Everybody loves Raymond

Features | 13th September 2018

The outcome of an inquisitive phone call prompted by an advertisement in the Racing Post five years ago will see Steve Straker and his 14‐year‐old son join some of the biggest names in British horse racing in the parade ring before the William Hill St Leger at Doncaster on Saturday.

An IT Manager based in the South‐East, Straker has in recent months been to places many other owners will never
get to visit having watched the horse he part‐owns under the Middleham Park Racing banner, Raymond Tusk, line up against rivals in Listed and Group races, and most notably in the Coral‐Eclipse Stakes at Sandown, where he was beaten only nine lengths into sixth place.

For Straker, a fan of racing since first being told stories by his Granddad about the old racecourse in Manchester and accompanying him on early visits to Chester, it has been an experience about which he could only have dreamed.

“My son and I watched the Eclipse in the owners and trainers’ box at Sandown next to John Gosden, who trained the winner, Roaring Lion. After the race, he shook my son’s hand and said what a good race our horse had run – we had an unbelievable time,” he explains.

Straker first contacted the Middleham Park team, one of the pioneers of modern group ownership in British racing, in 2013.

“I rang the number and got hold of Mike Prince (one of the founders of the hugely‐successful operation) who was on his way to watch one of his horses run at the races that day,” he says.

The conversation must have gone well, for it culminated in Straker purchasing a small share in a filly called Whisky Marmalade.

Success did not come immediately. A trier, albeit not the fastest horse in training, Whisky Marmalade finally broke her duck in January 2016 in a lowly handicap at Wolverhampton. Happily, by then, Straker had already caught the bug – so much so, that he estimates he has owned shares in around 30 Middleham Park‐syndicated horses since that first investment.

“I’ve loved every minute, but this year has been by far the best,” he says. “As well as Raymond Tusk, I have a share in Burnt Sugar, who has won two massive handicaps in the Bunbury Cup and the International on King George day at Ascot, and who runs in a big race at Leopardstown as part of Irish Champions Weekend on Saturday too – in fact, I’m calling it ‘Syndicate Super Saturday’. It’s just a shame I can’t be in two places at once.

“I believe there are seven owners in Raymond Tusk and for the first time, everyone is planning to be there on Saturday. A couple haven’t been able to get to every race, but I’ve met them all at various meetings. The main shareholder is a gentleman called Kulbir Sohi, who is a very clever guy and a great businessman – I’m happy to have him doing the thinking and making the decisions!

“My son still has another couple of years before he gets to do his GCSEs but he has become really interested in the sport, particularly in the bloodstock side, and now he wants to do a course in the future that might help him get a career in racing.

“It’s a bit of a cliché, but we do all genuinely get on with each other and when it comes to guys like me being able to live their dreams, owning horses in syndicates and partnerships is by far the best way to do it.

“I was saying to a friend of mine the other day that sometimes you do have to pinch yourself – I was in the queue for coffee at Ascot and got chatting to Paul Nicholls, who was in front of me, who was asking about my involvement in racing… you just think, in how many other sports would you have the chance to get that close to the big names?”