ROA Board Members

What is the day job?  

I am a Business Angel, funding start-ups in the medical and medical device fields. I built up several companies in this area after I started working for myself in 2007, and when I sold them, I decided to invest again, becoming a Business Angel. It allows me to give something back to the industry, whilst also understanding the problems and pressures associated with start-ups. I am able to mentor those involved as well as contribute financially. 

Why did you get involved in racing politics? 

I have essentially retired, as I am no longer looking for new businesses to invest in. However, I missed being busy and wanted to get involved in something whereby my opinion would be sought and valued. I saw the article in Owner Breeder looking for perspective Board members and I saw it as my chance to give back to racing, which has been good to me. As an owner, I know what a huge investment we make in racing and that it is often not commensurate with the rewards on offer. Members pay their subscriptions in order for us to fight their corner – I hope to encourage us to stand up for ourselves and have a firmer voice. 

How has your background/upbringing influenced your views? 

I was brought up in Walthamstow, as the youngest of four children. My mother worked at Hackney and Walthamstow dog tracks – settling dividends for the Tote with mental arithmetic - long before computers did the job, so betting and gambling were around me as a child! I was brought up to respect others, treat everyone the same, and believe that I am no better or worse than anyone else – a perspective that has set me in good stead in the business world. I would like to think I am also carrying this into the racing sphere as well. 

How long have you owned horses and how much success have you had?  

After I relocated back to the UK from Dubai, I went racing for the first time with a work outing. It was that introduction at Newmarket’s July Course that made me fall in love with racing. Within a year I had joined a syndicate, and more rapidly followed! I first became a sole owner in 2000 with The Cottonwool Kid, who won his first race in my colours.

Probably my favourite horse has been Broke Road. He was only small, but he tried so hard and won nine out of his 46 races for me over jumps. On the Flat I have been lucky enough to have shares in the winners of Listed races with Russian Punch and Vintage Brut. But as with all owners, I have also experienced the loss of a horse, and the frustrations of needing to be patient with one. 

What do you love/hate about racing? 

I like the buzz of being at the races, whether it's Fakenham or Royal Ascot. I've had runners at both and they can equally give a great thrill. Not only is racing a great leveller, it also confirms my outlook that we are all equal on or under the Turf. I don’t necessarily hate anything about racing but do have the usual infuriation about prize-money – which I believe needs to be distributed more evenly – and on the various fees which always seem to hit owners. There is a balance to be struck, which means the owner does not always foot the bill. 

What are the immediate priorities for the sport?  

The sport must be properly financed. The recent levy problems have highlighted that there is only a finite income and prize-money will not be growing any time soon – yet costs keep going up. Unless you are at the top of the pyramid, owners get a poor return on their investment and it's our job to change that. Racing, and racecourses in particular, need to embrace and welcome syndicates – they are the future of ownership because of the rising costs of owning, and are where most sole owners start their journey. 

 Which horse would you most like to have owned?

Probably Antonin or Docklands Express; it was another one of those good days on track which lives long in the memory. It was the 1994 Racing Post Chase at Kempton and I got the forecast up! 

What is your favourite day's racing?

My wife and I were invited to a corporate outing to Ascot. No one really had any idea about racing, so I showed them around and gave them pointers. I managed to tip the winners of the first five races and a horse that placed in the sixth and never had to buy a drink all day!  

What is your racing ambition?

Simply to leave racing in a position better than I found it. 

What is/was the day job? 

I am a retired trainer, but I have a number of horses in partnerships and have recently joined a few new syndicates, so I am still in the heart of racing. I also volunteer for the Youth Criminal Justice System by sitting on their referral panels, and also the Restorative Justice programme. I sometimes think the mediation skills used here could be well used in racing politics! 

Why did you get involved in racing politics? 

I have been involved in racing all my life, from a Point-To-Point jockey in the late 1980s when my peers included Amanda Perrett and Alex Embiricos, to being a trainer, and now owner and breeder. Because of this, I am uniquely positioned to understand racing from many viewpoints and appreciate some of the issues the sport has.  

How has your background/upbringing influenced your views? 

I started Eventing when I was young, and always went with my parents to Cheltenham for the annual pilgrimage to the Festival. When I realised I wasn’t going to make it Eventing, I switched to Point-To-Pointing – the speed attracted me! – so saw racing from its most grassroots level. It was competitive and a lot of fun, and really gave me a good grounding for how racing worked. 

How long have you owned horses and how much success have you had? 

I first got my training license in 2000 and trained and owned winners under both codes, my first being little Windy Valley, a lovely grey who I managed to get from Philip Hobbs. He won at Fontwell for me and was placed eight times.  

I trained and owned horses with a wide variety of talent, but the best horse I’ve owned was Third Wind, who won the Pertemps Final at Cheltenham in 2022 and the Rendlesham Hurdle the year before. He suffered a tendon injury after his Cheltenham win, and although we got him back on the track, he didn’t show his spark again so we retired him earlier this year. He is now thoroughly enjoying his new life, hunting, hacking on the beach, and has recently won rosettes in his showing class.  

My Mum also owned the 2019 Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Phoenix of Spain, who is doing very well at the Irish National Stud at the moment with the likes of Haatem. We have a few homebreds by him which is very exciting. 

What are your current ownership interests? 

After owning horses on my own and with my family – my sister, sister-in-law and I run the One More Moment Of Madness partnership - I have recently branched into owning horses in a few syndicates and leasing some horses in partnerships. It is very interesting to be an owner at this level and observing how the ownership experience works from a syndicate perspective. 

What do you love/hate about racing? 

I love the build-up to a race; hearing the horse has worked well, visiting the trainer to work out a plan, choosing a race, and meeting the staff at the yard and seeing them also get excited for the horse in the future.  

There is nothing I really hate about racing, although I do share all owner's usual frustrations on prize money and our ever-increasing hidden costs. I hope that some of these will be tackled with the introduction of the Racing Digital product, which would also help to streamline the admin involved in ownership and make the process easier. The delay in the launch of Racing Digital is therefore another frustration for me. 

What are the immediate priorities for the sport? 

Owners are contributing so much to the sport, it is vital we make it as enjoyable for them as we can, whatever ownership level they are at. Getting a horse to the races is difficult enough, so everyone should have the best day they can when they get there. It doesn’t matter whether they are participating as a sole owner or as a syndicate. If we keep chipping away, I hope the overall experience will get better. 

Favourite day's racing: 

My favourite day to go racing is the first day of the Cheltenham Festival – so much buzz and anticipation. But my best day on the racecourse must be Third Wind’s Pertemps triumph – owning and breeding a winner at the Festival was something very special.  

Horse you most like to have owned: 

One for the girls! I was lucky enough to be at Cheltenham for Dawn Run’s Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup wins. She was an amazing mare, and I cried when she won the Gold Cup – coming from that position at the last it seemed so unlikely.  

Racing ambition: 

I’d love to match Mum having a Group 1 winner, so any Grade 1 race over jumps would be wonderful. Hopefully, sometime in the future, I will have the ammunition to fulfil this! 

What is the day job? 

I am the Chief Economist at Aletheia Capital Ltd, an independent research provider for institutional investors based in Hong Kong.  

Why did you get involved in racing politics?  

I don’t really consider my Board position as getting involved in ‘racing politics’. All I am concerned about is getting a better deal for British owners. So many other jurisdictions seem to be able to balance the racing programme with a decent return to owners, why can’t we? Anything I can help with to reduce the costs to owners and increasing prize-money to them will have my fullest attention. 

How has your background/upbringing influenced your views?  

Having spent most of the last 30 years in Hong Kong, I have seen it go from a racing backwater (in 1990 the quality of HK racing was no better than Class 5 or 6 here today) to one of the premier racing jurisdictions in the world. It did so by concentrating on quality (and reducing corruption) and, principally, by rewarding the people that supply the product – owners.  

Having a third-placed horse in a Hong Kong Class 5 (the lowest class) would pay training fees for at least three months. That is something that UK owners won’t even be able to comprehend. As an economist, we can’t just keep hoping that people will pile money into the sport without any hope of a positive return. That is the way to kill off the business.  

The current situation leads to the inevitable sale of many of our top horses to other jurisdictions. That is what the treatment of owners leads to, and yet still some in the industry don’t understand why it is happening.  

How long have you owned horses and how much success have you had?  

I returned to live in the UK for a few years in 1998 and bought my first horse – with Linda Perratt – in 1999. I have had horses in the UK ever since, mostly with William Jarvis and Charlie and Mark Johnston. I had horses in Hong Kong with Caspar Fownes, John Moore and David Hall. As for success, not enough! But every owner is greedy for more. By far the best horse I have owned was Subjectivist, winner of the Gold Cup in 2021.  

What do you love/hate about racing? 

It might be an odd answer but what I really love is the puzzle of figuring out how best to a) buy a horse with potential and b) place one that has shown their form to win a race – that’s the hard part for some of them! I really like taking some money off the bookies as well – not that I have ever triggered any affordability checks!  

I hate paying entry fees (not a feature of Hong Kong racing) and not knowing how much racecourses are being paid by the media to sell the rights to my horse to the betting public. How come the middleman in the generation of the product gets to keep all the money from selling someone else’s goods? 

What are the immediate priorities for the sport? 

Restructuring. Since joining the Board of the ROA I have become painfully aware of just how many fingers are in the racing pie and how many vested interests there are. It all leads to frustrating inertia. The whole racing management structure is broken and needs to be streamlined and re-engineered. If I have to hear “that’s the way it has always been” one more time as an explanation for why we can’t change the rules or change the system for the better, I think I’ll go mad.  

What is your favourite day's racing?

Thursday, June 17, 2021, when Subjectivist won the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot. 

Which horse would you most like to have owned?

Easy – Desert Orchid, although it would have been Roman Warrior on the Flat. 

What is your racing ambition?

To breed a Group winner from Subjectivist.