“I’m at my happiest when I’m at the track, surrounded by horses and friends!”
What does your Fred profile say?
I just couldn’t imagine my life without racing. The beauty of the horse, the thundering sound as they run down the straight, the adrenaline rush of a win and I found my second family that I never knew I needed. I’m at my happiest when I’m at the track, surrounded by horses and friends!
Everyone has a story about getting into racehorse ownership - what's yours?
How I got involved in racing is a bit of an interesting story. Unlike many, my family was never involved in racing, besides from having a small bet on the Melbourne Cup each year. I always loved horses though and convinced my parents to let me have a Shetland pony growing up (and now I have two miniature horses). One day on a summers night as my family was sitting outside having dinner, I decided that I wanted to win the Melbourne Cup and obviously, I need a horse to do that. A family friend had a horse with Impressive Racing, so within days I had contacted them and organised a time to visit their farm to pick a horse.
You don’t get many young, disabled females involved in racing, so they were very surprised when I turned up. Wanting to make sure my first ownership experience was a good one, they showed me around the farm and at the horses they had shares available in but had organised privately with my Dad to get me involved in a good horse. The horse I picked was way down the back of this paddock. It turned out Impressive Racing had a good opinion of him and let’s just say that now everyone turns to me when they pick horses.
I ticked off another racing bucket list with that horse too, with my name Master Magician being chosen as his racing name. I’ve been addicted since and the rest is history!
What's been your most memorable experience as an owner so far?
It’s hard to pick just one memorable experience, but I think it would be the lead up to my first Group 1 race (the Railway Stakes). The Velvet King had won the Group 3 Northerly Stakes, not only guarantying him a spot in the Railway Stakes but giving me the biggest win of my racing career. Then I was the lucky (haha or unlucky, depending on how you look at it) to draw his barrier for the Railway Stakes. I was told to draw between barrier 2 and 8 and ended up with barrier six. You should have seen my face, full of relief, when the number was revealed. We were one of the key favourites leading into the race and the pressure was like nothing I’d felt before. Unfortunately, things didn’t go to plan, and he didn’t win, but it was the best experience.
If you could own any horse in the world (past or present) which one would it be?
This is a very hard question, but I think it would be Winx. I was at Randwick for her last race and the atmosphere was just electric. To have a horse that I could share with the public and to have them love the horse as much as I do would be the dream. Rogan Josh would be the other horse I’d love to own. It’s no secret that the Melbourne Cup is the race I’d like to win the most, but I’d like the horse to have humble begins here in WA, just like Rogan Josh.
We know it's impossible to stop at one, so what's your ownership stable looking like now?
Very full, but there is always room for more!! I’m very lucky in that my ownership stable is filled with some very good horses, including The Velvet King (Universal Ruler gelding) and Clairvoyance (Nostradamus filly), who is unbeaten in her four starts and getting lots of attention from the racing industry on social media. I’ve also got 3 two-year-olds (including a full sister to The Velvet King) and a yearling with Impressive Racing.
I’ve also been lucky enough to be gifted shares in three horses, two of which are yet to hit the track. I’m a nothing in, nothing out owner, with my share of prize money going to the Make-A-Wish Australia Foundation, a cause I’m very passionate about having been a Wish child myself (I swam with the dolphins in 2009). Our first horse was Ace’s Wish (a combination of my initials Amy Catherine Evans and Make-A-Wish) back in 2016 and thanks to those owners, we’ve raised over $10,000 for Make-A-Wish.
I’m not going to lie though, at the time of answering these questions I’ve got my eye on another yearling and two foals. So, don’t expect this ownership stable to slow down any time soon!
How do you decide which horses to get involved with?
The charity horses I don’t get a say in, but for the horses from Impressive Racing it’s a combination of looks and what the heart/gut says, plus a touch of breeding. The reason I say a touch of breeding is that I have a twin sister and we are so different, so I apply the same theory to racehorse siblings. I continue to buy shares in Impressive Racing horses too because that stable does such a great job at looking after me as an owner.
People say that I have an eye for horses, which makes it a bit hard to explain when people ask how I pick them. However, when it comes to looks, Mum says I have a type; big and muscley. A horse’s walk/movement is important to me too, they must be loose, something I learnt from reading “Watching Racehorses” by Gerald Whately. I’m a sucker for white markings too (The Velvet King’s face was the reason I fell in love with him).
The heart/gut is nearly always right though, and I let it guide me in every purchase (which is really not helping at the moment when it comes to not buying more horses!). Horses like Clairvoyance I picked nearly purely on a gut feeling (she had a good look about her too). I met her when she was just 6 months old and she stood out in the paddock even then. It’s easy to see it now, but she just has the x-factor aura that is hard to explain but even harder to ignore.
Sometimes I’ll ask the opinions of others in the stable and Darren (the trainer), but if a horse ticks my boxes, I’ll always buy a share (haha if I can afford it!).
If you want to learn more about how Amy picks her racehorses, click here to read her blog.
Anything you didn’t know at the start of your ownership journey that you wished you knew?
It’s so much more affordable than you realise! The joy you get from racing is just priceless though!
