Owning A Racehorse

Owning A Racehorse
The breeding industry is faced with one serious problem--there are not enough buyers for the total number of horses produced. If you want to own a racehorse you have to be registered and accepted as an owner by any of the five turf authorities. The first step is to decide on your budget. Horses are available for anything between Rs 25,000 and 25 lakh, quite like paintings. The only difference is that while paintings are a somewhat sound investment, there is no guarantee whatsoever that the thoroughbred for which you have coughed up a million will turn out to be a champion. Few horses ever recover their cost price and, remember, there is a monthly expense of at least Rs 7,000 by way of a basic training fee which keeps adding up on your meter once the horse has been purchased.
So, if it's not a viable proposition, why do people own horses? Well, that's a difficult one to answer, but let us face it, you can't own a racehorse unless you have the bucks. At least you can't own one yourself. What you can do is form a partnership, or a syndicate, or a private limited company or a racing club which are all recognised forms of ownership worldwide. Thus, instead of being an individual owner you can be part of any of the above and that would not only cut down on your investment and your expenses but it could also allow you to own more than just a few reasonably priced horses with whom you have some chance of making a go of it (see box). Remember, depending on how you handle them, a racehorse can race from the age of two years until the age of seven or eight. This is on an average. There have been quite a few who have continued to race at the highest level until well past the age of eight but they are at their prime between the time they are four and six.