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An introduction similar to most was through the family. Brent’s grandmother often dragged him down to the Kensington TAB where she lived in Whangarei when he stayed with her. Brent fondly recalls the tickets were handwritten, hung on a peg and then phoned to Wellington an hour before the race. During his early teens his parents let him have a few bets, and as luck would have it, the first horse he ever backed… was a winner!
The first horse Brent owned was named “Shergars Niece” (Shergar is a famous stallion who raced in the early 80s with a race record of 8:6:1:0:4 and was later kidnapped and never found!) and won its first start as well! Brent and his wife Wendy were able to buy a few horses thanks to the success of the clothing importing business Brent started in his early 20s and he had horses with Frank Ritchie, Donna Logan and Brian Smith who led to meeting further contacts within the industry. The contacts led to Wendy becoming the NZ Trainers Association CEO and a NZ Racing Industry Board member. Later, working with syndication pioneer Bevin Allen the
y launched a syndicate with Brent’s father’s golfing buddies, and as luck and good fortune would have it, they raced “Rua Rukuna” who won the first Trentham Magic Millions. Through Bevin, they also bought a majority share in “Petanque ” which won nine races including the Hawkes Bay and Great Northern Guineas and began a very successful association with Trevor & Stephen McKee.
Brent has been a member of the Auckland Racing Club since 1986 and in 2008 he was invited to join the Board of Directors to look after the sponsorship portfolio. In 2009 he launched the Ellerslie Winners Circle syndicate which is still operating fifteen years on. He was on the Board until 2021 when the club merged with Counties Racing.
Brent is well known in the industry for his syndication business “Social Racing”. Initially, Social Racing was launched in 2013 by NZTR with free membership of syndicates aligned with brands such as Huffer and ZM radio and celebrities like Hamish Bond, Eric Murray and Mahe Drysdale. It attracted a lot of ‘owners’ but had some initial issues with execution. The following year NZTR CEO Greg Purcell asked Brent to take over and restructure Social Racing where he changed the model to a paid but affordable lease ownership model. Following the success of the flagship rower horse “Aotearower” and with the support of Auckland Racing Club Brent was able to gradually increase the number of syndicates, adding different levels of membership and holding regular on and off-course functions. In 2017 a new marketing and management team at NZTR decided to head in a different direction, thus ending their contract with Brent and Social Racing, but allowing Brent to keep the brand. However, the lack of further endorsement and encouragement from the racing administration and media has left Brent disappointed.
The main trainers Brent uses now are Graham Richardson and Cody Cole who Brent describes as personable, marketable and highly professional. As a syndicate manager, Brent acts as a conduit between trainer and owner, an important role this lets the trainers train the horses and him to communicate with owners. Both Graham and Cody understand the Social Racing concept and are proud to align with it, and importantly the relationship between Brent and the trainers is built on mutual respect and reciprocal promotion and collaboration.
A recent star for Social Racing has been Bonny Lass, owned and bred by fellow former ARC Board member Sandy Moore, a close friend of Brents. They had previously had success racing horses together including Poker Face and Boogie Easy. Sandy had considered putting Bonny on Gavelhouse but Mark Baker (Hallmark Stud) called and asked for Brent to bring Sandy down to try and talk him out of it. Brent and Bonny Lass were love at first sight and he offered to syndicate and manage her.
Brent had been wanting to give Graham Richardson and Rogan Norvall another horse for some time and when Bonny was looking to go to a training stable it all fell into place. Brent was especially delighted that she was able to win the Matamata Breeders Stakes – a race that Graham had always wanted to win. Brent highlights that “Richie’s” communication is first class and he provides a great service, allowing their relationship to flourish. Richardson Racing currently has eight horses for five syndicate groups on the books for Social Racing.
Considering recent news of the recent projected increase in stakes money and a much-needed boost for stakeholders. However, after years of mismanagement from the TAB, Brent remains cautious about the future. While this is helpful we must ensure that the industry can keep up with the advances of technology and the disposable entertainment dollar, while making racing more accessible virtually. We also need not just high-quality horses, but elite venues and events to attract people and stimulate betting.
With the closure of two of the best racecourses in the north island, Brent has noticed a recent disengagement from owners and the ‘social’ aspect has taken a major hit. While stake money is important, it is largely the interactive and social part of Brent’s syndications that are the attraction rather than the financial gain.
Changes to the industry that Brent would like to see revolve around support and promotion. We need to do more to attract new owners to the industry at all demographic levels. The entry point needs to be shown as fun and affordable – that anyone can be involved in racing. Following this, it allows for a natural progression to go on to higher and bigger levels of ownership. But support for small syndicators is essential as they are the ‘welcoming committee’ to racing.
Better promotion of employment is needed. Within the industry, there is a job for everyone and it would be critical to see it promoted positively to attract new staff and keep staff in the industry.
The thing that gets Brent out of bed every day and into racing is the love of the horse and having passion for the industry. The passion is fueled by the fellow Social Racing syndicate member with whom Brent shares the pain of failure and things going wrong but also the absolute sheer joy when it all goes well and the complete euphoria when you win.
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