The idea of owning a racehorse may just be a dream for some, but The Stable’s Amy and Anthony MacDonald are hoping to make it easier for people to get into the industry.
The Guelph couple is using fractional ownership to make standardbred racehorse ownership accessible to more people.
Anthony compares it to crowdfunding a horse: interested participants can buy shares of horses (one share is one per cent) available at thestable.ca.
Owners have a percentage of the expenses and a percentage of the earnings, based on how many shares they own.
“(The Stable) is the fastest growing fractional ownership site in standardbred racing,” said Anthony.
Since its inception in 2015, The Stable has grown from three horses to 62 horses, from zero employees to 16, and from three investors to 241.
Anthony is a driver and trainer and has been involved with horses his entire life. Amy, a University of Guelph graduate, has also been around horses for many years.
The couple trains over 60 horses at a barn they rent just south of Puslinch Township.
“We made it affordable and exciting and fun for people to get involved,” said Anthony.
“You get to be involved in horse racing from the fledging portion of the very first step into it, right up to hopefully the winner’s circle.”
While Amy and Anthony own a portion of some of the horses they train, many are owned by other farms.
All of the available horses, with the prices per share, are listed on their website.
“There’s horses that were sent from a breeding farm, so the farm owns it and they tell us how many (shares) they want to sell off,” said Amy.
“We have a lot of different ways that people send horses to us, and a lot of ways we sell them,” added Anthony.
He said having multiple owners of a horse hasn’t sparked any problems with decision-making. Though he includes investors in the process, they have trusted the couple’s training and driving decisions.
The MacDonalds have investors from all over the world, including England, Italy and Ireland.
Twice a month they film training sessions with a drone and broadcast them on Facebook Live or YouTube.
“[Owners] can just log in on their computer on a Saturday and watch their horses train,” said Amy.
“It doesn’t matter if they live in New York or Ohio, down the road; it doesn’t matter, they can see their horse train live.”
The barn is also open to all investors to visit.
“You’re going to be able to bring … your friends and family out and get pictures taken and watch the horses train… (you can) be a hands-on investor,” said Anthony.
For one investor, this was a way for him to get involved.
Ken Weese of Toronto said he has followed the racing industry for 50 years. He decided to invest 36 shares into three horses from The Stable.
“I’ve always wanted to get involved, but it’s pretty expensive … with Anthony’s program, it’s great, you can get a percentage, whatever you can afford and it’s easy to manage,” said Weese.
He added the program made it easier to break into the horse racing industry.
“It’s hard to get in, I find; I want to have a racehorse, but how do I get into it?” he said.
“With this program, it provides, number one, an avenue to get into the racing … and it’s affordable.”
Weese said he likes to come to visit the barn as much as possible.
“I come as often as I can; that’s what I got involved for. The money is nice, but it’s not all about the money for me. I like to come to the barn, to the training track, to the races for sure. I just love the whole thing,” he said.
Anthony and Amy were inspired to start the fractional ownership program after Anthony lost his bid to become Guelph’s MPP in the 2014 provincial election. Anthony ran as the Progressive Conservative candidate due to the turn of events in the racing industry.
In 2012, then-premier Dalton McGuinty announced he would scrap the slots-at-racetracks program, withdrawing $347 million in annual support for racetracks. The announcement affected Anthony’s career in the racing industry.
“It all came crashing down on me,” he said.
In 2014, Anthony decided to run as the PC party candidate in Guelph over the race track issue.
“What kind of person would I be if I didn’t try to stick up for my industry the best way I could?” he said.
Though he lost, Anthony said he was able to gather vital information about the industry from his discussions with the public.
“What we did was really cement an equation that built thestable.ca and now that it’s built, I think the rest of the industry is finally realizing how important it is for the industry,” he said.
In October, the provincial government announced further subsidies for the industry, pledging $93.4 million each year until 2038.
Anthony said that is a step in the right direction, but he hopes the industry will be able focus on its own revenue streams.
“I think the industry could be structured in a different way,” he said. “We’ve done a pretty good job at staying along, but to actually grow the industry, you’re going to have to market better, you’re going to have to advertise better, you’re going to have to find a way to connect with millennials.”
Amy and Anthony hope the fractional ownership model can help create change within the industry.
“We can show the industry in a tangible, real way that there is growth right there, you just have to work at it in a different way,” said Anthony.
“That’s what thestable.ca brings to horse racing. It brings hope to horse racing.”
