The smart money
Harry Herbert swapped the stage for the paddock to set up Europe’s leading horseracing syndicate and hasn’t looked back
BRED AND BUTTER
Although he’s now a racing expert, the Hon. Harry Herbert (above) once preferred the call of the stage to the sound of the starting gun
interview boyd farrow portrait tim white
THE Hon. Harry Herbert’s background is the sort that would make a great movie. His great-grandfather, thefifth Earl of Carnarvon,financed the expedition that discovered pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 and died a few months later, thereby fuelling the legend of the ‘curse of Tutankhamun’. His father married an American senator’s sister, bred Derby winners at the 6,000-acre family pile – Highclere Castle – and became one of the Queen’s closest friends. Now, Herbert, who has ample charisma to match his 6’ 6” frame, hobnobs with the likes of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, and Pop Idol judge Simon Cowell, who are among those who have been drawn to the adrenalin-surging excitement of top-flight horse racing.
Herbert runs Highclere Thoroughbred Racing (HTR), Europe’s leading racehorse syndication company. Set up in 1998, it enables small groups of individuals to share ownership of top-quality horses, which were once the preserve of the extremely wealthy. Last June, Motivator, ridden by Johnny Murtagh, became thefirst syndicate-owned horse to win the Derby and as the company gears up for this year’s race and the opening of Ascot, expectations are high – many hopes rest with a million-dollar horse called Asset.
Surprisingly, given his own breeding, Herbert says he was disinterested in horses “after the age of 10”. Seated in Highclere’s gothic entrance hall, and looking every inch to-the-manor-born, he recalls: “Racing was spoken about at breakfast, lunch and tea in our house. I remember the excitement when a horse won and the gloom that descended when one didn’t. I didn’t like the way it took over everything. And I was more interested in becoming an actor.”
Herbert narrowly missed out on the chance to study acting at the prestigious drama school RADA, so he formed the Theatres in Trust company with some friends from his Eton schooldays, and performed at Victoria’s Westminster Theatre until his father told him to earn a proper living. A four-year period at a city stockbrokers ensued but he is dismissive of his time there: “I licked stamps.”
In time, Herbert warmed to the idea of a career in the racing business, but was wary of the sort of legup he might have been thought to receive, given that his father was the Queen’s racing manager. Instead, he took advantage of his mother’s American passport and worked in the US for Bloodstock Research, a Kentucky company that determines thoroughbred bloodlines, and then Matchmaker Group, a bloodstock sales andfinance company.
When he returned to the UK in 1984, he set up his own thoroughbred management company, HMH Management. Herbert courted racing heavyweights Michael Smurfit and Nick Robinson to back what was one of thefirst racing syndicates, Kennet Valley Thoroughbreds, formed to try to win the Cartier Million race. The outfit syndicated four horses, whichfinished second and third, and picked up £300,000.
It was after this that he went on to set up HTR with John Warren, who famously grew up on a council estate and worked as a stable lad before he took over from Herbert’s father as the Queen’s racing manager. Warren, who also married Harry’s sister, Lady Caroline, has a legendary eye for horses. It was only HTR’s second year when Warren bought Lake Coniston for £23,000. The horse became European champion sprinter and was sold for £2.5m. But perhaps the most famous was Petrushka, which won the Irish Oaks and the Prix de L’Opera. Bought for £60,000, she was sold to Sheikh Mohammed in 2001 for £3m. Other Highclere big guns include Tamarisk (£3m) and Highest (£1.7m).
Syndicates usually consist of 10 to 20 shareholders, who pay between £8,000 and £30,000 a year to be involved with three horses. This compares favourably with the £20,000-plus cost of training, insuring, vetting and travel for a single horse. A syndicate life lasts two years and horses compete at the top level as two and three-year-olds.
“For many people who want to get involved in racing at a higher level, this is a great way.” says Herbert. “It offers the best chance of coming up with a good horse – that is where our expertise comes in – and they can see their horse run at the biggest race meetings, which is tremendously exciting for them. We take the hassle out of ownership. It’s like having a protection policy, but without losing any of the benefits of sole ownership. And the syndicates are deliberately very small so we can offer a real hand-holding, personal service.”
Herbert stresses, though, that no one should ever buy in to racehorses to make money – the odds are against you – and that it should be seen as a hobby, even if it can be profitable. Nevertheless, HTR’sfigures look good: since 1992, it has spent £9.7m on yearlings, and has earned £16.9m selling bloodstock.
Many people with high-pressured jobs – such as Sir Alex Ferguson –find racing a relaxing pastime. Ferguson has become a good friend of Herbert’s since he became involved in several of the syndicates, and is always bemused by the racing expert’s lack of knowledge about the beautiful game. “Once, I called Alex to tell him about a horse,” Herbert groans, “and he said ‘do you know what tonight is? I’m leading a team out for a big European match in about an hour’. But even then he thought it was funny and it helped to relieve the tension for a few minutes.”
Something of the thespian remains about Herbert. He drips bonhomie and adds to the sense of fun that attracts many of his shareowners. Because he is a member of the Jockey Club – as well as founder and racing manager to the Royal Ascot Racing Club, and racing consultant to Cartier – HTR shareholders get to use a private box at Newbury racecourse and stay in the Jockey Club rooms at Newmarket. HTR even has a company-branded plane.
And, for many, there is a certain pleasure in being able to probe Herbert’s own bloodline at close quarters – a selling point he undoubtedly plays on. Among the annual highlights are the mid-October yearling parades at Highclere, where current and potential shareholders get thefirst sight of their new horses. While John Warren explains his reasons for purchasing them, Herbert hosts a champagne reception in his sumptuous family home – designed by Sir Charles Barry to be a mini version of his Palace of Westminster.
Of course, although the racing may be fun for participants, these days the castle has to earn its keep. Run as a business by Herbert’s brother, the present Earl of Carnarvon, the house is used for corporate entertaining and conferences as well as events such as Highclere Rocks – the picnic concert held in May, which featured Eric Clapton and Brian Ferry. Highclere has also hosted a wedding reception for publicity junkies Jordan and Peter Andre and severalfilm shoots, including the masked party scenes for Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Herbert assures us that nothing occurred on either of those occasions to frighten the horses.
