Royal Racing Club

IF you are living in north Leinster the Royal Racing Club might be the one for you.

Chris Timmons set up and co-ordinates the club activities with all the information you need to get involved on the website royalracingclub.ie.

Currently, the club has five horses running under the banner to be campaigned on the flat and over jumps and those are in training, dispersed with Meath trainers Sheila Lavery, Gavin Cromwell, Thomas Coyle, with Dermot McLoughlin and Shane Crawley hopefully on the list to come aboard.

“Our flagbearer was Danehill Quest (Lavery), who was second four times for us last season and will hopefully go over hurdles in the autumn,” Timmons said.

“We’ve a nice three-year-old filly called Jazzelle. She strengthened up a lot over the winter and will be a nice one for this summer.

“We hope Cosmic Jazz will be competitive in summer hurdles – she’s a very good jumper.” Royal Marksman is with Thomas Coyle and Becozuworthadd, a two-year-old filly is another to watch as she is related to a lot of winners and is due out soon.

It’s been a difficult few months for anyone in racehorse ownership. “Covid-19 has been a nightmare. We lost a few members who wouldn’t have been working, but then racing is getting a lot of exposure on RTÉ and we’ve picked up new members that way.”

Members can have the opportunity to see their horses behind the scenes too.

“We use an app called the Racing Manager and trainers can put videos up and race replays. They have a bit of banter amongst themselves on the WhatsApp group.”

Membership is capped at 100 and costs €600 for a year or monthly payments of €60 plus sign-up fee. The club have 25% of the horses with an option to sell leased shares.

In normal times, members are notified immediately when a Club horse is entered in a race and invited to apply for tickets by email or telephone.

The Club’s share of the prize money, after HRI deductions, is distributed among the members at the end of the calendar year.

Chris is hopefully of having a decent summer ahead. “It’s not a nice time to be a racehorse owner when they can’t go racing but we’ve a couple of nice horses to go to war with this year and we’ve a nice friendly bunch of people.”

The detailed website will answer many of the questions you might need.

Web: royalracingclub.ie

Email: info@royalracingclub.ie

Anne Marie Duff