Seconds Out: Oli Bell's Monthly Blog

Hello everyone and a warm welcome to RaceShare. We are all really excited about this project and hopefully plenty of you are too!

This is my monthly Seconds Out blog where I will be talking all things racing. Whether that’s the hot topics, the key races, or interviews with the big names, I will endeavour to make this blog insightful, interesting and (hopefully) entertaining. There will be loads of content coming your way if you’re an owner with us including a monthly show which I, and the knowledgeable (and very funny) Ross Brierley will host, plus regular social media videos and content which the extremely talented Olivia Kold will be in charge of. That obviously is all additional content that will supplement the constant updates on the horses from the trainers and team at RaceShare.

As this is the first blog I will use this as an opportunity to share my thoughts on the RaceShare stable of horses and hopefully whet the appetite for the year ahead. I know from speaking to the team throughout the purchasing process that there has been an awful lot of care, thought and precision that has gone into assembling as strong an opening squad as possible and hopefully, as outlined below, there will be something for everyone.

JOLLY NELLERIE
First up we start with our National Hunt horse Jolly Nellerie. A 3yo currently (turns 4 on January 1st) who was formerly trained in France by the great Guillaume Macaire and is now in the hands of Grand National winning trainer Venetia Williams. This horse has some strong French form that is working out really nicely having beaten Fils De Roi by 14 lengths at Dieppe – with Fils De Roi subsequently winning at Huntingdon. Venetia Williams sees Jolly Nellerie as a horse to progress from hurdles to fences in the next few seasons. Who knows perhaps we will see the RaceShare silks at the Cheltenham festival in the near future and follow her stable star L’Homme Presse into that iconic winners enclosure!

SCAMPI
I know the Racing League isn’t everyone’s cup of tea (for what it's worth I welcome new ideas and initiatives and if it ends up not working, so be it, at least people have been brave enough to try something), but irrespective of whether you love or hate the league it has allowed for really competitive racing given the prize money up for grabs. It takes a good, talented and well handicapped horse to win a Racing League race and we have one in our squad….Scampi! He was victorious on his penultimate start in the Racing League at Doncaster winning impressively and went to Newcastle afterwards where he ran well in the circumstances, finishing fifth with the race not run to suit. He is still very well handicapped in my opinion and he won't need to climb too much in the weights to be in the hat for some of the big festival handicaps at the likes of Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood and York.

LA PULGA
From one father and son training combo to another. La Pulga was formerly trained by Roger and Harry Charlton but is now in the care of the formidable duo of Mark and Charlie Johnston. The trainers need no introduction but for those less familiar with La Pulga then certainly at this moment in time the future looks very bright. Winning or placed in over 50% of his trips to the races, he won stylishly at Salisbury under Ryan Moore on his final start of 2022. He will relish staying trips on the flat and has the profile of a horse that Mark and Charlie will excel with. I was terrible at languages at school, in fact, I was terrible in most lessons at school, but I am reliably informed that La Pulga is Spanish for ‘Flea’ and is the nickname for categorically the greatest footballer to ever walk the earth, Lionel Messi. As an aside, how anyone can say Ronaldo was/is better, I'll never know!

RED MIRAGE
This horse has the accolade of being RaceShare’s highest rated purchase to date with a Timeform rating of 101 and with 5 wins to his name from 14 starts. Formerly trained by another of our RaceShare trainers Andrew Balding, this season Red Mirage is now in the care of John Quinn who had such a monumental 2022 with the likes of Highfield Princess. I thought Red Mirage’s most recent run at Goodwood when fourth in a blanket finish was an impressive display and given Red Mirage’s progression, consistency, attitude and rating, it is fair to assume we will be heading back to some of the premier tracks with this horse next year. The Quinn family are not only seriously gifted trainers they're also thoroughly
enjoyable company and win, lose or draw a racing experience with them is second to none.

TREASURE TIME
Thanks to the exploits of the likes of Baaeed, William Haggas so nearly won the trainers championship last season and therefore when we were assembling the squad of trainers, the team at RaceShare were very keen to secure his services. Thankfully, he and his team are huge supporters of RaceShare and were delighted to join the squad. The horse that William will train is an unraced yearling colt by Time Test out of Penny Drops who has already produced two proper horses in Outgate and Badri. Treasure Time will hopefully take us on a journey from debut run to Group One glory. I know I'm an optimist but having owned yearlings in the past I can honestly say it was such a fun and memorable experience. You really do go on a journey with the horse, you see the horse grow, you meet many like-minded people and as the penny starts to drop (excuse the pun), and you see your horse develop into a proper racehorse, there really is nothing more satisfying.

So that’s a look at the horses that will kick off the RaceShare squad for 2023. If you’re reading this and need a last-minute Christmas present then head to the website, raceshare.com and you can buy or gift a Full House package, which is a share in every horse, or of course buy shares in the individual horse you are keen on.

I know from chatting extensively to the team that there is a real desire and ambition to give each and every RaceShare owner the best experience possible and with that in mind we will regularly produce content to keep you informed and updated. I'm really excited to get cracking with RaceShare in the new year and meeting many of you out and about along the way, whether that’s during a stable visit or on the racecourse cheering one of our horses on.

The other important point to mention is that we want to hear from you, any questions or queries you have then please let the RaceShare team know. For me racing needs to be as accessible as possible to as many people as possible which is why I am a massive supporter of initiatives such as this. With that in mind, please don’t ever hesitate to contact us. As a RaceShare owner we are in this together and I look forward to celebrating on a racecourse with you all soon.

Finally, all that’s left for me to say for now is have a very merry Christmas, a brilliant new year and here's to 2023 with RaceShare.