We will be leasing Mercian Knight for the year. He’s a 7 year old gelding out of Saint Des Saints and has only had 11 runs in his life to date.
He stands at a strapping 18 hands and Amy thinks he’s still filling out. As you can see from the picture above he's a fine big stamp of a jumps horse.
He’s 1/11, 4p in his career and Amy is convinced she’s yet to get the best out of him. There's plenty of professional pride driving her on with him, convinced he's got a fair few more wins in him.
He’s a 3m + staying chaser and it may be the case of the further the better for him. He’s versatile ground wise, hardy and should be able to keep running through the season. He needs 21 days between races and is ideal for us really.
All being well he will have his first run for us near the end of October and we should get at least 6-7 runs out of him over the winter season – that’s 6-7 opportunities for you to go racing.
He’s had valid excuses the last two runs but is fit, sound and has just come in from his summer holidays, which may have done him the world of good.
On my own assessment, I’m excited to see what he can do over 3m4+ in soft, and maybe a smaller field. He’s the sort who can lose confidence if making an error, surrounded by horses (as per the last twice, nearly wiped out at Fakenham also), but when on song he doesn’t half try his heart out. (as per his Doncaster hurdle win)
I think he will prove well handicapped when it all clicks again and is an exciting syndicate horse to go to war with over the winter. He's a proper unit, a galloper and strong stayer. We will have plenty of fun with him.
Horse Number 2: As yet unnamed.
You may or may not know, but Amy’s Dad, Mr Paul Murphy, breeds many of his own horses and always has some young, unraced stock that he sends to Amy every year to train.
We have agreed that we will lease one of these young, unraced, 4YO fillies for the year.
These jumps horses are on their way to Amy’s as we speak and she will asses which one will be best for us. Her plan would be to run them 2-4 times after Christmas, building up race experience in National Hunt Flat races and novice hurdles.
Both Jason and I liked the idea of having a ‘could be anything’ horse that we could get to know, a youngster who’s progress we could track throughout their career at Amy’s, and we get to kick start their racing life. Depending on how year 1 goes, we may well keep them into year 2 also.
Again, this is about enhancing your experience.
This option gives us more opportunities to go racing and to have some fun, which is what it’s all about. The social racing experience, with fellow enthusiasts, is very much driving what we wish to achieve.
Building a relationship with the horses is also enriching, following their journey, story and wanting them to succeed. We will have two horses here who have yet to show their best, which is always exciting as ‘the dream’ is still alive.
These young stock are also unnamed as I type and Amy has said that we would have the opportunity to name the horse who we lease for the year, which is exciting also. One of you reading this may well end up naming a racehorse.
To reiterate… due to our close relationship with Amy, and her willingness to make our experience the best it can be, she’s agreed on all of the above and the idea that we will always have two horses in training through the year.
This includes other horses being available at the yard - a sort of ‘super sub’ – who could fill the place of one of those above if there’s an injury or they’re not performing as expected. This could well include a flat horse over the summer in which to go to war with also.
This is a unique arrangement that we’re very excited about, as it means we can give you more racing experiences than would be possible in other syndicates /models, while keeping costs to a minimum. (there's only one set of training fees across the two horses)
You will have plenty of opportunities to go racing.
Your Syndicate Experience
So, you have Jason and I running the show, Amy training the horses and a couple of horses at all times to go to war with. Mercian Knight being the flag bearer.
This is only a 1 year commitment. (Sept 1st 2021 - End August 2022) At the end of each year we will make a new offer and you're free to stay, leave or do whatever you please :) That's also another benefit of leasing - the year on year flexibility.
All of the above is the foundation of your experience, but only that.
Within the document below you can find further details on the arrangement and how we plan to enhance your experience.
This includes information on the financials (share allocation, prize money etc) , how we will communicate with you and the cornerstone of your experience – what we will do to make it the best it can be.
Please do have a flick through this document.
And I think that’s the main information for today. Thanks for getting this far! : )
I hope you’re as excited by this offer as we are.
I truly believe it will be a unique syndicate experience and it will be such an enjoyable year. That’s the aim and what we will be working hard to achieve.
We promise to work our socks off to make your all-round experience, as per the document above, as enjoyable and fulfilling as possible.
By this time next year we'll have had great shared experiences, new friendships will have been forged and with any luck we’ll have been on the edge or our seat with a few wins to celebrate.
There will be numerous social occasions, including trips to the yard as explained above, to enjoy with fellow racing enthusiasts. And we will be doing plenty online and 'virtually' also.
There is one elephant in the room of course that I haven't covered… the cost.
This will be outlined on Thursday at which point you’ll hopefully have all of the information available in which to make an informed decision.
We have tried to make it as cheap as possible while recognising how we wish to run the syndicate, what’s on offer and how enjoyable an experience it will be for us all. The fact we are not buying any horses has helped keep the costs down and make it more accessible. As as the agreement with Amy.
There will be a maximum 40 shares available, sold on a first come first serve basis, as will be explained on Thursday.
There's now 200 of you on this list and a fair few without a horse now Really Super has sadly been retired, so I'm hopeful we'll get up and running very soon, with a superb group of enthusiasts.
Until then, if you’ve any questions NOT related to cost, do fire back and I’ll do my best to answer asap.
I think I’ve covered everything above and with ‘Your Experience’ document (HERE>>>), but I’f I’ve missed anything or you’ve any other questions, do fire away.
Thanks for your time as always. And with any luck come Thursday you'll jump at the chance of signing up,
Not long now :)
All the best, Josh
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