Oli Bell tells nightmare story of how he missed out on £350k on horse syndicate… by going with his family

'The lesson here: always go against your family!'

Bell was joined by Rishi Persad, Nick Luck and Tom Stanley in episode 2, where they discussed Constitution Hill's future, what got them into horse racing, and more.

But the story of Bell's 'near miss' stood out, highlighting the brutality and fluctuations of horse racing form.

Oli's 'near miss' of £350k

"My near miss… when I came back from Australia, I had my superannuation, which is essentially your pension. Because I wasn’t staying in Australia, I returned with something like £6,000 that came back.

"I moved to Newmarket to try to get back into the racing scene, and my Uncle knew I had a few quid given to me by the Australian government. 

"So he said: ‘We’ve got 10 per cent of a horse going, lovely horse.’ It was with a load of sort of ‘Lord Doo Dah’ whatever people.

"At the same time Hugo Palmer, who is a friend of mine, said he’s got 10 per cent of a beautiful horse, with a syndicate called the FOMO Syndicate, the Fear Of Missing Out.

"I was umming and ahhing, do I go with my mates? Or my family? I stayed loyal with family. 

"She wins her maiden by 10 lengths on soft ground at the back end of the year. We get an offer of £300k from Japan for her. ‘Lord Doo Dah’ says ‘No, no, no, this is the best thing ever, and they’e got fortunes!’ and I’m saying ‘Sell, sell, sell!’

"Anyway, we didn’t sell. She was then sold at the end of her three-year-old year, having done absolutely diddly squad, for £25k, so just about covering the initial cost.

"She then gets sold to France, wins a listed race on her first start, and sold at then end of her four-year-old year, for something like £650k.

"Meanwhile, the horse that Hugo Palmer was trying to sell me turned out to be Covert Love, who won multiple Oaks, millions in prize money, and was sold for something like £4.5m. So the 10% I had cost me £1,000, and would have made me about £350k. 

"So the lesson there is always go against your family!"

The Paddock is a show hosted by Oli Bell, with weekly episodes with the best tips, news, talking points and special guests from the world of horse racing. Catch The Paddock on YouTube, or listen on podcast – wherever you get your podcasts.