According to Clay, EDDY has settled in very nicely and recovered well from his traumatic last race. He is coming back from the track bucking and playing and Clay feels that he may be enjoying himself more than he did in Minnesota.
The plan for EDDY is to bring him up to a race in the next couple of weeks, an open $5000 claiming race going long where he should be very competitive. This week we will have the group and our 5% owner, Curt Sampson, licensed in Illinois and be ready to go.
Given how late in the year it is, I do not foresee picking up another horse since we have to make sure that the Club is dissolved by the end of 2013.
Jeff and I have also had some preliminary discussions on the design of the 2014 Club and I will share those with you once we have the details worked out.
Canterbury Racing Club 
Glad to hear Eddy is doing well!
I would be in favor of a paying more to joing a Racing Club without quite so many members. Thanks for all your hard work….
As a former racing club member (twice), I would tend to agree. I love Canterbury giving many people a shot at this adventure, but it is becoming too big in many ways. I will be eager to hear of the plan and any changes for 2014, but the size will be the main deciding factor for my getting back in.
It’s interesting that folks are mentioning the size of the Club as a concern. It certainly has grown over the years and is something that Jeff and I will address. Thanks for the feedback.
Thanks for the update and I am really happy to hear that Eddy is doing well. Looking forward to seeing him race again when he’s ready.
I am very interested in what you might be thinking of for the Club’s future also. I have to agree, the number of people did seem a bit unwieldy at times, I really hope something will continue however.
I echo “thanks again for all your hard work”..
I’m on the bandwagon to scale back the size of the club. It’s just gotten too big and, honestly, I didn’t know or recognize 90% of the co-owners. The people I knew were from Tahitian Queen and Crown the Cat years. Hope we can somehow get back to clubs of those size.
I kind of agree that the group was really big. But it was also really fun owning more than one horse.. I’m in the middle on this one.
And that’s the rub: fewer people equals less money. It is complex discussion as you illustrated. We can’t lose sight of the fact that the reason for the Club was to educate people about racing and give them the tools to move out on their own, with others forming their own partnerships or join existing partnership groups.
I think you should form two clubs with two horses each.
Same response, to a degree, to Scott’s comment. We want to make the Club affordable and keep it as an educational tool for people until they are ready to move on. In order for that to work we would need roughly double the number of participants or an increase in the fees. The former is unlikely while the latter starts to defeat the founding purpose of the Club. Again, it’s a complex discussion that we will be having over the next couple of months and I appreciate any and all input.
I do not believe that members of the club should lose sight of the reason that the Canterbury Racing Club was organized. It is primarily designed for the Racing club members to get a good and inexpensive education about the highs and lows of the horse racing industry. It also provides a good look at what the financial commitment of a partnership may be. Those who wish to have both a greater financial obligation and more day to day involvement in a group could look at other groups or organize one of their own. I believe that a fee that increases much above the current club’s cost will negatively affect the number of people that want to join and see what horse racing is all about. While not being able to have all in the paddock area before races is the most noticeable problem with a larger group. I think that the ability to buy a 2nd and maybe a 3rd horse outweighs the paddock problem. Also, I think that having 2 separate Canterbury Clubs could pose problems if one is successful and one is not. I would hope that the Club remains similar to this similar to the current arrangement. I have been a member for 4 years in both smaller and current size clubs.
Thanks, Curt. Good points.
This was are first year in the club and we had a great time. We truly felt like owners! The current cost of the club is an affordable way to experience horse ownership. I guess the next step would be to explore the idea of a partnership for those who maybe interested ( which is kind of the purpose of the club ).
I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit the last couple of days. I joined the Club because I have been a lifelong horse racing fan and I’ve always wanted to own a racehorse. I’ve read about horses and racing since I was a kid. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it the last two years (first I heard about it was last year) and will sign up again.
The purpose of the Club is:
” We can’t lose sight of the fact that the reason for the Club was to educate people about racing and give them the tools to move out on their own, with others forming their own partnerships or join existing partnership groups.”
Yes – even though I’ve followed racing all my life, I’ve learned a lot. However, I have do not know how to go about forming my own partnership, how to find a good trainer, how to even find a partnership that’s already in place,. How does one know who is good and honest? How does one contact them?
Another issue, I am on a limited income and don’t have a lot of money to spend per month on a horse. Is anyone willing to take on a 5% owner? Who? How does one find out? Ted – I’ve spoken with you a little on this subject and I really appreciate your help. But will a group be interested in a small investor? These are questions I still have.
Along those lines, if Eddy isn’t claimed before the end of the year he will be sold. Would the new owner welcome some of us as partners if he/she plans to continue racing him?
Once again, thanks for all your time and help. I love talking horse!
JD – it’s hard to say who’s reputable and who is not when it comes to partnerships. There are so many ways to put them together and at so many different price levels. A lot of people will take 5%ers. I know that I do, but it’s also important to know what that’s 5% of: $10,000? $20,000? More? That 5% has now gone from $500 to possibly $2000!
I don’t know who we would sell EDDY to when the time came if he’s not claimed from us. If he’s sound and Clay feels like he’s still a viable racehorse, I will candidly admit that I would look at putting a group together to buy him – as may others. As for who would be welcoming…it’s hard to say without knowing who is doing the buying: some folks enjoy having some partners and others prefer to go it alone.
2nd try – I don’t think my first reply went through – I received an error message.
Thanks Ted. $2000 up front is OK with me, it’s the ongoing costs that would concern me. I might be interested in Eddy, or even a youngster.
Question: Would a 5% owner be able to visit the horse when he/she wanted (after clearing it with the trainer)? I would love more access to the horse/s.
Thanks again for continuing to keep us informed.
A 5% owner is required to be licensed under Minnesota regulations and would be certainly be able to go back and visit the horse(s) at will – within reason, of course (respecting time, etc.).
You bring up a good point that others need to ponder as well: the recurring cost is something that really needs to be taken into account. EDDY has been terrific, but imagining only owning MUNDY? There would certainly be some maintenance payments required and I tell people who want to join one of my groups: “Although our goal is to make money, it is far from a certainty. Only buy in with what you can afford to lose and take into account what your monthly cost would be should not a dime be earned. Also, enjoy the entire experience – backside visits, raceday, etc. – that comes from ownership. If you get into this to make a fortune, you’re going into it with the wrong frame of mind. Go into it with the proper expectations and you can really enjoy yourself.”
Well Ted will know all this better than I, but I’ll just share my experiences both as a 2 year CRC member and a former 10% owner of a single horse in a small partnership at Canterbury. In the small partnership, we had the resources to have a single horse. We bred this horse so had it from birth. But, for this purpose I’ll just talk about some observations while he was racing from the ownership perspective:
1) When you have one horse, you obviously have less races to watch. All of the tribulations of races not filling, nagging injuries that might mean you don’t race for 6 weeks in a short season, and so on get magnified.
2) Study the spreadsheets on Eddy and Mundy, and see what actual monthly expenses are on a horse. Also, remember that you board and feed the horse regardless if they are running or not. We were lucky to have a friendly MN farm take our horse for the winter, but still transported him to Oaklawn for spring training and getting ready to open up here.
3) Unless you are really into horses (the animal) and this game (horse racing), you’ll need a managing partner (like Ted has done for us) or invest a lot of time learning. Either way is fine, but I don’t think there is an “easy” way to just know how to do all the things you really need to do as a sole owner. To that, I think it is so important to pick a trainer like Clay that you trust and can work with. Unless you are really a horse person yourself, you need to be super comfortable with your trainer. We used Troy Bethke who has been around CBY for years and like Clay is a good straight shooter.
4) On the plus side, you really do know your partners, you go to the paddock and winners circle every time, the emotions are indeed heightened — both when things go well and when things go poorly. We would spend a fair amount of time re-analyzing races, choosing the horse’s next spot, and so on. You are closer to the action. You also now have more knowledge than 95% of the race fans at CBY on what it is like to own a horse, so given your experience you are far ahead of pack in being able to do this.
5) Mostly, just be realistic on what it costs on a monthly or quarterly basis to own and race a horse. My experience was $20,000 – $25,000 per year, regardless of purses won. A quick look at our spreadsheet this year suggests that I’m not far off. Buying the horse is the easy part :).
For me, the CRC is great because it gives me a couple of horses to really watch and care about during the season….much more so than if I just picked a couple randomly just to root for. The size doesn’t bother me because I’m in it for different reasons. This for me is just a very easy, very inexpensive way to enhance my season at the track (and to tell my friends at work that of course I’m a horse owner :)). I hope Ted can figure out some combinations that work for most everyone.
Sorry…just to be clear….I think it is about $25K total cost annually for a horse that is mostly running 5-6 months a year. If you have 10% of that horse, you would have 10% of those costs. My outlay in my partnership was about $2K-$2.5K annually. We didn’t have a super successful horse, so not a ton of purse money to offset those costs, but no huge vet bills either.
Costs would be higher the more months the horse is under a trainer and running. We ran some in the spring at Oaklawn and then the whole Canterbury season and then put the horse on the farm for the winter, to give you an idea of how to judge costs.
Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t misleading anyone in either direction.
Thank you for your input. I had figured the annual cost at just that so It’s nice to have confirmation from someone as well as Ted (who has been super helpful).
I’m still interested – but at 5%. Hope I can work something out somehow.
Also for those of you around from last year (and a potential foe for Eddy), Great Bam worked a bullet at Hawthorne yesterday, 4f at 47 and 3/5ths! Well done Bam….stay out of our races 🙂
And Alex Canchari is riding him in Thursday’s 9th at Hawthorne!! Go Bam!!
Do we have any idea when eddy may run? Getting excited to see him in chicago?
Possibly next Thursday, $5000 claiming.
Are there any plans to enter Eddy in upcoming races?
Possibly next Thursday, $5000 claiming.
Thanks Ted!
Will Eddy have a workout before his race?
I would anticipate one.
I realize this discussion has already kind of passed, but I thought about it and decided to put my 2 cents in, for what it is worth.
I have been part of the club for two years now. I have always wanted to own a race horse and looked to this club as a chance to see if it was something I really truely wanted to pursue. The club has taught me a lot, and I don’t mind the size of it as I joined to learn about owning a race horse with the plans of either going off on my own to buy a horse or join an existing club, or realize that owning a race horse wasn’t for me. Thanks to this club I have a better idea. I was not planning on joining again next year as I felt that the club had served it’s purpose for me, up until Eddy’s last race at Canterbury when I brought my sister with and she enjoyed it so much she expressed wanting to join next year. To get my sister excited about racing because of a vested interest (Eddy) was great and I hope to be able to be a part of the club with her next year.
That said, it was always my understanding that this club was meant to take people who had an interest in racing and owning and show them what it is all about for a year or two and then have them move on to being their own group, not to continue on in the group every year for several years getting to know people but never really making a decision/commitment of your own. I am not saying that it isn’t one of the ideas of the club, and there isn’t a problem with it, but it does beg the question that if everyone who joined with TQ and Crown the Cat stays in the club, then how will there be room for new members who don’t know about racing but want to learn unless we become a large group?
Just my thoughts, which hopefully don’t end up upsetting people.
Tara, I think your commentary was excellent. Thanks for the input. And to reiterate, while there may be some changes to the club next year, the club will stay true to it’s mission of educating folks about owning and racing thoroughbreds. I thought you stated it very well.