Have you ever dreamed of having your own racehorse?

By Craig McKenna, Managing Partner of The Crowd Racing Partnership

Horse Racing is an immensely popular sport in the UK. The thrill of watching your favourite horse or jockey, the buzz of following a trainer or cheering on an outsider just because you love their colours grips people of all ages and from all walks of life.  

Horse racing is known as the ‘Sport of Kings‘, but the appeal goes so far beyond that elite group.

Race meetings generate great interest throughout the country, yet the sport offers so much more than simply cheering from the sidelines.

According to the Racehorse Owners Association, over 60 per cent of horses trained in Britain are in some form of joint ownership, syndicate or partnership.

Owning a racehorse can be one of the most exciting pastimes, providing you with the feeling of being at close quarters with your horses, letting you experience the highs and lows of race days, experience the behind the scenes activity usually out of reach and allowing you to become an integral part of the team.

At Crowd Racing, we aim to make horse ownership accessible for everyone, whatever their budget. We provide opportunities for our members to have the complete experience of an owner.

How does Crowd Racing differ to other syndicates?

Our racehorse ownership packages start from as little as £250 and are a very affordable way of becoming an owner without any nasty surprise bills.

We have grown a fantastic community and we thrive on listening to the feedback of owners. As a result, our client retention levels are more than 90 per cent and we are always looking to embrace new technology to find better and more innovative ways to communicate and deliver with our owners.

We are committed to working with the next generation of high-quality trainers and we have found that they have the ambition and drive to meet what we require for our owners.

We are also very keen to help push the careers of apprentices and female jockeys whenever possible, and we have already utilised the skills of a number including Harry Reed, William Cox, and Nicola Currie. 

Above all, Crowd Racing exists to providing an informative, exhilarating, and social experience for everyone involved.

What are your plans for the future?

We have recently opened two new Crowds – Knight London Crowd and The Tartan Crowd – to provide unique opportunities for horse racing enthusiasts to take their love for the sport one step further.

The Crowds will offer exclusive networking opportunities for members, race days across the UK and open days for owners to see their horses in the flesh.

This is the first time we have launched crowds specific to a region in the country, located in London and Scotland respectively.

We felt this would enhance the sense of community among owners and allow them to create long-term relationships with the other Crowd members.

We have ambitious plans for the two crowds; The Tartan Crowd will boast two horses in training, one with the long-term aim of racing at the Scottish Grand National and one aimed at the Queen's Cup at Musselburgh.

For the Knight London Crowd, we aim to train horses that can compete at iconic racecourse venues close to London such as Windsor, Newbury, and Kempton Park and ultimately compete in the prestigious races at Royal Ascot and Glorious Goodwood.

After the initial three-month buying period ends at the end of the year, we will be focusing on the upcoming activities for owners of both Crowds, before the possibility of creating an overseas Crowd in 2019.

Horse racing continues to attract vast numbers of racegoers in this country, and as our passion for the sport grows, I think we can expect several people to turn their passion into an investment.