Blockchain ownership is coming to horse racing
In what is a world-first led by some of Australasian racing’s biggest and most influential players, including Arrowfield’s John Messara, Arthur Inglis and prominent Hong Kong-based owner David Boehm, the International Racehorse Owners Network (IRON) is set to launch a revolutionary global initiative that will see shares in racehorses digitised and sold as cryptocurrency tokens.
The group plans to source up to ten horses within a budget of $3 million for the landmark scheme at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, which begins at Riverside today, and has called on former champion Hong Kong trainer John Moore to manage the all important selection process.
Sydney’s leading trainer Chris Waller will prepare the majority of IRON’s eventual equine assets with Moore responsible for managing a smaller number of purchases from his training base on the Gold Coast.
Moore told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday the main motivation behind IRON is to attract and engage a younger generation of owners from around the world, especially in Hong Kong where it is so exclusive and prohibitive to race a horse.
“It’s a golden opportunity. The minute they are all vaccinated (for Covid-19) and can fly into Australia and get to the carnival at the beginning of next year we will get them here and have fun and those people will eventually want to branch out into more horses. It’s a huge opportunity for the industry,” said Moore.
Highly successful Hong Kong-based Australian businessman, David Boehm, who owns the revered spelling and pre-training operation Muskoka Farm in NSW, is one of the main forces behind the idea.
“It’s super exciting. The possibilities are endless to get young people involved in the sport of horse racing because there is so much competition in the entertainment space.
“Kids these days can get everything instantly online and they are impatient. If they can’t find it instantly online they will go and do something else. I think we are going in the right direction. Those of us that love the horse racing industry have to make sure we are leaders so people are paying attention to us first,” said Boehm.
The way cryptocurrency works is somewhat complex and not yet widely understood, but according to Boehm the technology has huge potential to draw new fans and investors to racing.
“We are working with Frank Tong and Raymond Cheng from QBN Capital who have put together a comprehensive network to take advantage of the digitisation of assets. We are using blockchain technology to digitise things that are difficult to transact and currently there’s a shortage of assets to digitise because it’s all so new.
“Hong Kong people are crazy about horse racing so the conversation turned to racehorses and we set up a syndicate to tokenise racehorses,” he explained.
A group consisting of 33 partners, or stewards as they are officially referred to under the arrangement, has been formed under a corporate structure and will outlay the capital funds initially required to purchase the future racing stock for IRON.
“It has been disclosed to authorities in Hong Kong, Australia and the UK where we expect to trade the tokens eventually.
“It is highly regulated and similar to listing stock on a stock exchange. There are auditors, regulators and transparency. If you want to buy one of these tokens you go to a broker, submit an application, they do a KYC (know your client check) and AML (anti-money laundering) then open an account and trade the tokens.”
Boehm said token holders can be tracked through a blockchain with 24-hour access to trading.
“All this will be able to be transacted using a mobile phone and while a horse is racing tokens can be traded. If it’s doing well the token goes up in value and so on.”
He said they plan to offer tokens to prospective investors later this year with the UK, which is more advanced with regulation in this space, likely to be the first country they target.
John Moore confirmed he’s formed a conservative shortlist of yearlings for IRON at the Inglis Easter sale using the scrutiny of highly respected former Hong Kong Jockey Club veterinarian Dr Ben Mason.
“It’s our first sale so we want to be a bit conservative. We are not coming in and spending like crazy.
“All the money from this sale comes from the partners, we have to put the money in ourselves. In future we will raise money first and if it becomes a global attraction we could look at raising any amount of money,” said Moore.