Buying and Owning Horses 101?

[Delawaretrainer]

Also, as your shopping and the trainer is giving you the cost vs potential earnings shpeel while the horse is at the track make sure you factor in when the horse is not at the track . What if you make a bad claim and the horse has to go to the farm? Also sometimes the horses need a break or maybe it is a grass horse that gets the winter off. Who do they recommend/use and how much does it cost? What retirement organization do they work with? If they don't have good answers for these questions, walk away. I'm sure ownership won't be fun if no on cares about the horses.

Costs at the farm are much cheaper than the track. Also, what is your plan if the horse needs surgery? Sometimes horses have little joint chips where they could do really well if removed. These are a couple of grand. Comics can be a couple grand .

I own between 10-20 and on average 2-3 are on the farm at a time. Also, once a year I have one expensive vet occur since that is 2-3k. This year it was an infection, last year I did a breathing surgery, year before that a colic and the year before that I put screws in a horses leg and retired him. So, it doesn't average out to that much as it's like 1-2% of the stables earnings for the year. But I would recommend keeping 5k aside mentally for some unforeseen circumstance.

[Mineshaft]

I think for any questions to be answered he has to let us know which track he wants to claim or run at. Certain tracks will dictate day rate charges which will give him a better idea of what it will cost monthly.

[forced89]

Originally Posted by greengorilla

The problem with partnerships is you really have little control over your money once you hand it over unless your the team manager. And when you want out it's not and easy exit.

I see a number of problems with the advertised Partnerships. First is added cost. Some charge a monthly Management Fee. Second, most take an additional 10% out of winnings. Third, they don't want to lose horses and tend to run them too tough. Fourth, as mentioned above it is tough to get out. And fifth, it you Partner with the purchase of a young horse, many Partnership Managers mark up to purchase price.

[Mineshaft]

Originally Posted by forced89

I see a number of problems with the advertised Partnerships. First is added cost. Some charge a monthly Management Fee. Second, most take an additional 10% out of winnings. Third, they don't want to lose horses and tend to run them too tough. Fourth, as mentioned above it is tough to get out. And fifth, it you Partner with the purchase of a young horse, many Partnership Managers mark up to purchase price.

damn sounds like a partnership I know....

[lamboguy]

if you want to go to the track and be in a winner's circle picture, a syndicate is a decent way to go, but its expensive and you are probably over 90% that you will lose money.

buying horses on your own or with a partner in sales are not for most. you really have to know what you are looking for and have a good opinion on horse flesh.

when claiming horses you need to find a GOOD TRAINER that is willing to have you as a client. most of the winning trainer's don't need or want you, they already have their own clients that they give their full attention to.

the way that i would approach this would be to find a guy that was an assistant to a winning trainer that is going off on his own and need someone to put up some money to claim horses. you are banking on an unknown commodity, but at least you have some type of chance to make money.

[Gallop58]

Read this out of print book. Not cheap used ($70-80), but worth every penny.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Racehorse-.../dp/B001OZDTMG

It's a no BS account of the biz.

If you can't find it, PM me and I can send you the highlights.

[dannyhill]

Originally Posted by lamboguy

the way that i would approach this would be to find a guy that was an assistant to a winning trainer that is going off on his own and need someone to put up some money to claim horses. you are banking on an unknown commodity, but at least you have some type of chance to make money.

Outstanding approach. It reasons that this assistant going out on his own will be a solid horseman. He/She will also be hungry to prove themselves, encouraging other owners to give them a shot. As i believe you stated it can be quite difficult to get a leading trainer to take on a new owner.

[CryingForTheHorses]

Dont jump off the deep end,Become friends with the person you want to train your horse..Having a trainer is like a marrige..You must trust before investing!..Scope out how the guy operates and watch his other horses run,All my owners are friends with each other..They all root for each other like one happy family.

[dannyhill]

Try not to claim from those barns who win at high percentages. Chances are the horse will regress with a hay and oats type trainer. When choosing a trainer i have always believed in choosing a more successful trainer over one with a 5% or 10% success rate. Generally there are reasons why a trainer has a 8% or so win rate over the previous 8 years or whatever it may be. These trainer types are generally the ones you want to claim from, not hire.

Whatever you decide make sure you are happy and confident with you're choices, as well as having a total understanding of what you're monthly charges will consist of. Like has been previously mentioned there are some trainers who will pad bills and or charges will appear out of the blue you were not aware of. Please do not get involved to any serious degree if the money you may lose has any real value to you. The game can be a total crap shoot, especially when you first begin.
Best of Luck

[onefast99]

Originally Posted by Delawaretrainer

http://toba.org/owner-education/

Lots of good stuff here.

I also agree with staying away from unrated horses at the beginning. Claim something, hope it's sound and have a little fun to get your feet wet

The horse that is hot in the claim box should be your first one. Your trainer may also have one that he lost to a lesser talented trainer who he feels if he got back can move the horse up. Spend time with your trainer before diving in! Most of all good luck!

[chadk66]

If you aren't willing to take whatever funds your spending on the horse business to Vegas and piss it away then you don't belong in the horse business.

[Stillriledup]

let me add this.

Make sure you outline, at least in your head, your goals in this game. What are your goals. What are you looking to accomplish. The reason i bring this up is because lets use this as an example. Lets say you and your partnership claim a rock solid 20k claimer and the day you claim him, he wins easily and impressively. Well, now your dilemma is this. Do you keep him at the same level, win a purse, make a profit and lose him? Or, do you keep him as a "family pet" and claim him with the attitude that you want to have him as your "employee" for months and months?

I think that a strategy needs to be in place before any of this happens...if you make a claim, once you have dipped your feet into the pool, the decisions you make might be different than the decisions you might have made before getting involved. If you're in this strictly to make money, than you probably want to be really aggressive in the claiming game, claim one for 20, run him for 15 and be 3-5 and win and lose him, but come out a little bit ahead.

Another way to look at things is to understand the REASON that you're claiming a certain runner....lets say, for example, that you see something in a young horse that you feel can be changed, like maybe a blinker change, gelding change, surface switch, distance change, etc and you want to "Develop" that runner into something more...well, you want to claim that horse with the theory that you are going to keep him around a bit and gradually develop him into something more.

So, i think knowing and addressing your goals in the game is a good place to start. Sure, everyone wants to win the Ky Derby, but if that's your goal, you need to approach things much differently than if you just want to play the claiming game like a house flipper plays the house flipping game.

[deathandgravity]

Originally Posted by McSchell_Racing

Dont jump off the deep end,Become friends with the person you want to train your horse..Having a trainer is like a marrige..You must trust before investing!..Scope out how the guy operates and watch his other horses run,All my owners are friends with each other..They all root for each other like one happy family.

Excellent advise! Build a relationship first.
When we were looking to get into the game, we got introductions to some trainers @ EMD. We were really impressed with a couple (my wife was really big on making sure the horses were not mistreated), one trainer heard her concerns and offered us an open invite to drop by the barn anytime and he let us use his box occasionally. Ultimately – we were concerned about the liability of being a sole or principle owner of a thoroughbred. The 10 to 15% ownership model appealed to us (even @ the steep buy-in) and we ran into one such unnamed syndicate @ the Breeders Cup. Made the jump a month or so later & regretted it fairly quickly. I felt they never really place our horse in a good position to win & always seemed to overreach. Might not have a lot of ownership experience, but been playing the horses for 30 years & know when a mid-rank claimer is over matched in ALW or HCP races. That’s just my 2 cents.

[forced89]

Originally Posted by deathandgravity

I felt they never really place our horse in a good position to win & always seemed to overreach.

Three reasons for this. First, they want to keep the horse in their stable. For them it is an earning asset with no cost. Second, they may not want to admit that the horse is worth less than Partners paid for it. And third, they are taking into account the Partners who look at the horse as a pet rather than an earning asset.

[CryingForTheHorses]

My barn is open to all newcomers..Feel free to come on over..Barn 22 Calder