So did you ever hear the one about the G.A.A legend, the sports psychologist and the good looking, intelligent and charming aspiring international athlete? Well thankfully it's a true story and so one fine day in 2003 a glorious conversation involving all three gentlemen took place. This led down a furlong of equine discovery and soon a
So did you ever hear the one about the G.A.A legend, the sports psychologist and the good looking, intelligent and charming aspiring international athlete? Well thankfully it's a true story and so one fine day in 2003 a glorious conversation involving all three gentlemen took place. This led down a furlong of equine discovery and soon a band of sisters and brothers put a few shillings in a horse bowl and The Horsplay Syndicate was foaled!
You'll read more about our first horse Trotsky (pictured above) elsewhere on this humble website and about the man who initially handled our plan, the great Dessie Hughes, (pictured further below). But for now just content yourself with the knowledge that for over 15 years, a great many wonderful human beings have had the joy of sharing a leg , a hoof, or even a fetlock in a number of horses of varying abilities and have hopefully had an immense amount of fun (that's our story and we're sticking to it) in the process! So take a look around at your leisure and trot on!
To say The Horsplay Syndicate's membership hail from a wide range of backgrounds is quite the understatement. People from all walks of life have had a share or two in a horse or three. Every one of us has experienced the highs (of which there have been many) and lows (of which there's been a few too) of racehorse ownership. Friends and fa
To say The Horsplay Syndicate's membership hail from a wide range of backgrounds is quite the understatement. People from all walks of life have had a share or two in a horse or three. Every one of us has experienced the highs (of which there have been many) and lows (of which there's been a few too) of racehorse ownership. Friends and family of these beautiful souls have also become used to welcoming a new member of their own extended family at regular intervals as our horses win, lose and occasionally draw. (OK, that last quip was a bit of a fib as we all know horses make useless artists)....
But moving swiftly on, let's just say that our members all possess a delightful balance of optimism and realism and for as little as £1 a day, they all are very much part of the gang! As Welsh Singing Legend, Sir Tom Jones, once pointed out, 'you don't have to be rich to rule my world' and clearly he was also talking about the cost of being part of The Horsplay Syndicate, despite the fact that it's a priceless experience!
As hopefully you will see as you click and read through the pages of this wonderful website, The Horsplay Syndicate has at its heart a love of all our horses and the journey they've taken us all on. Occasionally however we take the rose tinted spectacles off knowing things are a lot more fun when there's a sound financial plan behind them
As hopefully you will see as you click and read through the pages of this wonderful website, The Horsplay Syndicate has at its heart a love of all our horses and the journey they've taken us all on. Occasionally however we take the rose tinted spectacles off knowing things are a lot more fun when there's a sound financial plan behind them!
Therefore, as mother always told us, don't spend what you don't have (and maybe even have a few pennies to spare for a dull day!)...
Therefore the Horseplay Syndicate's finances are always based on subs covering all foreseeable costs.
After the highs and lows of the last 2 years with Our Valentina and Zhenya, we're in great shape to see how are latest recruit Roxanya (pictured above) will shape up over the next 12 months. Her debut at Down Royal was 'a glass half full' performance and oblivious to the trials and tribulations of the times her owners are living in, she's been eating green grass and enjoying the sun on her back! So the story continues and In Stuart We Trust!
Any serious discussion of Irish Racing's National Hunt training greats will at some stage focus on the fine track record of DT Hughes. A former Gold Cup winning jockey, Dessie then progressed to the training ranks with great success. Multiple Cheltenham Festiival winners hailed from his Osbourne Lodge Yard including 2 time consecutive Champion Hurdle winner, Hardy Eustace.
The Horsplay Syndicate's journey began with sending our first horse Trotsky into training with Dessie at The Curragh in Kildare in 2004.
Although one respected racing journalist once quipped that, 'Dessie was not a man to leave you worried if you had enough charge in your battery before you called him', he was one of life's old fashioned gentlemen, straight talking and a very accurate judge of a horse's ability.
As our trainer up until his very sad passing in 2014, Des oversaw several successes for our Syndicate, most notably Trotsky's Irish Midlands National at Kilbeggan Racecourse in 2005 and Leon Og's stunning 15 length victory over a high class field in 2010 in a Novice Chase at Fairyhouse .
Confirmation he was flesh and bones was conclusively proven correct however as not even Dessie could persuade Rudolf, (despite obvious ability) to put his best hoof forward on the racecourse. Then again though as Meatloaf so astutely observed... "2 outta 3 ain't bad"......
A big loss to the Irish Racing Community and an even bigger one to his family, Dessie Hughes is still sadly missed by all those who knew him and the Horsplay Syndicate can only echo such sentiments.
The second man to experience the unreserved joy and pleasure (if you ask him he'll no doubt confirm it) of training horses for the Horsplay Syndicate is Stuart Crawford, based Newlands Farm Stables, Larne, Co.Antrim.
Stuart, a former Irish International Eventer, has developed a sound reputation for being a shrewd judge of a young horse in the Point to Point Field, the Sales Ring and on the Racecourse on both sides of the Irish Sea. One benefit of his scenic Larne training base is that it affords the yard the opportunity to easily travel to courses in Scotland and northern England.
Despite tasting success at both the Aintree and Punchestown Festivals, the finest 12 minutes and 34 seconds of his training career so far (in the unbiased and highly rational view of the Horsplay Syndicate) has been the dual victories of Our Valentina at Navan and then at Carlisle in 2017, but more about those in Our Valentina's very own section on this fine website! (Click on the relevant tab on the header above to read more!).
Following such a high however, the great racing god in the sky decided to even up the score as our next horse Zhenya, after such a promising start to her career, suffered a fatal pelvic injury in training.
With no getting away from such a sad turn of events, the syndicate's careful planning with Stuart's vauable input, allowed us to welcome another addition to the ranks in the form of Roxanya. Who, while still very much being a work in progress, again keeps the Horsplay Syndicate putting their best hooves forward as the journey continues! #ISWT!
For any information about anything how we run our syndicate use the following email or click on the green speech bubble!