A stroke of luck tends to go a long way in racing, and serendipity certainly had a hand in leading owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede forming their increasingly successful partnership.

Racing captured their imaginations during their respective childhoods, with Munir attending Kempton with his grandfather while Souede visited the stables of trainer Maurice Zilber, who was friendly with his parents.

Both then went on to successful careers in hedge fund management. But they hadn’t joined the dots of their shared interest until Souede happened to notice the screensaver on Munir’s phone while they were at a conference at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore during the summer of 2012.

The image was of the Munir-owned Une Artiste winning the Fred Winter at that year’s Cheltenham Festival. The conversation that followed sowed the seed for what has become one of the most successful alliances in the game.

Although good fortune helped bring the pair together, little has been left to chance subsequently. Renowned bloodstock agent Anthony Bromley is the owners’ racing manager and Daryl Jacob is their retained rider. Together they have seen the familiar double green silks carried to success by some top-class talents.

They have finished runner-up to J.P. McManus in the British owners’ championship in six of the last seven seasons and raced the likes of Bristol De Mai, Footpad, L’Ami Serge, Sceau Royal and the appropriately named Top Notch. The owners added to an already enviable Cheltenham record with a memorable double at last year’s Festival when El Fabiolo took out the Arkle and Impaire Et Passe cleared away with the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle.

The connection with Bromley goes back to the spring of 2009 when Munir approached the agent about expanding his own racing interests.

Clicked early

“We clicked from the very first meeting,” says Bromley. “The meeting was scheduled to be an hour and we ended up talking for three and a half because we got on so well. I had a sense it would grow into something, but what it would grow into I didn’t know. I certainly didn’t know it would get quite as large as it has.”

The initial phase of that growth saw Bromley make six purchases on Munir’s behalf. All six won. The first buy, Radium, went on to run second in the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle, while the sixth purchase, the Nicky Henderson-trained Soldatino, won the Triumph Hurdle earlier on the same Cheltenham card.

“From the outset Simon was quite ambitious about having a good size string and he understood about needing numbers to help get quality,” says Bromley. “But if I hadn’t done well it could’ve all fizzled out in 18 months. The fact that the first six horses all won, including a Cheltenham Festival winner, certainly helped set the boulder rolling down the hill.

“I’m very grateful to them because I’ve bought them a lot of slow horses too,” he adds. “How someone takes defeat is always a good indicator and they’re very level-headed and take losing and winning in equal measure. If I ever get a bit above my station then Simon soon mentions the names of some of the bad ones to keep my feet on the ground! It’s always done in a well-meaning way though. We’ve become very good friends and it’s not just a client relationship anymore. We’re very close and it’s been a pleasure to have worked with them for so long.”

Bromley’s eye for future talent helped sustain momentum as the dynamic between the partners evolved. Souede took his first shares in Munir’s horses after their conversation in the Raffles Hotel. As his enthusiasm grew, so did his investment. They now own everything 50-50.

Investment strategy

The partnership owns a substantial string of racehorses split between a variety of trainers in Britain, France and Ireland. The strategy behind stocking and managing the string is not unlike the work Munir and Souede are accustomed to in their professional lives.

“Being fund managers and dealing with stocks and shares, they’re used to analysis and making quick decisions based on that analysis,” says Bromley. “There’s an element that they know stocks can go down as well as up, and they understand that’s what can happen in the horse racing game too. They’ve taken on board that you have to have a wide-ranging portfolio of different horses to create success.”

While the owners have evidently invested heavily, their financial risk is spread strategically. This means they have declined to get involved in the trend of the big-money transactions from France or the point-to-point field.

“I look at it as if I were spending my own money so I’m reluctant to spend mega prices on these geldings,” says Bromley. “We’re not actually the high-spending owners that some people might imagine. We try not to break the bank because the risks attached to them are the same for a horse that cost half a million or one that cost €100,000.

“It’s not rocket science. You’ve got to get all your boxes ticked and the probability in your favour but then you need a huge slice of luck. Some horses progress and some go backwards, but you can’t predict which ones are going to work out. That’s what keeps us playing the great game. If we really knew, we’d only own five or six horses. It’s still a numbers game.”

Cheltenham winners

Ahead of this interview Bromley produces a hand-written roll of honour of Munir and Souede’s Cheltenham runners. The list is headed by seven winners, an enviable tally by most standards. But far from focussing on having sourced a slew of significant talents, the agent offers his own frank assessment of team double green’s Festival record.

“There’s a lot of angst around looking at that list as there have been a lot of agonising, photo finish seconds,” he says. “We’ve had a huge amount of graded winners in Britain, Ireland and France, but not that many at the Cheltenham Festival. I wish we could’ve had more. I’ve bought a lot of Cheltenham Festival winners over my career but I’ve always wanted to have more for Simon and Isaac.”

Among the 14 close seconds at the Festival, Concertista ranks as not only the most painful but also the most extraordinary. She was beaten a short-head by Eglatine Du Seuil in the Dawn Run Mares’ Novices Hurdle on her debut over obstacles back in 2019.

“It was agonising to get beaten by the shortest of short-heads with Concertista at 66/1 on her hurdling debut,” recalls Bromley. “That was quite astounding. I remember trying to look for positives after we’d lost the photo finish and I said ‘At least we can come back for this race next year as she’ll still be a novice’. I got some funny looks from the whole team after that comment.”

Fortunately that is precisely what transpired.

“She won the race in 2020 with Daryl riding so that was a great day,” he adds. “It was a complete surprise the first time around but we got a lot of pleasure when she went and did it the following year. That’s the only Festival winner Daryl’s had in the double green and we all knew how much that meant to him.”

Concertista went on top the December National Hunt Sale at Goffs where, consigned through Rathmore Stud, she sold to Dash Grange Stud for €220,000.

Cherished moment

There have been other moments that were memorable for the right reasons too, and Bromley nominates the 2015 Triumph Hurdle as his most cherished result with Munir and Souede.

“When Peace And Co beat Top Notch in a photo for the Triumph Hurdle, a race in which I’d also bought the third, Hargam, for Nicky Henderson, that day stands out because of the one-two,” he says. “And El Fabiolo beating Jonbon has to be up there as it was probably the best performance we’ve seen in their colours.”

All things being equal, El Fabiolo will be the first name on the 2024 Festival team sheet having long since occupied odds-on favouritism for the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase.

His rise through the ranks has been little short of meteoric. He was bought privately after finishing third in the Prix Finot at Auteuil for Patricia Butel and Jean-Luc Beaunez, and has since progressed from maiden hurdle winner to the most exciting two-mile chaser around in under two years.

“What we paid for him seems ridiculously cheap compared to what others are making,” says Bromley. “All thanks goes to the late, great David Powell who did the deal for us at the time. He’d seen the horse on the day [at Auteuil], we haggled over the price and got the deal done. He was less money than Impaire Et Passe was, and he was bought online for €155,000.

“He was a great, big horse so we gave him a bit of time and he didn’t come out until the next season, when he won very impressively at Tramore on New Year’s Day. He missed the Dublin Racing Festival and was going to have to go to Cheltenham on the back of a maiden hurdle in Ireland and that run at Auteuil.

“I’m pleased that he blotted his copybook in the last away-day gallop before the Cheltenham Festival as that gave me half an excuse to talk Willie into not running against Constitution Hill in the Supreme. I thought that was the clever route but we still bumped into Jonbon and got beaten in a closely run finish [in the Top Novices’ Hurdle] at Aintree.”

Rate of progress

El Fabiolo’s rate of progress has accelerated since going over fences, reaching an official rating of 172 in just five starts. However, Bromley feels he still has ground to make up before he can be spoken about alongside other Cheltenham icons.

“He’s just been a revelation over fences,” he says. “He’s a very slick, fast jumper. He’s almost a bit too flat over his fences at times. He’s so lightly raced that it’s hard not to feel that there could be more progression in him. He’s hugely exciting. He hasn’t won a championship race yet, though. His rating suggests he’s the best horse that’s ever been in the double green, but his position is still to be cemented.

“He’s still got some things to prove but I hope he can, obviously. Some of the stars of the past I was involved in – Kauto Star, Big Buck’s, Master Minded, Long Run – they did it for a number of seasons at the championship level.

“At the moment El Fabiolo has a higher rating than some of those at the same stage of their careers, which is a bit surreal. It’s amazing to be involved with a very smart one again though and it’s the icing on the cake that it’s for these clients as I’ve been desperate to get them a big horse. El Fabiolo has the potential to be their pinnacle horse.”

El Fabiolo is, of course, trained by Willie Mullins, who has had horses for team double green since 2013.

Mullins phenomenon

“Willie is very different to any other trainer I’ve dealt with - his success rate is phenomenal,” says Bromley. “You know when you send a horse in there, if it has any Grade 1 capabilities, he’ll find it and give it that chance. Yes, you might end up being one of five from the stable in the race, but you know you’ll get that chance. You won’t get told that the trainer has something else for the race and you can’t run. That’s how he’s managed to keep the big clients content, because they know their horse will get every opportunity to run in a Grade 1, if the horse is up to it.”

There may be no escaping the magnitude of the Cheltenham Festival, but Bromley stresses that those four days are not the be all and end all for team double green.

They bought 15 flat yearlings in 2023 at the end of a campaign that saw their high-class two-year-old Relief Rally land the Lowther Stakes. They are also taking an increasing involvement in Irish racing, with horses in training with Joseph O’Brien, Richard O’Brien and Tom Gibney.

Stuart Crawford not only trains a significant number of their horses too, but also operates as something of an academy for Munir and Souede’s youngstock. The Festival-bound trio of Boldog, Largy Hill and It’s For Me, who beat fellow Goffs Arkle Sale graduate Caldwell Potter last time out, all graduated from his Newlands operation.

Whether it’s El Fabiolo at Cheltenham or another member of the diverse, international string, it is surely only a matter of time before Munir and Souede’s next big winner. With a clear and proven strategy for success, the future isn’t just bright, it’s double green.