Global Week For The Girls

[Wandering Eyes]

The A$1.55-million sale of Global Glamour (Aus) (Star Witness {Aus}) at Magic Millions on Wednesday may have marked the end of one dream run for the members of the It’s All About The Girls syndicate. But with their bright green silks in action in both France and Ireland over the ensuing 48 hours, it is very possible that another one could be sparked.

The story of Global Glamour has been well-chronicled. Bought by agent James Bester for just A$65,000 on the Gold Coast four years ago, Global Glamour won two Group 1s in the space of eight days at three for It’s All About The Girls, a global-reaching syndicate run by Anna Seitz of Fasig-Tipton and Elaine ‘Legs’ Lawlor of Goffs with the goal of giving women excellent experiences in racehorse ownership. Put in foal to Zoustar (Aus), Global Glamour was bought by Tom Magnier and Gerry Harvey on Wednesday and will visit Justify at Coolmore Australia for her second cover later this year.

For Seitz, watching the sale from Kentucky meant a near sleepless night, but she wasn’t complaining.

“I woke up at about 12:30 or 1 a.m. because my phone was just going crazy, and then she sold around 2, 2:30,” she said. “I couldn’t fall asleep for a couple hours after, but it was worth it.”

Seitz, Lawlor and their partners barely had time for their excitement to settle before they were tuned into Fontainebleau for their debut runner in France, the Nicolas Clement-trained 3-year-old filly Houselady (Fr) (Anodin {Ire}). Houselady finished down the field, but Seitz said it was fun to see the silks in action in another country-the fourth after the U.S., Australia and Ireland.

It’s All About The Girls last year tasked Chantilly-based agent Tina Rau with finding them some fillies in France. Rau picked up a daughter of Intello (Ger) subsequently named Glamoureuse (Fr) at Arqana’s October sale for €42,000, and added the previously unraced Houselady for €38,000 from the Haras de Manneville dispersal at Arqana February.

Seitz said the diversification into the horses-in-training market will enhance the experience for the ownership group.

“If we could get a win or two out of [Houselady] that will increase her value and teach the women about pedigrees and if she heads in the direction Nicolas is hoping, she could be one we might flip for a profit at the end of the year,” she said. “We’re just trying different things to teach the ladies all different avenues of the industry as opposed to just buying a yearling and racing her through all the way, like with Global Glamour.”

It’s All About The Girls enjoyed success in Ireland last year with stakes fillies Chicas Amigas (Ire) (Dragon Pulse {Ire})-sold on privately to Qatar Racing-and Sparkle’n’joy (Ire) (Sepoy {Aus}), both trained by Jessica Harrington, and the syndicate has its first Irish runner of 2019 on Thursday, the Harrington-trained 2-year-old filly Ha’Penny Bridge (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}) at Fairyhouse. Ha’Penny Bridge was a €38,000 Goffs Orby yearling and was one of three yearlings bought last year in Ireland for the Girls.

Seitz said she and Lawlor make fun a priority for the syndicate members, and in fact they have a group visit planned to Chantilly in the summer to visit their fillies and go racing in Paris.

“We really try to stress through all of our syndicates the fun factor,” she said. “We try to have a lot of parties; no matter what country you live in we try to have brunches and get-togethers at the barns. We have morning training where you can come have a glass of champagne and watch your filly. It’s truly about networking and friendships and it’s been fun to see so many women become close because of these horses. So many women are traveling to see their horses and that to me is what it’s all about, the camaraderie that we form through these horses and meeting all these really neat ladies. We have some super-powerful women involved so I’ve learned a lot from other women that are in our partnerships.”

Seitz said their members have spread the word and brought in their friends from outside the industry to get involved in racehorse ownership.

“When a woman is having a nice experience, she’ll bring in her friends next time,” she said. “That’s what we tell everybody, the only way to grow the sport is to grow it from within, so if you truly love racing I feel like you owe it to racing to try to get your friends who are not in racing interested by bringing them to the races or getting them involved in a horse if possible.”

It’s All About The Girls has currently 11 fillies on its books, and Seitz said she suspects they’ll be out shopping again this summer and fall.

“We had no idea it would grow this big,” she said. “Both Legs and I work for sales companies and have full-time jobs so it’s a lot of juggling, but we have a lot of people who want to do more, so we don’t want to turn down new women who are interested in getting into racing, so it looks like we’re probably going to be shopping this summer.

“With the overseas partnerships we try to buy one or two a year because we package it a bit differently where you buy in, you pay a set fee and you don’t have to pay any more for the two years, so it’s a bit different to how we do it in the States. In the States we have horses with a lot of different trainers in a lot of different states so we can be a bit more flexible. We’ll probably buy some yearlings this summer and maybe even buy a ready made racehorse; we’re just trying to figure out what the interest is.”

Given its early results and the fact that it has built up a worldwide battalion of women ambassadors-humans as well as horses–it is unlikely that It’s All About The Girls will struggle to maintain interest any time soon.

“We have a place for everybody,” Seitz said. “It doesn’t matter if you own 1% or 75% of a horse; the smaller shareholders are having just as much fun as the larger ones. It really isn’t about egos; it’s nice to make money when you have a home run like Global Glamour, but that’s not what it’s all about.”

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