Financial Markets Impact on Racehorse Ownership

C

Cantoris

At the Start
Joined
Jan 7, 2008
Messages
2,623
Just wondering what impact the current financial debacle will have on the main racehorse owners. We have already seen Davidson pull back his interests. Irish owners like Seamus Ross and Sean Mulryan are heavily exposed to the property market. David Johnson is exposed. Not sure how JP is playing the markets at the moment.

Does anyone think a few of these owners will not be around next year?
 
It's bound to have some effect at all levels.

Some people saw it coming awhile back. I was surprised when Alfie Buller shut down Sandley Stud after having heavily invested in buying and renovating the place. But he was not getting the business he knew he needed to sustain the outlay, and being in the development business he saw the property crash coming too.

I suppose it would depend upon where people get their money from. If you have a business income that is unrelated to those taking a loss at the moment then presumably you would carry on spending. Not sure what kind of business is clear of this recession though.

I took delivery of a bag of feed today that normally cost about £12.00 and it was just over £20.00. It's not a massive thing for a small stud where no horses are in full work, but to trainers this must make a big difference. And the bills will go up ...... and up .......
 
Some of the property guys will scale back, while others have sufficient wealth to carry on regardless. In general terms I would expect the top of the market to remain pretty much unaffected but the middle and lower end should provide some real value over the next couple of years.

My view is it's a great time to buy if that's where you play.
 
Maruco said:
Some of the property guys will scale back, while others have sufficient wealth to carry on regardless
Click to expand...

Wealth for a lot of irish people will be redefined to be cash minus obligations. The Irish are borrowed up to the hilt, whether it is me or JP. It will all come down to ability to service debt obligations and how much cash you have to do that. I think some big names are going to be in trouble, not just the property boys.

I do agree that the sales over the next few years will following the stock markets. Huge reduction in prices. I'm hoping it will actually make syndicatation very attractive as it gets cheaper to enter.
 
I think you'll see quite a few trainers going under. I know quite a lot of owners are struggling to pay the bills and it won't be long before it has a knock on effect.
 
Gamla Stan said:
I think you'll see quite a few trainers going under. I know quite a lot of owners are struggling to pay the bills and it won't be long before it has a knock on effect.
Click to expand...

I think a few owners will adopt the policy of leaving the horse with the trainer and walking away!! Feed costs continue to rise and while labour will be more plentiful now, pay is not going to drop. So I'm expecting another increase in fees this year. but a lot of young trainers without the track record will definately struggle. And in fairness, the number of new trainers each year was getting ridiculous. Luckily for us, all our members pay six months in advance so there is no problem with paying the fees, something Colm is delighted too know.
 
Back
Top