Racehorse Ownership: Choosing Your Winning Colours by Ruth Williams
in Sports / Equestrian (submitted 2011-02-16)
If you enjoy the sport of horse racing, you have probably at some point dreamed of the day you could own a racehorse of your own. Thoroughbred horse racing has long been known as the sport of kings and being able to own a racehorse would give you the chance to become a part of this time honoured sport, steeped in tradition and pride. If you do buy a racehorse you will need to choose the jockey colours which will represent you. This short article gives an insight into racing colours.
Throughout the history of horse racing, the horses have traditionally been owned by wealthy individuals. In the previous few decades, however, it has become somewhat common for racing horses to be owned by partnerships or various other kinds of syndicates. One notable example of this fact is the 2003 Kentucky Derby winner, Funny Cide, a racehorse owned by a group of no less than 10 partners who banded together and organized themselves as Sackatoga Stable. Another example is 2008 Kentucky Derby winner, Big Brown, who was owned by IEAH Stables, a horse racing hedge fund organization of sorts.
If you have come to the decision that you want to own a racehorse, there are many things to consider. One of the most personal decisions to make when deciding to own a racehorse, is choosing your colours, or “silks”. Each horse runs the exclusive colours of its owner, and there are no two horses running the same colours. This enables observers to easily recognize the runners and who the runners belong to. The owner of the horse must register the colours under the national governing body, which in the case of Britain is the British Horseracing Authority.
Some designs for silks are so in demand that race horse owners are willing to pay a lot of money for them. Certain colours have been known to sell for thousands, or possibly even tens of thousands of pounds. Colours that are considered particularly interesting, or perhaps have a long and sordid history are called “cherished colours” and are usually the most expensive, as so often are the “plain silks,” the ones made up simply of a solid colour.
If you decide that you want to own a racing horse, you will have many important decisions to make, like where to find a trainer along with many, many other things. Perhaps starting by picking your colours would be the simplest way to get excited about the great sport of horse racing and owning a race horse.
