'The upsides of owning racehorses are asymmetric' - meet the unconventional city trader turned turf fanatic

Click here to add us to your Google preferred sources or find out more here

Good Morning Bloodstock is an exclusive daily email sent by the Racing Post bloodstock team and published here as a free sample.

On this occasion, Martin Stevens speaks to retired city trader Tristan Standish about his entry into racehorse ownership – subscribers can get more great insight every Monday to Friday.

All you need do is click on the link above, sign up and then read at your leisure each weekday morning from 7am.

Most people buy a horse and then think of a name that fits the appearance, personality or pedigree of their purchase, but Tristan Standish has done it the other way round. He came up with an ingenious name and then set about finding a two-year-old who would suit it.

The unconventional new owner completed his quest on Wednesday, when he and his agent Tom Pritchard-Gordon of Badgers Bloodstock gave £80,000 for a striking chestnut colt by Cotai Glory out of Mosey, a Dream Ahead half-sister to Prix Chloe winner Araminta, from the draft of Tally-Ho Stud at the Goffs Doncaster Breeze-Up Sale.

“It’s been a bit of an obsession of mine,” explains Standish. “I know the far east well, my mother was brought up in Shanghai and my best friend and son both live in Hong Kong. I’ve been racing at Sha Tin more than any other racecourse except Ascot.

“I reserved the name Bing Wu on the BHA website a couple of months ago after I had a brainwave in the middle of the night, and then looked for a horse to match it. Bing Wu is the year of the fire horse in the Chinese lunar cycle, which comes round once every 60 years, and it’s associated with energy, drive and a strong character. When I saw the Cotai Glory colt with his fiery coat, outstanding presence and conformation, it just felt like a natural fit.

“Bing Wu will be trained by Roger Varian and the idea is that he’ll win some nice races and advertise his form credentials, ideally at Royal Ascot, to prompt a sale to Hong Kong. I thought it would be a good idea to work backwards from the end point for a change.”

The Bing Wu venture could mislead you into thinking Standish has got into racing just to make profit in the short term, but that isn’t true, as the London-based retired city trader is involved in a more serious way, and owns several other horses with Varian. This is more of a personal challenge that allows him to put his investment expertise to good use while immersing himself deeper into an industry that he has become fascinated with.

“This isn’t about the flip,” he says. “When I’ve been racing in Hong Kong I’ve seen more and more Australasian horses competing there and I’ve thought to myself, why not try attracting them to the European market instead? I’ve got the data and the modelling, but I just needed the right team, and I’ve found that in Roger and Tom. Roger knows all about Asian racing and Tom sold California Spangle out there, so he knows how the Hong Kong Jockey Club works.

"We went to Doncaster to look at a couple of lots this week, and Roger was keen on the Cotai Glory colt as he thought as a May foal he has a lot more growing to do, and will end up being a good size. 

“That’s the sort of thing my numbers can’t tell me. If you have a trainer who has the experience and instinct to see what a younger horse might become, and is prepared to give them a little time, it gives you an angle over other people who will back off those later foals.

“Look, I know Bing Wu might not work out, but if he doesn’t we won’t walk away: we’ll go in again, and try to do a bit better next year, as by then I’ll have learned a little more, and met new people who will have increased my understanding. And even if he does work out, I might not necessarily sell him. Roger will always get the final call as the trainer.”

The Cotai Glory colt who was purchased by Tristan Standish at the Doncaster Breeze-Up SaleCredit: Goffs UK

Bing Wu is one of five horses trained by Varian in whom Standish has some involvement, along with the John Smith’s Handicap winner and Listed runner-up Enfjaar, bought for 120,000gns at the Tattersalls February Sale this year, as well as a two-year-old New Bay three-parts brother to Flower Bowl Stakes winner Idea Generation bought at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale last year for 120,000gns, and juvenile fillies by Camelot and Pinatubo.

“I don’t think I’d have done anything if I hadn’t met Roger,” says Standish. “A friend of mine who already had horses with him, and Michael Jarvis before that, invited me to see the yard and I was instantly impressed by Roger's love of the horses and his integrity, so I ended up buying a quarter share in a horse straight away. 

“I then went away and thought about it, and crunched a few numbers, and decided to get into it more on my own. It had been a latent idea for a while as I approached retirement, as I never had any intention of going off and playing golf.

“That’s how we ended up buying the New Bay last year, in a private transaction at the end of the day as he was a vendor buyback when he went through the ring. I could tell from my data that he had a good pedigree and came from a good farm in Croom House Stud, but I needed Roger and Tom to check the horse. I need them for that.”

Standish grew in confidence as he made more trips to the sales last year, and spoke to more people involved in the breeding, buying and selling of horses.

“I was at Tattersalls for both days of the Craven Breeze-Up Sale, looking for a candidate to be Bing Wu, but we didn’t buy him there," he says. "I ended up saying to Tom and Roger, ‘you’re very bad at this, you know: I would’ve thought you’d try and get me into one of the first ten lots, shake my hand and tell me to go home’ but they said, ‘of course that's not the case, we want you to succeed – it’s a long game, we work on integrity, loyalty and return business'. 

“We had dinner in the red room at the end of the sale and met all sorts of fascinating people. I’ve spoken to some of the biggest agents and trainers in the world at the sales and they’ve all been very helpful and supportive. I hope people out there realise that it’s not parochial at all: the industry is actually incredibly welcoming.”

Standish bought a breeding right to A’Ali for 3,000gns in a Tattersalls online sale in January, signing with his wife Leanne as Etna House Racing. He doesn’t envisage getting into broodmare ownership any time soon, though. Instead, the purchase formed another arc of his learning curve in the racing industry.

“I joined the TBA and wanted to know more about breeding, and I thought buying a breeding right would be a way of engaging with that side of the industry,” he says. “It’s not hard to work out why I chose a sire based at Newsells Park Stud: it must be the highest-quality farm in Britain in terms of its achievements and stock. Since then I’ve spoken to Graham Smith-Bernal and Gary Coffey, so it’s another case of making contacts and learning more. 

“It also appealed to me with my old trading hat on. It’s an interesting way to have a bet on not just one horse running well, but 200 or so. It could pay out, if he gets a string of winners and the value of the breeding right goes up, but it could well be a write-off. I’m not actually interested in the money that much, I’d happily auction off the lot for a good cause, but I am interested in being engaged and involved. I treat it as an intellectual pursuit.”

Roger Varian: will train Bing WuCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

It sounds as though Standish has all sorts of ideas of how he can make racehorse ownership pay, using the trading instincts he honed in the city, but speaking to him is refreshing, as it is clear that he is coming into the industry with his eyes wide open about the financial pitfalls.

“Having come out of a trading environment, I can see opportunities of how to narrow the odds of losing money, even in this horrible market – and that’s where Bing Wu comes in,” he says. “But I’m not naive either. Having been a trader, I’m used to being on losers. I know the odds of making a profit from owning racehorses are something like 10-1 and I almost certainly won’t manage it in the first year, as I’ve only got two-year-olds. I’ve accepted that.

“If it does work in the longer term, though, there’s no Capital Gains Tax on horses, no Capital Gains Tax on breeding rights and no Income Tax on prize-money. So, God willing, if one of the horses works out, the upsides are asymmetric. It’s like options trading, where I come from, in that respect. 

“Win, lose or draw, we’re in it for the long haul, and that’s why it’s Etna House Racing and not Mr and Mrs Standing. That’s really important.”

Part of the reason the horses are more than just names on a spreadsheet of profit and loss for Standish is because the sport is in his blood. His late father Tony was a business partner of the flamboyant celebrity hairdresser Teasie Weasie Raymond, part-owner of Grand National winners Ayala and Rag Trade. Tony Standish had his own shares in racehorses before having to give them up to pay for his children’s education.

“Raymond drove a big pink convertible Cadillac and he and my father used to get a private plane to the south of France to go gambling every weekend: that was how my parents met, in fact,” says Standish. “Dad loved racing but he had to put it behind him for our sake, and it was the same for me for many years: I had to put my kids through school too.

“But now my children have also grown up and I’ve retired, Leanne and I decided that rather than giving away half our money to the government when we die it would be better to spend it on something nice. Then you think to yourself, do you really need a second home? Is a plastic boat actually worth a million and a half? You’ll have more fun at the racecourse than on your boat, and you have no chance at all of making money from a boat.

“We’d rather have fun with horses, and I can’t tell you how much we’re enjoying this. Not just the horses themselves, either: it’s the people, the places, the industry, the whole thing.

"If my father could see me now he’d say, ‘well done, I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself’ and our children are the same. They understand the potential financial downside of racing but they’re delighted that we’re doing something we derive so much pleasure from.”

Standish really has taken to racing with all the zeal of a convert. You can’t help but hope that the somewhat hare-brained plan to name a horse Bing Wu with the idea of attracting a resale to Hong Kong and the more traditional campaigning of the New Bay colt come off, or at least don’t fail too badly, so that his enthusiasm for the sport isn’t dulled.

The former hard-nosed city trader has a deeper relationship with ownership than that, though. Really, he should be used by the powers-that-be as an example to attract more people into racing.

“I’ve always had trouble getting back to sleep in the middle of the night as bad thoughts start going through your head – it’s the same for most people you meet,” he says. “Well, for the first time in my life, I’m getting back to sleep easily as I’m having happy thoughts of potentially winning the Derby or another big race.

“I live near The Oval but I could never open batting for England, or play tennis on Centre Court at Wimbledon. However, it isn’t beyond the realms of possibility that I could be on the rostrum at a major race meeting now that I’m on the right team with Roger and Tom.

“For the time being, the New Bay colt has a respectable chance of being a Classic contender: I think it’s fair to say that. Okay, he cost a lot of money, but he wasn’t a half-a-million or million-guinea horse, and he was worth what I paid for him to be able to go to bed and have something to look forward to, something to be happy about.

“The implied value of owning a horse isn't necessarily restricted to the cost of having one – the initial outlay, the training fees, the registration fees and so on. You can’t put a price on hope and fulfilling dreams. That could be so much better conveyed to people.”

Take note, racing marketers. It's not all about betting and booze.

Refer a friend!

If you have a friend who would like to receive Good Morning Bloodstock please send the following link where they can sign up.

What do you think?

Share your thoughts with other Good Morning Bloodstock readers by emailing gmb@racingpost.com

Must-read story

This story is exclusive to Racing Post + Ultimate subscribers. Sign up here to get unlimited access to our premium stories. 

“Pride Of Arras won’t go beyond a mile and a half at this stage, while Amiloc could develop into a cup horse,” says Ralph Beckett as he runs through his string in a stable tour.

Pedigree pick

Moreedd, a three-year-old colt who makes his debut for Roger Varian in the seven-furlong novice stakes at Doncaster today (2.50), is not just the best-bred newcomer this afternoon but surely one of the best-bred horses in training.

He is by reigning champion sire Night Of Thunder out of Prix de l’Opera and Flower Bowl Invitational heroine Nahrain, a daughter of Selkirk and Oaks runner-up Bahr, which makes him a three-parts brother to globetrotting multiple Group/Grade 1 winner Benbatl and half-brother to 1,000 Guineas victress Elmalka.

Moreedd was bred by Godolphin and will carry the silks of Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum.

Moreedd14:50 Doncaster

View Racecard

Jky: Callum Rodriguez Tnr: Roger Varian

Good Morning Bloodstock is our unmissable email newsletter. Leading bloodstock journalist Martin Stevens provides his take and insight on the biggest stories every morning from Monday to Friday.