SA Footy

Thought it would be good to get an idea of peoples experiences when owning a racehorse, trotter or dishlicker, heres mine -

Started in 97 when myself and 4 mates got together and bought a pup from Queensland for $2k, when it lobbed off the plane we thought we had been sold a dud, it was a scrawny looking thing so our intent to race straight away was dispelled immediately. Anywa 3-4 months of building it up and it was ready to race (BTW its name was "Vibrant Vapour") in the Golden Maiden series at Gawler. It won its heat which was great, although it was a non TAB day meeting. It then finished 2nd in the semi's and made the final worth $1k to the winner drawing box 8. There was actually a big crowd at Gawler that night and we were nervous as hell. Anyway it lobbed 4th down the back moved to 2nd on the home turn and put paid to them in the straight winning by 3 lengths. Ive still go tthe video and Ray Fewings was the commentator. We all got on at 2/1 with the bookie and had a great night and a big cup to boot!

He went onto win 5 races at Angle Park, 6 at Gawler making open grade (won the Christmas Cup in 98) and was never unplaced at 11 starts - loved the track as he was a wide runner (won a race from every box except the cherry!) also won 5 in the bush. Ended up having 16 wins, 20 places from 70 odd starts and won over $10k. We had a great time with him.

Anyway since then Ive had a couple of duds - bought a Bon Jase pup at the Auction in 2000 for $700- and it was flying and broke in like a star, all repost were it had some exceptional talent only to break down just before it was about to race. She came back 6 months later and won its first race at Strath but it had lost its zip.

Anyway ive written enough...be great to hear your stories, Ill put my race horse ownership story up on a seperate post!

I've never been involved in owning anything like that, although I'd like to! I don't really know enough about the industry at all to know about costs, and training etc, it would be new to me. My younger brother had a part ownership once, can't remember the name of the dog but he has one of those plaques for winning.

A good family friend had a horse in the trots in the 80's which was very successful. I can't remember the name, thoug it won the Adelaide Stakes I think, in '84? Or something like that. (At Globe Derby). Might try and find out the name ....

My brother's dog was called Pinnacle.

alright, i'll have a go.
have part owned 8 pacers with lance justice. i'll try to rattle off the names. sir bertram, gay whisky, vances shadow, neanderthal, tip top karalta, grahams pick, one run short and mota sykos.
probably the best was tip top karalta. got to his mark here in adelaide, then we sent him to justin warwick in perth and he won 8 in a row, with 7 of them being at gloucester park. sir bertram and neanderthal were probably the best of the rest. sir bertram got to his mark here in adelaide, and we sold him off to perth, and neanderthal was cruising through the classes and died as a 4 year old from a virus of some sorts. he was beating lances best horses on the track, and would have made to the top grade in adelaide easily.
the rest were duds. vances shadow and one run short won a few country races, with the rest a couple of wins between them.
was a lot of fun, but then you get married and have a family, so i stopped being involved a few years ago.
would love to do it again, but the 5k and 10k horses that we bought back then now cost 10k and 15k etc

THRILL

Just the thrill of winning thier first race the maiden win
is the big thrill. Getting that photo of the dog/horse is
what i have liked.
If your motivated by profit forget it, its rare to get a champ.
If your in it for love and getting involved in the
respective industries then thats possible.
Making new friends was pleasing as well.

my dogs
-----------
paleface andy
timely walk
drew davgar
allcodes
demanden bale


my pacers
-------------
tanover
brett stephen

my horse
----------
soar

I have been very fortunate all of these won on metropolitan tracks.

I would consider the involvement again.

Vibrant Vapour was a star dutchy.
Top Karalta was a good one as well.

Alright heres my horse ownership story -

Pretty much the same syndicate from our dishlicker plus some others to make up 10. We bought a Fillie that was only a month away from racing called "Full of Jest" trained by Ken Sweeney.

Trialled very well so that was pleasing and had its first start back in 2003 at Balaklava. She hit the lead with 200 to go however a smart Hayes 2 yo having its first start was sitting right behind it and peeled out to beat us by a length - that horses name? CONFECTIONER!!!!! the Caulfield cup favourite in 05 and has won some Group 1 races since. So we were a bit unlucky not to win 1st up, we were still pretty happy though.

Onto gawler and she ran a dissappointing 4th which was a let down however next start at Gawler she came out and led all the way to break her Maiden. We then moved into the city to try and grab some cash, one shocking day at Cheltenham n a Saturday she hit the front with 200 to go and was 2 lengths in front with 50 to go, Jockey (i wont mention the name) looked to his right and saw no other horses so put the whip away only for another Hayes horse to come up the inside and nose us out (despite the caller saying we had lasted!!!!) very frustrating as it was $14k to the winner and only $3k for second not to mention the cash we had on the punt at 15/1!!!!!

Anyway she did OK and ran 4th in the Dequettiville Stakes a Listed event for 2 yo's and got sent for a spell after 8 runs.

She came back OK but nothing spectacular until Magic Millions day 2004 where she drew barrier 15 or 15 over 1050m and sat 4-5 deep all the way and won by a neck in Race 2 at 28/1!!! The grandstand was packed and everyone was silent execpt us who were going beserk!!!...a great day

Then a fateful day came at Clare later that year where she broke her leg in a race...thats racing...she won over $26k in her 16 starts. We got her full brother as compensation but he has 10 starts and was no good..

I seriously doubt if Ill get back into them again as even as a tenth shareholder your looking at month bills averaging around $150 p/m if your not winning prizemoney and you have to wait forever for them to run compared to dogs!

Still good fun and a worthwhile experience

Great story DUTCHY
Did you name FULL OF JEST after madogmike ?

When i was a teenager in the 70's we had a pacer called TANOVER.
We bought it cheap from victoria and it was trained by Jim Fischer
who recently passed away from a illness, the driver was Jim Hurley.
Within a few weeks we had it vetted and found out it had cancer in his leg.
It had the growth removed and did not race for over a year.
We had 20 starts with him for 4 wins a good moneyspinner.
We ran a good race prior to drawing barrier 2 at gawler trots one night.
Jimmy put new shoes on the horse and the horse workwed exceptionally
well during the week.
Jimmy Fischer rang us and told us to put everythimg on him + the kitchen sink.
My brother and I rolled up and TANOVER opened up at 22/10, we plunged on it
and it was backed into a 7/10 favourite.
Leading Bookmaker RON BANNEAR made the famous comment to us " Why are you
backing this pig".
TANOVER as expected went straight to the front and won by the length of the straight.
Between us we put $6,000 on TANOVER back when wages were about $100 a week.
We won just over $9 grand.
We told Mr Bannear to shut his mouth and took his money.
I wont disapoint you all I had $100 on him[a big bet] the rest was my brothers.

The hillarious sequel continued at Globe Derby the following week when we rolled up
again . TANOVER was a 12/1 shot and my brother rushed up tp Bannears stand and
had $1 each way and said " And thats all your getting."
It ran a credible 3rd.

As for geeting a dog fellas i would wait for a few months to see what unravels
within the greyhound industry.
I would recommend Peter Jovanovic as a good trainer who finds good dogs.

A SAFooty syndicate?! Haha

What would we call it?

"Play On" ?

My fiance wants a dalmation - and I hate them. Maybe I'll get a greyhound and call it "Dalmation".

(I won't paint spots though)

name the syndicate

MADDOG syndicate.

if he reads this im just STIRRING do not BITE back !

I have just bought into a horse with some high profile cricketers. But only had one start so far at Balak in March.
It jumped out well, but then headed straight for the doghnut stand. The only horse it beat home out of 8 was 1 that broke down.
Name: Reback Talaq

Had 1/10 (of 1 share - very small amount) of a horse called Danabaar with my old man and some mates. Trained by Mark Kavanagh. I wasnt really into it until we got a share in this. It won a decent race in Melbourne and made a bit of money off it, but as mentioned training & upkeep fees can be a pain if your nag isnt winning.

More in it for the socialising and group hugs at the races when your horse gets up at ridiculous odds!!

i have a share in a dog, but unfortunately she's only a dog chaser and not a bunny chaser.
wont get a dog here in SA will be getting one in WA shortly.

Great thread!

Late 90's I was in a syndicate with some footy mates. We bought a Vic dog for $5k "Zelena's Jet". Trained by Glenn and Nikki Davies, he was our little champ, racked up something like 14 wins and 42 2nds. Had something like 170 starts, most of them at Angle Park. Best win was a heat in the Adelaide cup, but got rubbed out for a month for biting after the race! We bought a few other dogs with the prizemoney, most notably "LukeFire" and "Praetorian Guard". Lukefire (Half Brother to Lilli Pilli Lad for those who remember that Tassie champ) was an absolute star, had 5 starts for 2 wins and 2 places before tragically breaking down (if I recall he caught the bunny at Strath in a trial and got dragged around- badly damaging the legs). Praetorian Guard won a few races for us too- did well over the 600 m at Angle Park. We finally wound the syndicate up after about 4 years, and we still got some money back!

Even better, once "Zelena's Jet" retired, me and the Mrs claimed him as a pet. Zak is now nearly 10 years old and loving the large back yard to laze around in!

Was also in a horse syndicate for a while. 4 horses, only one made it to the track, and only 1 win at Murray Bridge. "Pretty Courageous" trained by Paul Seater. The nags cost a lot more.

I found the dogs to be the way to go if you are interested. Much lower co$ts and heaps of access to your runners!

MatteeG

not enough prizemoney to be interested at the moment the last horse i had, won two sat nights in a month & i still owed for training fees (not enough prizemoney to cover expenses) so that was it, my brother has a share in mindset at the moment but its a sit sprinter who needs to be drawn well to have a chance

Further to the Horse Tips thread, you will find my post why Im not keen on Matty Nielsen..

where has this thread been???

in hibernation for 5 years