Ever thought about buying a race horse?
Tales abound about horses that were purchased cheaply and suddenly were winning thousands of dollars. In fact, the latest standardbred horse phenomena is partly owned by a Rockwood man.
Warrawee Needy captured the Gold Final at Mohawk Raceway on July 1. Starting from post 4 the E Dees Cam son and driver Jody Jamieson sailed away from the starting gate. Warrawee Needy easily drew away to a two and three-quarter length victory in 1:52.2.
Princeton resident Carl Jamieson trains Warrawee Needy for his partners Tom Kyron of Toronto, Floyd Marshall of Jarvis, and the colt’s breeder, Dr. Michael Wilson, of Rockwood. The horsemen purchased the half-brother to $265,704 winner Big Bay Point from last fall’s Canadian Open Yearling Sale for a modest $20,000.
With wins in his first three starts that colt has already returned $93,500 this year and his 1:51.4 time in last week’s Gold Elimination is the fastest mile clocked by a two-year-old in North America so far this season.
Then there is the legend of Cam Fell. He burst onto the scene in 1982 and completely dominated. He was voted Harness Horse of the Year in 1982 and 1983. He was retired to stud in 1984 with over $2-million in earnings and his stud career was exceptionally successful.
And here is the kicker. Trainer-driver Doug Arthur purchased Cam Fella for $19,000 at the 1980 Tattersalls sale in Lexington, Kentucky. One of the reasons for the seemingly low price tag was that Cam Fella was a ridgling, meaning only one testicle dropped.
It is the dream of every horse owner to stumble upon a winner like Cam Fella, or even a Warrawee Needy, who is only beginning his racing career.
The Standaredbred Breeders of Ontario Association is hoping to encourage ownership in race horses – and it is putting its money where its mouth is.
Since 2005, it has been operating a New Owners program, and how it works was highlighted at the open house at the Grand River Raceway on May 29.
Anthony and Janet Wagner have taken part in that program and have been successful at it.
The SBOA finds nine investors and finds an experienced owner or mentor to partner with that group. The nine owner-partners each pay $4,500 and SBOA provides a forgivable loan of $15,000. Then the group is provided a screened trainer by the SBOA and the group buys a horse at the yearling fall sales.
That horse must be eligible for the Ontario Sires Stakes competition that will be run the following year. That program encourages improving the breeding of Ontario horses.
Anthony Wagner said flatly the aim of the partnership is to “get the horse racing and to win money.”
But, he said, “There is so much more to the program.”
That includes visiting breeder farms and industry events. “The whole experience has been incredible,” he said.
In his first nine partnership purchases, Wagner said he had seen eight of those horses actually reach the stage where they race. He noted that is a very high average, and that many horses do not pan out and some never get to the starting gate.
He said his first horse had been his best – until his wife, Janet, got involved. The night before the open house, that horse raced at one of the better tracks in a very high calibre race. “That’s the goal,” he said. “We’ve been involved since 2005. It’s been a lot of fun for us.”
Wagner said $4,500 might seem like a lot of money but he compared spending that to buy a horse with a trip to Hawaii, which costs about the same.
“After a week, you get back and it’s over,” he said of the trip. The horse racing can continue for several years, and, as with Cam Fella, the breeding fees alone can be very lucrative.
A limited partnership is formed for each group. The partnership buys one yearling at the fall sales. The partners will set their final budget for the yearling purchase (generally in the range of $22,000 to $28,000). That leaves the partnership with funds for training costs, feed, entry fees and other costs for the first year of ownership.
The SBOA has a formal detailed partnership agreement to govern the affairs of each group, which specifically includes provisions that only the A partners vote on the business of the partnership and a simple majority rules. Any money earned will go first to the A partners to recoup their initial investments – and then to the SBOA to repay the forgivable loan.
As soon as that SBOA loan is repaid, the SBOA relinquishes all ownership in the partnership. Each partnership also provides that while the partners can decide by vote to sell their horse at any time, the horse must be sold at the end of the four-year-old season to ensure liquidity for the partners.
The mentor arranges regular meetings with the trainer and provides the financial management of the partnership, as well as written progress reports to the partners.
The 2011 mentor will be Brian Webster and the trainer will be Tony O’Sullivan.
Anyone interested in participating in the New Owners program should www.standardbredbreeders.com/new-owners, and download the application form.
Wagner told the audience flatly that there are risks involved, and a horse might race once or twice, and then not race again for a year. Others simply do not meet the requirements. He added that two year old racers generally get six to eight starts. It
But, he said, there are so many benefits to horse ownership that he has no regrets at all.
Wagner might have convinced a couple from Hamilton who attended the open house. That couple asked numerous detailed questions and seemed quite interested.
Perhaps they are hoping for another horse like one that came out of nowhere a few years ago.
Stephanie Smith-Rothaug thought the cost would be a nice racehorse, but when she went to sell him at the yearling sales she said she would have been happy just to fetch the price of the sire’s fee $7,500. Instead, she got $40,000.
Even at that price, the cold was a bargain. Somebeachsomewhere ranks among the best standardbreds ever. He received a berth in the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame just nine months after he finished his racing career and he is the selection as harness racing’s racehorse of the decade.
He won over $3.2-million in 21 races, winning 20 of them for earnings of $156,655 per start. Somebeachsomewhere banked $2,448,003 in 2008 during his three-year-old campaign, a new record for single-season earnings. Along the way, he set four world records, including the fastest mile in the history of the sport (1:46.4) and recorded sub-1:50 miles in exactly half of his 20 wins.
Anybody want to buy a horse?
