My Horse Racing Story

Since my blog has a large focus on horse racing and as I’ve had a large increase in Twitter followers who are interested in my Saturday tips, I thought I’d tell you a bit about how I go into horse racing and my adventures so far.

Where did my love of horse racing come from I hear you ask, well your guess is as good as mine! Unlike many people involved in racing, none of my family are racing fans. We all had a small interest in the Melbourne Cup every year, but then so does the rest of Australia!

You could say I’ve always been one of those horse mad girls and when I was little a begged my parents for a horse. I’m pretty persuasive, so along came Golly Gosh the Shetland pony (pictured below).

Unfortunately, he got lonely being in our backyard (and very fat), so we had to give him away, but you can’t take the horse out of the girl, so these days I have two miniature horses, Snippy and Missy, who I adore.

One thing about myself and my family is that we’re not afraid of going after what we want. In summer we often have dinner outside and one night I decided that I wanted to own and name a racehorse (something I’ve well and truly ticked off my list now). I had a family friend who had a horse with Impressive Racing here in WA, so I contacted them and here we are today!

When you first meet me, you’d think that I wouldn’t have a clue on what to look for in a horse. This was the assumption the team at Impressive Racing made and to this day it’s one of my favourite racing stories to tell. They were kind enough to show me around their farm, pointing out the horses they had shares available in. After having a look around I said that I liked the look of this horse that was way down the back of this very large paddock. Surprised that I had picked that horse, Impressive Racing admitted that they also had a high opinion of that horse. This horse ended up being Master Magician (who I also named), a winner of 6 races, including 2 Saturday wins and nearly a quarter of a million in prize money. These days I pick out all my horses myself 😛

I also have another side to racing, which is my charity side. I always had the dream of combining my love of racing and giving back to charity and I was very lucky to be approached by a fantastic group of owners.

Rob Humphryson and I were introduced through a work colleague of Dad’s (I think my family were sick of me just talking about racing and wanted me to talk to someone else about it!). He had been a racehorse owner for a while and we hit it off straight away. Rob had this Oratorio filly and knew of my dream to have a horse race for charity. After talking with the other owners, I was gifted a 10% share in her for my 18th birthday with this proportion of prize money going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation (who I chose as I had received a wish myself). Her name was Ace’s Wish, a combination of my initials (Amy Catherine Evans) and because of Make-A-Wish. We raised over $7,000 through her winnings alone!

I must note that Rob is partly the reason I started this blog too. We started tipping against each other over three years ago, as a friendly competition. I no longer just tip horse based on what colour silks they have but spend hours studying the form guide (I currently spend just under two hours doing the form for this blog). I’ve definitely learnt a lot from him when it comes to horses (and also Watching Racehorses and Watching Racehorses 2 by Geoffrey Hutson, books I definitely recommend), so I couldn’t have done it without him.

So where am I these days? Well, I currently own a share in 6 racehorses (at the time of this being posted :P, can’t guarantee that I won’t have brought a share in another horse tomorrow), 2 of which a percentage of their prize money is donated to Make-A-Wish (Shesapocket Rocket and Weaponson). My most successful horse at the moment is The Velvet King, who just won his 6th race on Saturday (including 2 listed wins) and now won over half a million in prize money (update: he’s now won seven races including the Group 3 Northerly at Ascot)! I still cry when my horse wins (you can find these videos on my Instagram page @amy_c_evans) and I can’t see myself not owning horses or at least being involved in racing in the future!

As Geoffrey Hutson said in his book “Racing is addictive. Just a casual association can draw you in. The beauty of the horse. The adrenaline of the race. The vibrancy of the event. Repeat exposure can prove irresistibly habit forming.“