Goodwood racehorse owners hoping for double dose of success

The GROG syndicate hope for success on two fronts as both their current horses are sent into action.

Their three-year-old Goodwood Moonlight is lined up to run in the Hickstead Show Ground Handicap at Lingfield this afternoon (June 4, 3.40pm) as he looks to build on a seventh-place finish at his home track at the start of May.

Then GROG’s two-year-old Goodwood Zodiac is set for his track debut at Windsor next Monday in a six-furlong maiden.

Both horses are trained by Angmering’s William Knight and GROG racing manager Gail Brown is hoping for a successful season.

The group are still on a high after the success of Goodwood Mirage – sold for a near-1,000 per cent profit after a highly-successful couple of years with GROG – and would love to see some of that magic reappear with Moonlight or Zodiac.

Brown said: “Goodwood Zodiac’s work has been pleasing. He’s a son of Kodiac, who’s a champion sire of two-year-olds so there’s reason to think he’s worth putting into a race fairly early in his two-year-old season.

“He’s flourished in the past month and looks physically ready and seems quite natural, although we had thought we might need to wait until around July to enter him into his first race.”

A number of members of the syndicate, formed more than 20 years ago by the Duke of Richmond, are likely to be at Windsor to see Zodiac’s debut, and the same is true of Moonlight’s run at Lingfield today.

Brown added: “He’s not grown too much over the winter and so far this year has run one slightly-disappointing race at Goodwood when there was a little bit of give in the ground.

“He had a couple of niggles as a two-year-old and in hindsight, we perhaps shouldn’t have put him in a couple of evening races last autumn.”

GROG are thriving, with their 23rd scheme now being launched and likely to sell out like the current one. Members join for two years and pay just over £900, enjoying many benefits including admission to race meetings, social events, the chance to go on high-quality racing trips abroad and excellent access to their horses at Angmering Park.

There’s always the chance of a nice chunk of the investment coming back at the end of the two years. depending on how well each horse performs and then brings in at the sales.

A tripto see racing in Cape Town next January is among the highlights for anyone who joins the new GROG scheme. You can find out more at www.goodwood.com/horse-racing/racehorse-ownership or ring Gail Brown on 07860 361444.

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