'If they win, we win' - Graham Smith-Bernal on the search for another You Got To Me with his latest syndicate

Graham Smith-Bernal’s initial attempt to democratise a slice of the product from Newsells Park Stud brought an Irish Oaks winner to his first wave of investors.

Little wonder that, following You Got To Me’s 4,800,000gns windfall at the Tattersalls Sceptre Sessions last winter, the interest and scope in the 2025 Racing & Breeding Syndicate has been redoubled.

Smith-Bernal, who bought Newsells Park from the Jacobs family four years ago, kept focus on maintaining its position as one of Europe’s premier commercial nurseries but gently introduced a few celebrity racing syndicates, involving some former footballers from a close link that the legal software entrepreneur has with Tottenham Hotspur.

Last year a first syndicate consisting of five horses, You Got To Me and a Sea The Stars close relative to Derby winner Harzand, named Hatysa, as well as three broodmares, among them Group 2 winner Sibila Spain, was devised for a six-figure buy-in.

"It really came from a conversation I had with a couple of our investors in the racing syndicate," says Smith-Bernal. "One of them said you’re pretty consistently at the top of the tree, we’d been the top Book 1 vendor seven times out of seven, and they said why don’t you give people a chance to invest on that side with you. 

"We came up with the idea that actually a hybrid mix of racing and breeding would give people fun and also a chance to invest on our side of the business. With us retaining 50 per cent of the shares, they were 100 per cent in alignment with us, so if they win, we win and if they lose, we lose.

You Got To Me sells for 4,800,000gns at last year's Tattersalls December Mare Sale Credit: Laura Green

"The real concept is that it gives an opportunity to experience the full spectrum. You see foals being born in the spring, from April onwards you’ll see some racing, then at the end of the year and 18 months later, after those foals are born, they hit the sales ring as yearlings and hopefully can make some money there."

You Got To Me, who seems likely to continue her racing career for Amo Racing, had been bought for 200,000gns at Book 1 by Alex Elliott on behalf of Valmont, and caught the Newsells team’s eye when a tidy winner at Kempton on her juvenile debut in September 2023.

"She was by Nathaniel, one of our stallions, and was likely to improve, so Julian [Dollar, Newsells general manager] asked if they’d sell us half," says Smith-Bernal.

"We agreed a price, it was quite a strong price, but with hindsight not strong at all. She went on to win the Lingfield Oaks Trial, was fourth in the Oaks and the Ribblesdale, goes to Ireland and the rest is history. 

"That’s an amazing turn of luck first time out and the finale is we sold her for a record price in the ring. People who have invested commercially have made virtually 100 per cent of their money back on just one horse."

The idea is that the fund remains open, so syndicate members have the initial broodmares and possibly the fillies, producing more stock. Newsells makes the decision on whether to sell or retain.

The big-ticket racing item for 2025, which consists of seven horses and 40 shares of a fund valued at £5,000,000, is Grand Stars. The €800,000 recruit from Arqana in December won the Listed Prix Solitude by four lengths and could start her campaign off for Gerald Mosse in the Group 3 Prix Allez France in the spring.

Zasha, an unraced Camelot half-sister to British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes winner Kalpana, and Invincible Spirit mare Art Of Magic, who have just given birth to fillies by Starspangledbanner and Blue Point respectively, are the broodmare inclusions, while the four two-year-olds are all from illustrious families. 

Grand Stars: Listed winner by Sea The Stars sold to Newsells Park Stud for €800,000 Credit: ZUZANNA LUPA

"When people saw my consignment at Book 1, they asked why I was selling all my fillies," says Smith-Bernal. "The answer to that question is there was a three to one ratio of fillies to colts that year and we weren’t. Three of our very best we were holding on to, putting into the syndicate.

"The Siyouni half-sister to Legatissimo [to be trained by Roger Varian] is possibly the finest filly the mare has had; she hadn’t foaled for two years and the team here were very keen to hold onto her. 

"For Julian, she was the best of all the yearlings we had. We didn’t expect our Frankel out of Aljazzi to sell for 4,400,000gns but there were some crazy prices there. Who knows what she would have sold for, she was simply gorgeous.

"There’s the St Mark’s Basilica out of Talent, we bought her as the top-priced lot at the December Foal Sale that year, she’s very nice and going to Ralph Beckett, and a beautifully bred Frankel out of a half-sister to Without Parole bred by John and Tanya Gunther [to be trained by John and Thady Gosden].

"There’s also the Frankel three-parts sister to Waldgeist, who will probably be more of a three-year-old. Her brother, Crown Imperial, is looking very good with William Haggas." 

Smith-Bernal explains that many of the latest shares were snapped up by those who were involved in 2024 and that he is now filling up the final few. 

"It’s a real mixed bag," he says. "A number of them may have dabbled in racing and might have liked to start breeding, but in some ways it’s, 'Where do I start and where do I go to?'

"I think it gives them that comfort that they’re coming to a top commercial stud, investing alongside us. There are no big breeders in there. Some from the legal marketplace, people from finance, insurance, shipping."

Spurs fans, or those of the new manager of the USA national team, could be rubbing shoulders with a hero.

"Mr [Mauricio] Pochettino might be coming in on this," Smith-Bernal teases. "Ossie [Ardiles] is in, maybe a few people from the football world, but at least half are new blood."

A sibling of triple Group 1 winner Legatissimo is in the syndicate portfolio for 2025Credit: Patrick McCann/Racing Post

He continues: "I think there’s a natural cross-pollination between football and racing. Footballers come to the end of their lives on the pitch – look at people like Michael Owen or Mick Channon – and I think there’s a common competitive element that they find in racing. 

"Unless they go into management or a second life connected to football,  it comes to a very stark, finite end. The sport aspect is quite compelling to them."

This is certainly no everyman investment but Smith-Bernal’s idea touches upon some of the rationale behind Kia Joorabchian and Amo Racing’s spending spree last year, including on Newsells gems.

To build the base to win Classics, you need the kind of material that tends to be hoarded by major owner-breeders and rarely comes on the market. When it does, it requires lavish spending.

"For us, our motivation is spreading the pool and allowing us to hold onto our bloodstock," says Smith-Bernal. "Somebody said to me, 'Graham, this is how Coolmore started!' I think it’s a bit smaller version than that . . .

"But even if you were worth ten or 20 million, you wouldn’t go out and splash out three or four million on one horse. It gives people a chance for part-ownership of a horse who would normally be in the domain of people like Sheikh Mohammed or Juddmonte.

"We’re not just in it to sell them at the sales and cash in, we want to hold on to some of these better-bred fillies in particular."

He concludes: "It's all about success. We need some success on the track and certainly continued success in the sales ring as well. We’re certainly leaving no stone unturned in pursuit of that."

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