Tonni Kuria 17, with one of his horses inside the stables at the Jockey Club during interview on July 7, 2019. PHOTO | NMG
Summary
- At this year’s Ngong Racecourse auction in Nairobi, they were the youngest bidders and buyers, yet they are savvy and assuringly knowledgeable.
- They are part of the next generation of Kenya’s horse owners and trainers, keen on breathing new life into a business taken as an old man’s hobby.
- At the auction, most of the attendants are older, some are trainers buying on behalf of others, but the rest are breeders keen on restocking their stables with rare progenies to keep their yards going as they sell off the older horses.
- Bruce Nightingale of Kenana Farm in Njoro, who was in charge of the sale, says the Saturday auction that saw 15 yearlings snapped up in minutes was “the best.”
Mohamed Kishlaf, an
18-year-old, affectionately strokes his newly-acquired horse as he walks
it into a barn. He steps back to ensure ‘West Lothian’ does not closely
follow ‘Pippa’, a two-year-old filly that they have bought at an
auction with his friend Tony Kuria, 17.
At this year’s
Ngong Racecourse auction in Nairobi, they were the youngest bidders and
buyers, yet they are savvy and assuringly knowledgeable.
They
are part of the next generation of Kenya’s horse owners and trainers,
keen on breathing new life into a business taken as an old man’s hobby.
At
the auction, most of the attendants are older, some are trainers buying
on behalf of others, but the rest are breeders keen on restocking their
stables with rare progenies to keep their yards going as they sell off
the older horses.
Bruce Nightingale of Kenana Farm in
Njoro, who was in charge of the sale, says the Saturday auction that saw
15 yearlings snapped up in minutes was “the best.”
“The horse market has not been good … we have few breeders in
Kenya, hence few yearlings but I’m happy all of them were sold today,’’
he says.
Top-selling
Roses,
wine, grilled meats, stacks of hay neatly surrounding a small, yet
charmingly quaint sitting arena, is where the horse lovers were meeting
to bid on that Saturday afternoon.
This year’s
top-selling horse went for Sh660,000. The lowest was an unnamed filly
that fetched Sh150,000. Mohamed and Tony bought their two horses for a
combined Sh575,000.
After the auction, Bruce who is also a breeder and has done other auctions, is too busy to talk to one person for long.
Some
horse lovers are congratulating him for a job well done. All the horses
at the auction were sold unlike previous years. One buyer wants to
write him a cheque for three horses bought. A few minutes after, Bruce
is off to the stables. Sitting in their new stable, Tony has two animal
passports that shows their vaccination charts.
The
young horse owner is finishing his secondary school in about three
months. He fell in love with horses when he was seven in a children’s
horse training club.
Over the years, he has mastered
horses from the nitty-gritty of good behaviour to planned mating for
purebred horses so that they produce desired characteristics, and that
they are all born in August or thereabout.
“These
horses are babies. They don’t know anything, they don’t know how to be
ridden, we have to teach them slowly, get them fit for galloping,
condition them for the races, because races are not easy,” says Mohamed.
The teenagers have been riding professionally for four years, during which time they were equipped to be horse trainers too.
They
have had two other horses, one that won some prize money and a
showjumper but they decided to sell them for Sh200,000 each so as to buy
exceptionally well-bred yearlings at this year’s auction and invest
their skills and parent’s money in the horse training business.
Their barn, also a new investment, can accommodate 20 horses.
In
a few months, they duo hopes the barn will be full as horse owners hire
them to train their fillies and colts. Horses are bought at a young age
and then put in the special hands of trainers hired to train them for
races in a span of six months. Juvenile races introduce them to the
duel. At three years old, they join derbies.
“Ours will start racing in March next year. We will wait for them to be stronger,” Tony adds.
High-stakes business
They know that producing a champion takes a lot of work and luck.
“I
hope they are good race horses. We know it’s a tricky purchase because
one can buy a horse that will not really win any race. Some come last,
some are champions. I hope ours will be champions,” an optimistic
Mohamed explains.
Horse racing is a select, high-stakes
business. Before the auction, they had come to the stables to
painstakingly assess and read a lot about them. Bidders trace the
animal’s bloodline and buy into pedigrees that have a remarkable family
history.
“We choose them ourselves, we looked at the
family history, their body formation, the legs, how they were raised,
their mums and dads. We analysed their gait, muscles and how they stand
up,” says Mohamed.
One of their horses was sired by a
top-class thoroughbred pedigree stallion — a Westonian from South
Africa. There were nine foals and fillies at the auction sired by the
famous descendant of a Westonian from South Africa.
Horse jobs
Being part of a generation that has been raised on the Internet, Tony and Mohamed also learnt about horse training from YouTube.
“It’s all about interest. You cannot force every young person to see potential in horses,” says Mohamed.
“I
think most of them [young people] don’t know much about horses. But if
they come and watch the races, then they will develop interest,” adds
Tony.
Mohamed’s interest was piqued about four year
ago. He started training as a rider and his trainer taught him more. He
met Tony in a horse training school in Nairobi and they became more than
“riding buddies.” As an investment, they say their horses have great
potential, but theirs is more than a passion. At a young age, their love
for horses has opened job opportunities.
“We are
creating employment because immediately after we got our horses, we
hired our first worker and because we’re heavy, we will hire jockeys to
ride our horses for races. When we fill the stable, we will get more and
more workers,’’ Tony says.
For years, horse racing has drawn its fair share of
the wealthy, looking to make money from races and sell yearlings but
the investment is more than a hobby. It is a source of employment.
One horse hires more than three people: a trainer, a hostler, a sizer and a farrier.
Joseph
Muya, who has had an impressive breeding and racing career knows this
too well. He has been lucky to enjoy some great days as a jockey and
racehorse owner, but none has been more impactful than creating
employment for young trainers, sizers, jockeys and hostlers.
“I
have hired 90 people, but the impact is bigger because their families
are also benefiting from the income. I have trainers, sizers, vets,
three jockeys, including my son who did a six-year training in one of
the best racing schools in the UK,” he says.
“Jobless
youth have become alcoholics, drug users and criminals and we only start
lamenting when they start stealing from us. We have to create
employment for them. I hired two boys who were seen as social misfits to
brush my horses, pet, talk to them and basically groom them. After
seven months those boys who were wasting away due to drug abuse really
changed. Besides the income, interacting with horses helped them recover
mentally,” he adds.
Research shows petting, grooming and feeding horses help patients with trauma and those struggling with substance abuse.
Stellar ‘horse career’
Joseph
who got his first horse as a gift 20 years ago now has more than 40 in
his 10-acre farm in Nakuru. At the auction, he bought a Sh400,000
yearling called ‘Earl Gray’ with the Westonian bloodline. He hopes ‘Earl
Gray’ will be next year’s derby winner.
He says he
mostly buys from South Africa which has a big horse market. A South
African auction could have about 200 horses compared to 25 on a good day
in Kenya.
Being a master in buying horses, so what was he looking for?
“I
looked at the breeding. ‘Earl Gray’s sire was a Westonian, so she comes
from a lineage of champions. Her mother was bought from the US and she
won five races in England and others in Kenya. The sister and
grandmother were also pros. I’m glad I bought it because my son liked
the horse,” he says.
Joseph is no longer a jockey
because he has gained weight past the required 54 kilogrammes. “So, now I
also own hotels. But my passion is still in horses, I want to show
Kenyans that it is not a mzungu business. When my horses retire from
races, tourists use them to tour Lake Nakuru Lodge,” he says.
dmwango@ke.nationmedia.com
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