What Do Racehorse Syndicate Fees Actually Cover?

Where Does Your Monthly Ownership Fee Really Go?

One of the things we pride ourselves on at Pompey Ventures is transparency.

We regularly see comments online questioning the monthly fees charged by racing syndicates, and it is perhaps understandable. From the outside, it is very easy to look at a trainer's advertised daily rate, do a quick calculation and wonder where the rest of the money goes. Or read that someone on X has a mate, who has a mate, who has a racehorse with “Fred up the road” for £2,000 a month all in.

The reality of keeping a racehorse in training — and, importantly, getting them to the racecourse and keeping them there — is rather more complicated.

So, in the interests of transparency, we thought we would explain a little more about what actually sits behind our monthly ownership fees.

More Than a Training Bill

The trainer's basic training rate is obviously the biggest regular cost associated with having a racehorse in training, but it is far from the only one.

Our monthly syndicate fees also have to allow for the many additional costs that come with caring for and running a racehorse throughout a season.

There are the things most people would probably expect: veterinary treatment, medication, farrier and blacksmith costs, racing plates, jockey fees and transport to and from the races.

But there are plenty of others that are perhaps less obvious.

Routine supplements. Dentist visits. Physiotherapy. Massage and back treatments. Gallop fees. Spa and salt-room treatments. Veterinary examinations, scans and injections. Travelling staff expenses. Overnight stays. And all the various smaller sundries that inevitably come with keeping a racehorse in training.

Some of those costs are relatively predictable.

Others are anything but.

A horse based at Manton might race relatively locally one month and incur very little additional travelling expense. The following month it could run at Newcastle, Ayr and Goodwood.

A trip to Newcastle will often involve an overnight stay. That doesn't just mean transporting the horse considerably further — there are also additional overnight expenses for the travelling staff accompanying them.

And, of course, the more regularly a horse runs, the more race-day costs it generates.

More jockey fees. More travel expenses. More staff costs.

That is exactly what we want our horses to be doing. But three runs in a month inevitably cost considerably more than none.

And Then There Are the Owners...

There is another race-day cost which is very easy to overlook: getting our owners there too.

Owners’ badges are an important part of ownership with Pompey Ventures. We want our owners on the racecourse, in the owners’ areas, speaking to the trainer and jockey and properly involved in the day.

Racecourses provide a standard allocation of owners’ badges, but particularly on the bigger days, that allocation doesn't always cover everybody we would like to accommodate. Additional badges and hospitality tickets can be expensive.

At Royal Ascot last year, for example, we were lucky enough to have two runners and spent over £1,800 on additional owners’ tickets alone.

Not something you will find in a trainer's advertised daily rate but very much part of the real cost of running a syndicate.

£150 a Month for the Spa?!

There are also plenty of costs involved in keeping horses happy, healthy and performing at their best which owners may never naturally think about.

Yes, racehorses really do have spa treatments!

Some of our horses, for example, regularly use the equine spa at a cost of around £150 per month.

Others may benefit from massage, physiotherapy or other additional treatments recommended by the trainer.

These aren't glamorous extras being added for the sake of it. They are part of the day-to-day management of an athlete and, where our trainers believe something will help a horse recover, stay sound or perform at its best, we want them to be able to use it.

Then there are veterinary costs.

Hopefully these remain routine — worming, medication, vaccinations and the usual day-to-day care — but horses are horses. At other times an invoice might include multiple examinations and scans, an injection or one of many possible treatments that simply wasn't possible to predict several months earlier.

All of this forms part of the real cost of keeping a racehorse in training.

The Difficult Bit: Planning for the Unknown

This is perhaps the biggest challenge when setting our monthly ownership fees.

Many of the horses we offer shares in haven't even been broken in when we have to calculate what their monthly fee will be.

Yearlings are purchased in August or September and will not race until well into the following year, so when we set the monthly fee, we are effectively pricing many months in advance.

We don't know how often they will race the following season.

We don't know where they will race.

We don't know whether they will need regular spa or physio treatment.

We don't know what veterinary attention they may require.

And we certainly don't know whether their ideal programme is going to involve several races close to home or repeated trips to the other end of the country.

We also have to allow for the fact that costs themselves may increase before the horse ever reaches the racecourse.

Training rates can rise. Veterinary and farrier costs can increase. Fuel prices affect transport, and the cost of physio, supplements, staff expenses and other services can all move too.

What we do have is several years of previous invoices and actual costs.

So rather than guessing, we use those historic averages to calculate what we believe is a sensible monthly figure for each trainer.

Fixed Means Fixed

One thing we feel particularly strongly about is giving owners certainty.

We don't set out to be the cheapest option; we choose to work with leading trainers and price our ownership to reflect the standard of care, facilities and support we want for our horses.

If we tell you when you purchase your share that your monthly fee is £105, we won't come back three months later and say:

"Your horse ran three times this month, stayed overnight at Newcastle and needed a few extra treatments, so can everyone send us another £100 please?"

That's not how ownership with Pompey Ventures works.

Some months are expensive. Really expensive.

We have frequently had individual monthly bills of over £5,500 for horses that have been particularly active, required additional care or travelled considerable distances to race.

There will also be quieter months.

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The monthly fee therefore works across the season rather than being a direct reflection of what that horse happened to cost during one particular month.

Owners know their guaranteed regular commitment from the outset and we deal with the fluctuations behind the scenes.

Not Every Percentage Costs the Same

There is another slightly misleading assumption we often see when people attempt to calculate syndicate costs from an advertised share.

For example, taking a £110 monthly fee for a 2.5% share and simply multiplying it by 40 assumes every owner holds a 2.5% share.

They don't.

At Pompey Ventures, larger percentage shareholders pay a lower cost per percentage point.

As an example, our monthly fee structure at one yard is currently:

2.5% — £105

5% — £205

10% — £395

25% — £900

We also never have 40 owners in a horse. Our syndicates are intentionally kept much smaller, and we will always have larger shareholders alongside those taking smaller percentages.

So the eventual monthly income for a horse depends entirely on the combination of shares purchased. One horse might have several 10% or 25% owners; another might have a greater number of smaller shareholders.

It isn't simply a case of taking the advertised 2.5% fee and multiplying it by 40.

Once again, there is no completely predictable figure.

What Are You Actually Paying For?

Ultimately, your monthly fee isn't simply paying for a stable.

It is contributing towards everything required to have your horse professionally trained, cared for, kept in the best possible condition, transported and prepared to race throughout the season.

It means that when the trainer feels your horse would benefit from the spa, they can use it.

When the right race is at Newcastle rather than twenty minutes down the road, we will send them.

When they need physiotherapy, veterinary attention or an overnight stay before racing, those costs have already been allowed for.

And when your horse is thriving and ready to run three times in a busy month, you aren't suddenly presented with a substantially larger bill.

Racehorse ownership will never be completely predictable.

We think your monthly payment should be.

If you’re still comparing the different ways to get involved in ownership, our guide to how much it costs to own a racehorse in the UK looks at sole ownership, racing clubs and syndicates in more detail.