Potential owners check out the three fillies at Cambridge Raceway on Saturday. Trainer Nicky Chilcott with Dreamy, Tim Hall behind Cassidy and Zev Meredith guiding Tiny. Photo: Tara Hughes, Picket Fence.
They’re Dreamy, Cassidy and Tiny for the moment but if Peter McDermott has his way, they will be Cambridge-based champions within a few years.
And they will have plenty of local support because residents will own the horses through a new racing syndicate managed by McDermott.
Following the success of the Taylor Street Club – a members only area on the ground floor of the Cambridge Raceway grandstand – there is now the opportunity to join a club racing syndicate named after the street the raceway is in.
It involves owning Dreamy, Cassidy and Tiny in a partnership which also gives owners the opportunity to have a “slot” in the million dollar Night of Champions race along with discounted membership in the Taylor Street Club.
Trainers Arna Donnelly, Tim Hall and Nicky Chilcott are all based within spitting distance of the track so watching them train at the raceway could be a regular morning highlight.
McDermott is on the trotting club’s board and has a lifetime love of all sports, particularly cricket. He formerly chaired New Zealand Cricket. His experience will be of valuable help to members.
“Syndicates like the Taylor Street one means you can share the costs and enjoy the ownership experience without breaking the bank,” he said.
Ownership options start from one per cent – $500 first up and $100 a month thereafter – to five per cent, a $2500 first payment and $500 a month.
Owners will all have a say in giving two of the three fillies their racing names.
Two-year-old Tiny, leased from Woodlands Stud and trained by Donnelly, already has Whenyourehavingfun.
“While she’s only a small poppet, she’s a good pacer with a very willing attitude – a wee tough nut,” says Donnelly who is among the leading Waikato trainers with Kango the stable’s star on lifetime earnings of nearly $400,000.
Tim Hall has Cassidy, a yearling leased from Breckon Farms out of Captain Crunch and Cellmemaybe – so a racing name offers all kinds of permutations.
“Everything she did in her first preparation she did with ease. It wouldn’t surprise me if she made early two-year-old fillies’ races and that is the focus this preparation,” says Hall.
Nicky Chilcott will train Dreamy, another yearling and Woodlands Stud leased filly, with her parents being Bettors Delight and Amaretto Dream.
“She is a dream around the barn and though it is early days, she is excellent in her work, has a lovely gait and is certainly showing promise,” says Chilcott of White Star Stables.
