Owner of the Month - November 2006

So how did you become an owner with Kim?
It’s strange because I’d only ever been racing once before but in 2003, during the really hot summer I was spending quite a lot of evenings on the reception at our Golf Club.  There was Sky on TV and I ended up watching quite a bit of racing.  Then quite by chance, I read an article in the Daily Telegraph about Kim setting up the Dream Makers.  I rang him up, found out a bit more and went along to the introductory morning.

Presumably you had an interest in horses though?
Yes, I had always been involved with horses.  I grew up on the farm where I still live (now Mount Pleasant Golf Club in Bedfordshire) and I used to go hunting with my father in my teens.  We didn’t have a horsebox so I sometimes ended up hacking our horses three hours there and back with my dad following behind in his truck guiding my way home with his headlights!  The horses went when I got married but I have a grand daughter now who’s 13, old enough to look after a horse herself so we will probably buy one for her next year.

What first appealed to you about the Dream Makers?
I liked the idea of being involved with the Spinal Research charity.  It’s ironic that our own stable jockey (JP) is now likely to benefit from this charity.  I also knew that the financial investment wasn’t huge and that, by selling the horses at the end of each season, there was a chance of getting a reasonable proportion back or even making a small profit.  But that’s not why I signed up, I just really wanted to get involved and with the racing in the winter, it meant I could take more days off to go and watch the horses.

What have been your best experiences with Dream Makers? Predestine was our first runner at Warwick in December ’03 and he came third so we were in the winners enclosure which wasn’t bad.  Unfortunately the only run of his I missed was when he won. Typical! Our best day came when Walking Sunday won at Plumpton in 2005.  We were the only Partners there and when we went up to collect the trophy it really did feel like we were the owner, especially as we got to keep it!  Seeing Glen Thyne coming up the hill so well at Towcester earlier this year was great too, especially as the jockey had predicted that he would do exactly that.

Why would you recommend Dream Makers?
Kim is also great at keeping us informed and we can go on the website everyday to see how the horses are.  He’s always been very sociable and as a complete novice owner, I had lots of questions and Kim has always been happy to answer them.  Compared to something like Elite, we have a far more personal experience without having committed large amounts of money.

I would say though that I sometimes feel Kim is setting me challenges with runners spread right round the country – Plumpton, Fontwell, Hexham, Uttoxeter  - you couldn’t get much further apart, luckily I have my senior railcard and enjoy travelling by train!  I always back the runners out of loyalty, not a lot but I think I am marginally ahead as our winners have won at relatively big prices.

What do you enjoy most about ownership?
I love experiences.  I’ve been on Concorde, the Orient Express, trekked in the Himalayas and racehorse ownership is another adventure.  I just love being part of what goes on.  Rather than just going racing and standing on the rails watching the horses going past, you feel really involved, watching them getting saddled and then when they win or are placed, going to the winners enclosure.

It’s also a great day out, I often go racing with my family.  My grand daughter loves it plus it’s improved her geography as she navigates us to the courses in the car!  We’re actually having a family day out at Towcester in February where 20 of us are taking a table in the restaurant and I think our Golf Course will sponsor a race.

What is your favourite racecourse?
I really love Haydock Park, owners really seem to be better looked after here than other courses.  Ludlow is also a lovely little course with a great owners area where you can go at any time and get a drink or a bite to eat.  Even though we haven’t had much luck with our runners there, I’ve still enjoyed the trip there!

What would you say to someone thinking about getting into ownership?
It’s just really enjoyable and the horses are such lovely animals.  The feeling when you have a winner is indescribable, the buzz is incredible.  For not a very large financial outlay, there’s an awful lot of fun!  I think a lot of people don’t realise that you don’t have to pay a massive amount of money.

With jump racing, you get the feeling there’s a far more eclectic mix of people than at Flat meetings.  Yes there are wealthy owners but there are also lots of people who just like the involvement, there really are all sorts at Jump meetings.

What are your hopes for the season ahead? I hope they all win!  I’d really like to see Predestine do well.  He’s such an impressive looking horse and everybody’s got the feeling that he has the makings of being a good horse and I really hope this is his year.  It’s early days with the two Dream Makers horses.  Girardii improved a lot on his second run and once he has his handicap mark, we might have a chance of winning races.  We haven’t seen Leac an Scail so we look forward to him running.  We just would like a few winners and no mishaps.  You can’t really ask for much more than that.

PREVIOUS OWNERS OF THE MONTH:

October 2006 - Elizabeth Kellar
September 2006 - Mark Vestey