One of the cool things about Authentic winning the Derby is that he had many owners who bought in using racehorse microshares. Authentic was part of MyRacehorse, but there others, including Wasabi Venture Stables. These programs allow you to purchase a small (.5 or 1%) share of a racehorse and then enjoy the thrill of being an owner.

Although most people aren’t going to retire on their race horse’s winnings, the microshare programs are designed to give you pride of ownership, a feeling of connection, and the thrill of cheering your horse across the finish line. When it’s the Kentucky Derby, that’s a pretty big thrill. Other perks include backside visits, tickets to races, and even the opportunity to suggest names for two-year olds and yearlings. From the reviews I’ve read, people who go into the experience with the idea that this is a way to feel part of racing, have a good time. People who hope to get their money out (or make a profit), not so much. Someone on Reddit wrote they had received a $2 payment when their horse won a race, and that they had $178 to go to break even. Of course, the profits are determined only after purchase price, training, maintenance and vet bills are paid. As horse owners, we all know that the cost of keeping a horse in tip-top competition shape can be high.

Right after the Kentucky Derby I took at look at MyRacehorse. They had one horse available for syndication, who has now sold out. The program FAQs describes the details. Note that MyRaceHorse.com specifies that buyers must be 18 and that the investment cannot exceed 10% of their annual income.

There are no out of pocket expenses after your initial purchase. The price of a share includes a prepaid amount for the care and training of the horse.

In addition to having an equity interest in the horse, we offer regular updates on how your horse is doing, free backside tours, farm tours, and events during morning workouts so you can watch your horse and chat with the trainer. When the horse races, you can gain access to the Winner’s Circle and enter a raffle for paddock access. We also have premium (paid) events on race day including owner-exclusive parties.

Anyone over the age of 18 from a qualifying jurisdiction can purchase shares, as long as their investments do not exceed 10% of their annual income or 10% of total assets. We currently have horses available to both domestic and international residents, but there are a few US State restrictions which will be mentioned on the horse’s offering page.

Whenever one of our horses wins, we provide owners a link so they can directly purchase a winner’s circle photo from the track photographer.

In a non-covid environment, “owners” can visit their horses in the barn area when accompanied by a MyRacehorse Owner Concierge. Escorted tours are posted in the app, and are a first come first serve basis.

Updates on the horses are provided to “owners” on a weekly basis –or whenever there is news.

Wasabi Venture Stables has a larger selection of horses, including horses currently racing along with horses in training, yearlings, broodmares and stallions. To participate you pay a $25 membership fee, a percentage for the horse, and a $99 management fee per horse. That’s it. No more bills. Ever.

The Club gives Members access to WV Stables education and entertainment programming

The Club membership allows club member to select a .50% to 4.99% stake in any horse that Wasabi Ventures Stables adds to its stable. Club member will have complete visibility and transparency into the horses and stories of each.

When club member selects a horse, the price for the horse is a transparent percentage of the price of the horse plus a $99/horse management fee.

Wasabi Ventures Stables and its partners will be retaining at least 20% of each horse claimed. We are completely in on each horse. This assures all club members we are completely invested as well and only choosing horses for the program we believe in.

With the WV Stables Member Club, there are absolutely NO bills or other payments to be made after the initial one-time payment. When the horse ends its WV Stables racing career or is sold, the bills come out of the initial payment you made, but you will NEVER be required to pay any additional funds.

At the end of the racing career of the horse, Wasabi Ventures Stables will send a complete and transparent financial story and any profits will be sent to club member.

How successful are the racehorses? Authentic is a big winner, with year-to-date winnings of $2,840,000. Most of the other horses (I looked at Wasabi’s retired/claimed/sold horses), earned between 0 and $120K, with an average of about $40K. Given how much it costs to keep a racehorse in training, that may not leave all that much for investors. I know someone with a microshare in Authentic and will ask her how much fun she’s had (and if she’s had any ROI yet). And I’m going to keep my eye on these sites to see if an interesting horse comes up. As a horse owner, I like the idea of paying once and then letting someone else sweat the small stuff.

What about you? Would you like to own a microshare in a racehorse?