What is the Dream Alliance Story?

The barely credible story of Dream Alliance was recorded for posterity in the film ‘Dark Horse’, which won the World Cinema Documentary Award at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The syndicate that owned Dream Alliance, known as the ‘Alliance Partnership’, was the brainchild of Janet ‘Jan’ Vokes, who hit upon the idea of breeding a racehorse while working as a barmaid in a working men’s club in Cefn Fforest, on the outskirts of Blackwood, in the South Wales Valleys.

Together with her husband, Brian, and twenty or so other local people, Vokes raised £300 to buy the unheralded mare Rewbell, whom she paired with Bien Bien, twice a Grade One winner on the Flat in the United States, and Dream Alliance. Foaled on March 23, 2001, Dream Alliance was initially raised on the Vokes’ allotment, before being transferred to Somerser trainer Philip Hobbs, with each syndicate member contributing £10 a week towards training costs.

Dream Alliance made his racecourse debut, as a three-year-old, at Newbury in November, 2004. The following season, after 350-day break, which included a gelding operation, he won twice over hurdles, at Chepstow and Haydock, and even made an appearance at the Cheltenham Festival, albeit finishing unplaced in the Spa Novices’ Hurdle won by Black Jack Ketchum. Dream Alliance made a winning debut over fences at Exeter in November, 2006, and on his seasonal debut in 2007/08 finished a creditable second to Denman in the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Newbury.

At the end of that season, his racing career hung in the balance when he struck into himself, severing a tendon, in a hurdle race at Aintree. However, following stem-cell treatment, which cost connections £20,000, he returned to racing. On just his second start back from injury, he won the Coral Welsh National at Chepstow, worth over £57,000 to the winner. And if you have no time or resources to invest in horses, you can always try to win some tournaments playing poker online.

What is a ‘syndicate’?

In horse racing, a ‘syndicate’ is a group of like-minded people that comes together or, indeed, is brought together by a syndicator – who can be an individual or a company, must be registered with the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) – to purchase ownership of a racehorse. The cost of buying and training a racehorse is prohibitively expensive for most people, at least if they do so for themselves. The idea behind horse syndication is that each syndicate member buys a fixed share, say, 2.5%, 5% or 10%, in one or more horses and makes a contribution towards the annual costs – such as farrier, veterinary and, of course, training, fees – needed to keep the horse fit, healthy and ready to run for its life.

In other words, instead of the whole cost of ownership being laid at the door of one, extremely wealthy individual, it is split between multiple part-owners. Of course, owners also share any winnings their horses accumulate during their involvement but, even so, most people consider syndicate membership as a relatively inexpensive way to enjoy personal involvement with, and a stake in, racehorses, rather than a lucrative investment opportunity. Of course, it is possible make large of sums of money from horse syndication but, for many owners, the best way to make a small fortune from horse racing is to start with a large one.

How much does it cost to own a racehorse?

Depending on its pedigree, physique and, if it has raced, its performance on the racecourse, a racehorse can cost anything from several thousand to hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of pounds. The typical initial purchase price is around £15,000. Of course, the initial purchase price is just the start; thereafter racehorse owners incur annual costs for training, insurance, veterinary care, registration, entry and transport.

According to the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), the annual cost of owning a racehorse is, on average, approximately £23,000 for a horse that races on the Flat and approximately £17,000 for a horse that races under National Hunt Rules. However, the high costs of owning and caring for a horse are offset by the profit from horse racing betting. This market in the UK alone generates over £4 billion each year.

The prohibitive cost of outright, or sole, ownership is one reason why many British racehorses are owned by syndicates or, in other words, groups of people who band together, under the auspices of a licensed trainer, or syndicate manager, to share the cost of owning one or more horses. Each member of the syndicate owns a small share – typically 2.5%, 5% or 10% – in the syndicated horse(s) and either pays a one-off fee, or an upfront fee, plus ongoing monthly training fees.