Owners Insight – More Frustration

He was fit, he was ready to hit the track running and then Brrrrrrr… the freezing weather scuppers the OSCARA DARA comeback!!

In today’s post owner Phil Boyle brings us up to date on the latest trials and tribulations from camp Oscara….

Hello all

Last time, I brought my ownership story up to date (almost).  After a couple of months of wishing for decent weather so that Oscara Dara was not held up in getting ready to make his seasonal debut, we were finally ready to go.

Of course having been kind during the training period, the weather decided not to be so kind when it came to actually having a run.  Two weeks of entries frustration ensued as we were entered in races on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and two more on Sunday.  Of those the only race that actually took place was the very first one and we did not declare at the overnight stage as we preferred some of the later options!  What a mess!

This kind of weather makes for a load of work for the me as the racing manager of our partnership as I need to contact owners for badge requirements, contact racecourses to arrange badges that we never actually need, speak to the trainer regularly to revise running plans and issue communications to all the owners to advise them of new entries and changes in plan!

These communications are all positively pleasant however when you contrast them with having to contact all the owners as I did earlier this week to tell them that it is no longer the weather that is holding us up but the horse.  Oscara Dara has not been moving as well as usual in his work and Nicky Henderson and the vets felt that it was something they should treat rather than hoping Oscara Dara would recover on his own.  Hopefully only a bit of soreness or a slight muscle strain, but giving him medication means that he cannot run for a couple of weeks even if it does the job and clears up the problem.

As you might imagine we are all absolutely desperate to get racing having sat patiently for 12 months, but it seems we need to sit tight for at least another couple of weeks!

I hope all these stories of woe have not put off anyone who might have considered ownership.  Even with all of the problems, I would not swap it.  It is great to feel a little bit on the inside of a sport that you really enjoy and the highs make it all worthwhile.  I sat in front of the TV yelling on Saddlers Storm in the Foxhunters race at Leopardstown this afternoon.  Trained in Ireland by Tony Martin, I have no involvement in the horse at all, but he is Oscara Dara’s half-brother and so I was chuffed to bits when he finished second!

In future articles, I will look at the differences in style between a big trainer and a small one (having experienced both) and I also want to tell you a story that illustrates just why Anthony McCoy is a multiple champion jockey.

Incidentally, if these articles have whetted anyone’s appetite for ownership, why not leave a comment below.  No promises, but if there were a whole bunch of people that wanted to get involved on some level, then I would be prepared to at least look into setting something up.

All the best

Phil

Thanks as always to Phil and lets hope a fit OSCARA DARA and some non-frozen racetracks meet very soon….

Ben (NTF)