When hope goes racing

HE CAN be grumpy and is as likely to head butt you as to say hello. Unless, of course, you come bearing extra-strong mints and then he is your best friend.

He’s got one big white eye which always gives the impression – particularly on a sideways glance – that he is glaring at you. Contemptuously.

At an open day, when all his friends are straining at the gates of their stalls, begging the passing public for attention, he is the loner who turns his back on you –the one that doesn’t care for all the fuss. He’s his own man.

But put Goldan Jess on a racecourse and he becomes other things. A warrior. A battler with a massive heart. Our hero.

He’s not the quickest. He’s certainly no Frankel. But he never, ever, stops. When the pain hits hardest, on the run to the winning line when everything else in the race is tying up in discomfort, he puts his soul into the fight.

Stayers, so called because they relish the stamina-sapping distances that most horses shirk away from, are the hardiest of animals. And this one has given us so many great days, the last of which came only a couple of weeks ago.

The all-weather track at Wolverhampton isn’t as salubrious as York. You’ll never be swarming among vast crowds at Dunstall Park.

Goldan Jess went south – for a low-ranked contest with a mere £1,940 awaiting the winner – with the tag of even money favourite.

He’d been tipped up in the sport’s trade paper, the Racing Post, under the headline: “Unexposed Goldan Jess can glitter in the snow for (trainer Phil) Kirby”.

Horses don’t feel pressure, but owners sure do and the expectation, and anticipation, of what was to come was enough to gnaw the fingers to the bone.

Particularly given our story with this wonderful animal. Our syndicate consisting of a number of like-minded friends from York and across the country bought our share of Goldan Jess early in 2009.

He had arrived at Mr Kirby’s, then based at Castleton and now at Middleham, the previous October, looking like the track was the last thing on his mind.

‘Jess’ soon wormed his way into our affections with his funny squeaks, grunts, and his sometimes eccentric ways.

It also didn’t hurt that he was quickly a hit for his new trainer. Like a well-tuned engine, he was remarkably consistent – regularly getting into the places and giving his new part-owners a chance to bask in a little limelight.

Then at Sedgefield, in a small hurdle race for young up-and-coming jump jockeys, he won. I still have the DVD. He was keen, hard to handle – a feature of his gutsy style of racing.

He broke for home with three of the hurdles left to jump and, by the time he leapt over the last, he was four lengths clear.

I’ve had winners before on the racetrack but this felt different. It was elation but pride at the same time, that we’d been there from the start of the journey and seen him achieve what we had all hoped was possible.

The future looked promising. He put in big displays at Wetherby and even appeared at Cheltenham, the home of National Hunt racing. A trip back to his favourite stomping ground in County Durham a year later, however, proved disastrous.

That he managed to finish sixth in his race, despite suffering a tendon injury so severe it was feared at one point that it would end his life, proved just how brave he was.

But Mr Kirby warned us his racing career was probably now at an end. With that came the question which all owners must face at some point. What do you do with the racehorse that can’t race?

It was a contentious decision that split our syndicate and Jess’s remaining owners. Some pulled out, unwilling or unable to expend any more money on a horse that faced such an uncertain future.

The fees may be reduced, the monthly bill a little lower, but a horse still eats whether he is in training or not and someone has to pay.

Not just that, there’s the medical care to consider as well. Endless scans by the vet, checks and bandages as they start on the road back to full health.

Whether or not he raced again seemed irrelevant. It was time to pay Jess back. It was a long road, one which required patience and faith.

I’m sure it was as frustrating for Jess as it was for us – the poor lad confined to his box for week after week as the injury slowly healed when all he really wanted was to get out in the paddock and let out a few bucks and kicks.

After fearing the worst, our four-legged wonder did not just recover, he actually returned to the track in July last year and since then has won three times – to the surprise and delight of all of us.

So what can I say about racehorse ownership?

Like everything in life, it is rarely straightforward. Unless you stumble across the needle in the haystack, it won’t make you rich.

But that evening at Wolverhampton last month, when Jess kicked for the front, wheeled away from his rivals, and stayed strong in the face of a despairing field floundering in reverse simply can’t be matched.

Like similar experiences we have had at Kempton and Market Rasen in the past few months, it will be tucked away in the memory bank forever.

It’s incredibly hard to train a winning racehorse. Most of those who spend the best part of their young lives on the track will never make it into the winner’s enclosure.

Neither will their owners.

To have done it so many times, to hear the applause from the crowd, to give the old boy a pat as he jerks his head to avoid the photographer’s gaze, to be presented with the trophy, and then to be feted with a glass of bubbly while being gently prodded to buy a souvenir photograph and DVD is what makes it all worthwhile.

It’s about the sheer joy of watching these brave beasts go toe-to-toe in racing combat and seeing your horse, the one you’ve spoiled with sweets and carrots in the paddock, come out on top.

As the winning line approaches, Jess in front, with everything else toiling behind – it’s a wonderful, indescribable feeling.

One I’d recommend to anyone.

Fact file

YOU don’t just have to club together as a group of friends to buy a share in a racehorse.

Syndicates are making the dream of getting involved in the Sport of Kings a reality and at a fraction of the cost.

With the top training centres of Malton, Norton and Middleham on our doorstep, it’s no surprise there are a number of racing clubs in North Yorkshire offering a variety of ownership options.

Koo’s Racing Club, based in York, have horses with Norton trainer Brian Ellison while his town colleague, John Quinn, runs his own syndicate horses through Highfield Racing.

For those wanting to cast their net further afield, York-based Wildcard Racing plays the syndicate game with a twist – they run horses in the United States.

There are options to buy shares with an initial outlay followed by monthly payments, while leasing is usually for a set period and comprises of a monthly fee without the upfront expense of having to buy a share.

• For more information, log on to koos-racing-club.com, check out highfieldracing.com or email wildcard.racing@btinternet.com