out with himself. He said he won’t make any decisions until later in the week. We are hoping to see him run at Wexford, but we leave all the decision-making with Ian. We aren’t too worried about picking out certain races, we will leave that down to the man who knows best. Ian has been great to us, for a man that we had never met before until a couple of weeks ago, we can’t fault the experience we have had with him.

What would you say to someone who's always dreamed of owning a horse but hasn’t taken the leap?
I’d say to them to definitely go to a few trainers they are interested in getting involved in racehorse ownership with, and take the approach we did. Keeping it to ten members kept the bills small and the cost spread out, which doesn't break the bank. We thought that buying a horse for less than €10,000 with ten people involved was affordable for everyone. It is more about the memories made and the days out shared with friends, that’s what we wanted out of the whole experience. If he never won another race again, and I hope he will, we will always remember that day in Roscommon. We didn’t get involved to make money, we got involved purely for the enjoyment and a day out on a bus with a good crowd of us having the craic, and that’s what ownership is all about.

If you're interested in exploring racehorse ownership opportunities and discovering the stories behind the sport, contact us on [email protected] to find out how to get involved.