Good Afternoon, Friend
She's looking good...
Our new yearling filly could be yours...shares now available... apply today, down below. Hopefully by the time you've read and watched what follows, you'll be as excited as we are!
Below I introduce our new yearling, ready for next year's 2YO season. I discuss her physical, (including a must-watch video) , her breeding (winners everywhere), our trainer, the costs, the plan and expectations. Everything you require to make an informed choice.
I hope this email finds you in good form. On Wednesday I visited Amy Murphy's Newmarket yard to catch up with our existing horses but also to see if Amy had any yearlings available, ideally a horse who could be ready early season (we have to start by dreaming of Royal Ascot!) but who could progress through their 2YO year and into their 3YO season. And maybe beyond.
Amy's bought around 8 yearlings on spec so far (no owners lined up), still with a few sales to go. Her eyes lit up when mentioning this filly, and she was quick to tell me she'd be keeping 25% (which is always a positive), but we could have the remaining 75% if I liked the look of her. She didn't really mention any others, which I'm taking as a positive!
Off I went with Amy's husband, Lemos, to Robert Cowell's yard, where he's renting space to break in the yearlings, including a new lunge pit he's just built. I was there for around 2 hours watching the master at work, which was a fascinating process.
Her Physical
We've pulled together a short video of her , which you can watch here :
CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO >>>
You can see a photo of her above.
She is some looker and has everything you want in a yearling filly at this stage... she has a superb fluid, active walk on her (do watch the video above).
Her conformation is superb, everything where it should be, good bone, deep chest, she's compact (great for an early sprinting 2YO, but with room to develop), alert, enjoys her work, and has a bit of 'sass', which is what you want in the fillies!
She also has a big bum, which is a good sign also as that's where the power is, and of course she hasn't started any serious work as yet. She will only get bigger and stronger. She has some size about her for a yearling, she's not a small filly, which is perfect, and she should develop plenty more and have some longevity.
Her breeding, on both sides, is denoted by multiple winners and tough, hardy horses, who enjoy their racing. She's a March foal who looks strong, so should be ready in April/May, but given her breeding, there's every expectation she'll keep progressing with racing and maybe with distances up to 1m... (for all she looks a sprinter at this stage)
Her Breeding
Bay Filly, River Boyne x Himiko
You can find her pedigree page at the link below, and just stare at all those winners on the dam side, and all that black type!
CLICK HERE TO READ >>>
The Dam...
Himoko - she was unraced herself but as I'm learning in this game, some of the unraced mares, especially when well related, can produce better racehorses than race mares, especially if they've had long exacting careers. Many of her half-siblings were winners.
Of primary importance is that Himoko produces winners. She's produced 6 previous foals so far to have hit the racecourse and as well as our girl, also has a colt foal by Invincible Army.
All six have won at least once, which is some going! (all up to 1m)
Virtual Rock is 3/9, including a win at Listed level and places in Group 2s and 3s.
Casinomaster has x13 wins to his name in Germany, and counting. Some constitution! Downsizing (who's by Dandyman, our girls grandsire) has x3 wins to his name, Magic Shuffle x3 wins, Yamato x5 wins, and Bottler's Secret, who's now 1/2 having won an Irish maiden in August.
They all appear to be tough and that's even before getting onto the Sire line. Looking back further along the dam's page, her granddam, Alexia Reveuse has produced numerous multiple winners, including at C1 level. She was out of Dr Devious, who was a decent 2YO and won THE Derby as a 3YO.
Given what she cost, you couldn't really ask for more on the dam-side line, even more so when compared to the physical. They appear versatile and tough also, wins over all sorts of distances, ground and flat/AW. For the price point, we couldn't ask for more.
The Sire...
River Boyne - is a new sire on the block, this his first crop of 2YOs, and unproven sires is one of the ways to find value in this game, especially in the £15-40k price bracket. Nick Bradley is very good at doing such things and I've noted his willingness to dive into untested & unproven sires. If River Boyne was 'proven', you could add another £20-30k on top. In this example, we have a very very strong dam page to give us confidence.
River Boyne is a son of Dandy Man, a durable, consistent sprinter of the highest class, who was 6/30 in his career, including a close 2nd in The Kings Stand. He was a precocious 2YO and let's hope some of his 5-6f speed has rubbed off on our girl!
Dandy Man was a x6 winner over 5 & 6f, including at 2. He won at Listed and Group 3 Level, inc a 2nd in the King's Stand, back when a Group 2. As a sire he has a winners/runners SR of 47% on the flat, which is decent going.
River Boyne is his only son standing at stud in Europe. RB started off over here, for the Nick Bradley racing syndicate, who sold him to America at the end of his UK 2YO season, I think for a similar price to what they paid when a yearling, £70k or so. His form would take off in America, winning over 9f as a 2YO on Firm, but adding further victories on dirt and turf, including at the highest level over there, Grade 1.
He was still winning as a 5YO and finished up 7/21,14p in his career and nearly £900k in prize money. He now stands back at Tara Stud, who bred him originally. Their quote: "He retired sound with no issues, no wind problems or temperament issues and he's a lovely person.
He was a sound, tough, durable, consistent racehorse, qualities which appear in equal measure down the dam-side. Let's hope all of those qualities have rubbed off on our new purchase! But at this stage, we couldn't ask for more.
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Our Trainer - Amy Murphy
Amy will train our new girl and will be keeping 25% in her, such is her belief at this stage, which we always see as a big positive. We will be majority shareholders, make all final decisions and she'll run in our colours.
The team are trying to up their quality and are increasingly being supported by the ownership team behind Pride of America, who are aiming to have x20 horses in the yard, and the US operation Eclipse Thoroughbred's (Manhattan Jungle, Geologist) are giving them more orders also. All flat yard's need owners with some firepower of course, and it's great to see the team being supported, and rightly so given what they've achieved for those owners.
Sir Mark Prescott's old boss always used to say the sign of a good trainer is what they can do with a good horse - as plenty of good horses are ruined by mediocre handling. I think it's fair to say that when Amy and the team get the ammunition, they get the job done.
Kalashnikov would be the first example of course, not many trainers win a Betfair Hurdle, 2nd in a Supreme and a G1 chase within the first 4 years of having a licence, Pride of America has been great for them on the Flat of course, winning The John Smith's Cup this season, one of the biggest/richest handicaps of the summer. That horse had a lot of leg problems when younger and they've done some job with him, now having won £206k. Mercian Prince is still winning chases aged 12, and the team can keep them sweet, if the horse has the constitution to do so.
It is arguably abroad where the team have really shown what they can do, especially with 2YOs. Given the costs involved, they're much more selective when sending horses over there. Their stats in France and Germany (1/2) are very good...
In 2023: 9/38, 14p and £230k in prize money.
In total, their European runners: 98 runners / 19 winners / 44 places (inc wins) / £521 000 prize money
The yard just needs a barn full of the horses good enough to run abroad, a few more Pride of America's, Geologists, Manhattan Jungles and so on! They'll get there in time, 2023 only Amy's 7th full year with a licence. Not bad :) Maybe our new girl will have the odd trip to France also.
It's a team where we feel very much at home, respected and wanted in the yard, and a team we will support. While in time we'll expand the flat trainer roster of course, at this stage we also don't have the relationship with anyone else, who'd give us 1 month to see if we can find enough support in a horse, with no risk to us financially! That's quite important as at this stage we don't have £30k laying around to buy a horse, and with no owners lined up. One day :)
We're super excited to see what Amy does with our new yearling.
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The Cost
We think she's great value and I couldn't believe how much she was, but I think Amy got her when a few were asleep at the sales or had packed up and gone home! Amy was prepared to spend £40k on her. Thankfully for us she didn't have to.
The horse capital cost £25 000 all in.
This includes sales cost, vat, agents commission, sales house commission, vetting, transport and getting her to this point.
We've tried to up the quality a bit here, and have to pay accordingly, for all obviously this is still on the 'value' end of the scale!
This works out at a one-off £625 per 2.5%, £1250 per 5%
Followed by our usual Amy/Newmarket model for monthly payments:
1% = £33.99 per month (all in, no hidden/extra costs) = Year 1 Total = £657.88p
2.5% = £84.99 per month (all in, no hidden/extra costs) = Year 1 Total = £1644.88p
5% = £169.98 per month (all in, no hidden/extra costs) = Year 1 Total = £3289.96p
Bigger share % are available :)
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The Plan
This is a 'normal' racing syndicate, NOT one of our 'investment' models. Amy is the junior partner and we will work with her ownership wise, but ultimately have the final call.
This will be an initial 2 Year Agreement (through to end October 2025), taking us through to the end of her 3YO season. Everything about her breeding and relations, on the sire and dam side, suggests she should keep progressing, will be tough, sound, durable, and keep winning into her 3YO career and beyond. We could have a load of fun with her, from 5/6f-1m ,in time.
There will of course be the odd caveat. If she performs well early as a 2YO, it's our duty to inform you of any silly private offers made, but she'd only be sold if at least 75% of owners agreed to do so, for all we'd share our view. (that's 75% of our 75% total) We'd have the option to buy Amy out of course, and that would be the case throughout her career. But selling her would be on our say so, and yours.
At the end of her 2YO year we will discuss options, with the assumption at this stage being that we'd carry on into her 3YO career. However, if she's underperformed or not showed as much promise as expected, she could be sent to the sales.
Again, the same discussion would be had at the end of her 3YO career, and you'd have first refusal on continuing into the next season.
As a filly, and one with her page, were she to win and be useful, she could hold residual value as a broodmare, possibly lighting up American eyes, given her Sire's US form.
The syndicate is due to start from 1st November 2023, which in reality means you have until the END of November for the first month's payment, + the one-off capital.
Expectations
Now, we do require some realism of course! I'm not going to sit here and say we're going to have a listed winner on our hands, or even a listed placed horse, that may be fanciful (although given her half-siblings, not beyond impossible).
However - what has drawn us in, at what we deem a value price (and remember Amy was willing to go to £40k), is her potential, based on her breeding, to be a winner, and a multiple winner at that , who is tough, sound and durable. (at what level, we will find out!).
We can't ask for more than that, you never can initially, not for this sort of money. There are plenty of £1 million+ horses that end up running around Wolverhampton chasing £2k to the winner. Godolphin spend £30 Million at least year's yearling sales, and don't have much to show for it this season! We're trying to find a diamond in the rough, and we think we have.
We can dream of glory of course, but if she became a tough, winning C3-4 handicapper, over 6f-1m, who could race plenty, then we couldn't ask for much more in this price range. We will dream of more of course, that's the nature of the beast. From Royal Ascot to Chelmsford! You can look at her breeding and make your own assessment of course.
Then there's her physical - she looks power packed at this stage and should be ready early, but all the evidence suggests, due to her breeding and her size, that there will be longevity, over which distance, we will find out. And there's versatility on both sides of her page, flat turf (firm>soft), dirt, AW. She does 'look' like a sprinter at this stage.
We're very excited. As I've said, Amy will be keeping 25%. Jay and I will look to keep at least 5%, leaving just 65-70% remaining.
Don't forget to watch our video of her HERE >>>: (and remember, she's will keep developing and get bigger/stronger)
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Let's Go! Apply For Your Shares Below...
Existing owners have had a few days head start and we've sold a fair chunk in her already, but thankfully for you, there are a handful remaining. You don't want to miss this opportunity.
If you're as excited as Amy is, as we are, you can apply for shares using the form below. By doing so you can take it as 'you're in'. We will be in touch before the month is out with the usual registration form, Agreement, payment details etc.
We look forward to welcoming you on this next exciting adventure!
YOU CAN APPLY FOR SHARES HERE >>>
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Do complete the form above asap to secure your shares! :)
As always, if you've got any questions, email me rtpsyndicate@gmail.com , or call me: 07756545987
I'm always happy to answer any questions or discuss how we do things.
Thanks for your time, all the best,
Josh
