I have been lucky to have had runners in many different countries. I love having horses with George Baker (check out George’s blog https://georgebakerracing.typepad.com) and the team at Robins Farm due to their mantra of ‘have horse will travel.’ Belgian Bill went to more countries than most humans and collected wins in both Dubai and Turkey.
One of the great sights within racing is when you get the world’s best horses meeting up and taking each other on. The Dubai World Cup often has horses from a dozen or more countries, the prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is another race which sees the world best turn up. The Melbourne Cup, the Breeders Cup and Royal Ascot; the list could go on and on.
These are all meetings I would dream of attending let alone having a runner in them. But that is the whole point of horse race ownership, dreaming. It is why we do the lottery; the chances of winning are slim but, what if?
It is the same when you purchase your share of a horse. It doesn’t matter who you buy it with, your new partnership and trainer are due a winner. So if they hit at 2% with first time out two year olds, that 2% could be your horse.
We started the syndicate back in 2006 because there were no syndicates in Dubai at the time. There were a couple of partnership horses which trainers had put together but no real syndicates. We wanted to bring as many people into horse racing as possible and the micro share route will offer that in lots more countries.
People laughed when I said that we would have a World Cup night horse and a Royal Ascot horse. We have been to Royal Ascot a few times since as owners. For the World Cup meeting, we had runners in three of the nine races one year. A third of the races, that was fun!
So, The Arc, Melbourne and America get ready for the EERC International syndicate. We go racing to have a great time and we do enjoy ourselves but I bet I am not the only one in our syndicate who dreams the night before a big race. We hope and dream. It is why we do it. Hopefully some of you fancy joining the fun too. No doubt the partners of Kilt Rock, Shamaal Nibras, Mizbah and Los Barbados all felt like they had won the lottery when they cheered their horses home to victory.
Looking at our runners this week, the dreams are a little less ambitious. Grand Argentier heads back to Jebel Ali for the first time since 2016 and Right Flank tries to keep his record of never being out of the frame at the same track. Over in Bahrain, Valcartier aims to collect his maiden win for the EERC International partnership.
We have had a Jebel Ali / Bahrain double in the past with Mizbah and Karma Chameleon. Collecting the same tomorrow would be a great way to start with the new International brand. I believe that Right Flank is our best chance although I would like to see him over a mile again. I may have done a disservice to Grand Argentier in the past when I said that he didn’t like the track. At the time he was beaten by some really nice Jebel Ali horses but then again, tomorrow he faces Just A Penny who loves the track. I think that Valcartier will suit the track in Bahrain and he has a race under his belt so maybe we can dream of a treble. After all, it is fun to dream.
See you at the races…
The Mayor
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