Crowdfunding launch targets horseracing fans

Former Liverpool and England striker Michael Owen, who is now a well-known racehorse owner, has teamed up with newspaper City A.M. to purchase four promising horses.

Horseracing fans can buy a stake in the company, the City A.M. Horse Alpha Co, from £500 through the crowdfunding platform InvestDen.

The money raised will be used to buy the horses and pay for the first year’s training and stable fees, veterinary bills and racing costs. The horses will be trained at Owen’s Manor House Stables in Cheshire.

Owen said yesterday: “This is an exciting and fun way to get involved in the horse racing industry. The horses we buy will be given the best possible training facilities and I’m looking forward to welcoming fellow owners to my stables and to the races on special hospitality days to watch them run.”

This opportunity qualifies for Enterprise Investment Scheme status, which means that an investment will have a tax benefit of 30 per cent provided that there is an offsetting income tax liability. Also investments could be capital gains tax exempt if the shares are held for three years.

The first horse chosen by expert trainer Tom Dascombe is a thoroughbred colt sired by a stallion which won over £500,000 in prize money and now earns €40,000 a time in stud fees.

Matt Novak, chief executive of InvestDen, said: “This deal demonstrates the democratisation of racehorse ownership, making it available to the majority rather than just the ultra-rich.”