19th November Update
The quiet period continues for us and with no change in the news on the horses this week’s newsletter reads a little different with a few random comments and some housekeeping.
Don’t forget we are at Ascot on Friday and Saturday so come and visit the ownership village if you are there. It’s free entry on the Friday, using this link https://www.ascot.com/horse-races-and-events/discover-racing-and-ownership/friday?dm_i=27WU,1ZDG1,ADL0YS,71OTC,1 and with 105 horses entered there should be some very competitive racing.
Some of you may recall back in March we put a link up to a story in the FT about AI gambling ( https://www.ft.com/content/402955aa-21fa-42d5-b1d7-f79e7f19a617) On Wednesday the systems went a little wrong as multiple bets were placed by mistake on races in the US. We weren’t immune as here in the UK, a race at Kempton attracted tote pool levels well above the norm. A usual evening meeting race on the all weather attracts a pool of between £5k-£7k, the 7.30 on Wednesday attracted a pool of just shy of £600k !! AI is her to stay and we find ChatGPT extremely intuitive but as with human error, there is also machine error!
Another strange event this week was the Racehorse Owners Association Elections. The ROA don’t really have a voice for the group that they represent as all of the power in racing remains with the bookmakers and the racecourses. It’s the ROA’s job to improve the ownership experience including prize money, badges, ownership facilities etc and they repeatedly fail year on year. The ROA announced that they re-elected the president Charlie Parker with 85.58% voting in favour and just 14.42% voting against. However that doesn’t really tell the full story as such is the apathy with the ROA, only 104 votes were received from 6000+ members and only 89 were in favour of re-electing the board. It does feel that horse racing in the UK needs some sort of breakaway group, similar to what we have seen in F1 or the Premier League, as right now its a closed shop protecting the interests of a small but powerful minority.
Finally for this week, a topic which comes up every year around this time of which we have opined on in the past but it’s worth reiterating especially as we have new owners. Each December, the trainers send out emails asking us whether we wish to donate to their Staff Christmas Box to tip the stable staff for their years work in caring for our horses. We feel at Surrey Racing that success should be rewarded and every time we have a winner we give the stable person of that horse at least £100 (more if the race is valuable). We know some of you do tip the staff the odd £10/£20 from time to time, that is greatly appreciated and welcomed and is an individual choice, if anyone wishes to contribute in any way then please feel free, we would certainly encourage it.
Have a super week ahead and hopefully catch up with some of the syndicate owners next Friday/Saturday
Possible races and events
2023
November
Friday 24th – Surrey Racing participating in Ascot’s Ownership Day
Saturday 25th - Surrey Racing participating in Ascot’s Ownership Day
December
Tuesday 5th - Surrey Force - Lingfield
Wednesday 6th – Surrey Force - Kempton