Racehorse syndicate boss Richard Ward celebrated a big win this week when Solo Saxophone, offspring of champion racehorse Frankel, made history with a debut win over hurdles.
It was the biggest success for Huddersfield-based BGC Racing, the syndicate behind the Huddersfield Town racehorse, Huddersfilly Town.
Professional gambler Richard, who now has an office in Southgate, Huddersfield, watched nervously as Solo Saxophone jumped awkwardly and ended up in fifth only to come out on top after the final hurdle at Catterick on Tuesday.
The three-year-old colt, trained by Dan Skelton, is the first of Frankel’s offspring to go hurdling and was the bookmakers’ favourite to make a successful debut over jumps.
Solo Saxophone, bought for 62,000 euros following a relatively unsuccessful flat career, represents a larger than normal investment for the syndicate.
“I was incredibly nervous,” said Richard.
He said the syndicate’s investment as a rule did not normally exceed £10,000 and so the investment in Solo Saxophone had been a risk.
“We decided to take a risk. You can’t put a value on what he (Solo Saxophone) did. This is prestige for the syndicate.”
Winning jockey Harry Skelton admitted he thought it was “game over” during the early stage of the race.
“He got a bit of a scare at the first down the back...on a track like this I thought the game was over.”
Huddersfilly Town won for the second time last weekend, on the all-weather at Chelmsford where she was favourite.
Richard has football-themed horses with many football clubs up and down the country.
He sold Leeds United horse Marchingontogether to a billionaire Qatari sheik for an undisclosed six-figure sum after she won on her first start.
