A job nobody teaches you at school
If you ask ten people in the racing industry what a racing manager does, you will get ten different answers. That is normal: the role has no official definition, no qualification, no standardised job description. And yet, it is probably the most useful link between an owner and their horse.
The racing manager is the intermediary. The person who translates the trainer’s language for the owner, and the owner’s expectations for the trainer. The person who handles everything the owner does not want to, cannot, or does not know how to manage. It is a role built on service, organisation and human relationships. And at TS Bloodstock, it is one of our three core services.
The day-to-day: much more than watching races
Trainer liaison
A good racing manager speaks to the trainer several times a week. Not to micro-manage (trainers hate that, quite rightly), but to stay informed and relay good news as well as bad.
On Tuesday morning, the trainer works the horse. The racing manager calls or gets a message: “He did a good piece of work this morning, he blew out well, I’m thinking of running him on Saturday at Fontainebleau.” Or: “He’s got a slight issue on the off-hind, we’ll get the vet to look at him tomorrow.” In both cases, the owner needs to know by end of day. The racing manager handles that.
At TS Bloodstock, every horse has its own dedicated WhatsApp group. The owner (or the partners if it is a syndicate) receives training videos, photos, vet updates, race results. Everything is transparent, everything is in real time. An owner based in Tokyo, New York or Dubai gets the same information as one living next door to the yard.
Race selection
This is the most strategic part of the job. A horse cannot run anywhere, anytime. You have to factor in:
- Current form (is the horse improving? tired? coming back from injury?)
- Distance (every horse has a preferred trip, and getting it wrong by 400 metres can change the result)
- Going (some love soft ground, others only perform on a fast surface)
- Opposition (entering a Class 3 horse against Group performers is the surest way to knock his confidence)
- Calendar (you do not flatten a horse in July if the target race is in October)
The trainer usually has a view. The racing manager has one too. The discussion between them produces a race plan that serves the interests of both horse and owner. Sometimes the best decision is not to run. That needs to be said as well.
Career planning
A racehorse does not have an unlimited career. On the flat, the window is short: roughly age two to five or six. Over jumps, it can stretch to ten or twelve. The racing manager has to think medium-term.
That yearling we bought at the Arqana sales — what level do we see him reaching? If he is a Group horse, we prepare him differently from a handicapper. If she is a promising filly, do we retire her at four and send her to stud? Or try one more season? These decisions carry enormous financial consequences, and the racing manager helps make them methodically.
Administration: the invisible but essential side
Being a racehorse owner in France means paperwork. A lot of paperwork.
France Galop declarations
Every race entry goes through France Galop. There are deadlines to meet (runner declaration 48 hours before, confirmation on race morning), forms to complete, forfeits to pay. Miss a deadline, miss a race. The racing manager handles all of it.
Transport
A horse does not travel by car. You need to book a horsebox, coordinate schedules with the departure yard and the arriving racecourse, make sure the horse arrives early enough to rest but not so early that it stresses. In high summer, you leave before dawn to avoid the heat. If the race is in the provinces and the horse is based in Chantilly, it can mean three or four hours on the road.
Insurance
A racehorse is a financial asset. A mortality insurance policy costs between 3 and 7% of the horse’s declared value per year. The racing manager helps assess the value, negotiates with insurers, manages claims when they arise. It is not glamorous, but it is essential.
Fees and accounting
Training fees, race entry fees, vet bills, farrier fees, transport costs, France Galop subscriptions… An owner receives several invoices per month. The racing manager centralises everything, makes sure nothing is missed, and provides a clear summary. When there are multiple partners with different share percentages, splitting costs and prize money has to be accurate to the penny.
Going it alone vs. using a racing manager
Let us be honest: you can be an owner without a racing manager. Thousands of people do it in France. But the reality is that without an intermediary:
- You have to call the trainer yourself (and they do not always have time)
- You have to understand race conditions (and they are technical)
- You have to handle the administrative paperwork
- You have to be available on race days for last-minute decisions
- You have to negotiate with transporters, insurers, vets
For someone who has been in the game for 20 years and has one horse in a local yard, it is manageable. For a busy executive in Paris with three horses at two different trainers, it is another story. For an international owner who does not speak French, it is close to impossible.
That is where the racing manager earns their place.
What Thibault learned in the United States
Before founding TS Bloodstock, Thibault de Seyssel spent two years in the United States as Racing Manager at MyRacehorse, the world leader in fractional racehorse ownership. Managing hundreds of owners, coordinating dozens of trainers, organising communication around horses based in multiple states: it is a demanding and formative school.
What he took from it is a firm conviction: communication accounts for 80% of the job. An owner who hears nothing for two weeks starts to worry. An owner who gets a video of their horse working on a Tuesday morning is happy, even if the horse finished last on Saturday.
The other American lesson: rigour with data. In the US, everything is tracked, measured, analysed. Morning work times, heart rate, horse weight, vet notes. Thibault brought that data-driven approach back to France and applies it daily.
A typical week
Here is what a week of racing management looks like when you are handling around ten horses:
Monday. Review of the previous week. Analysis of the weekend’s results. Calls to trainers to debrief races and check on horses that did not run. WhatsApp group updates.
Tuesday-Wednesday. Strategic work. Reviewing the upcoming race programme (published by France Galop). Identifying suitable races for each horse. Discussion with trainers about entries. Administrative declarations.
Thursday. Vet and farrier follow-up. Coordinating appointments. Booking transport for the weekend. Confirming runners.
Friday. Final adjustments. Calls to jockeys (or discussion with the trainer about jockey booking). Sending the weekend programme to owners: which horse runs, where, what time, what strategy.
Saturday-Sunday. Race day. Travelling to the racecourse when possible. Welcoming owners. Morning visit to the horse, paddock, race, debrief.
A race day: from dawn to champagne (or not)
The big day starts early. If the horse runs at Longchamp at 3.30pm, the racing manager is at the yard by 7am. Check the horse is well, talk to the groom, make sure transport is on its way.
At the racecourse, they meet the owners around midday. Lunch, atmosphere. Then to the parade ring, 30 minutes before the race. The horse walks around, you observe. The trainer gives final instructions to the jockey. The owner feels the tension building.
The race lasts between one and three minutes. It is an absolute concentrate of emotion. Nothing prepares you for watching your horse pass the winning post first. Nothing truly consoles you when it finishes last.
After the race, debrief with the trainer. What worked, what did not. The jockey shares his feedback. You adjust the plan going forward.
And if the horse has won, there are the photos in the winner’s enclosure, the weigh-in, sometimes a glass of champagne. Those moments are worth every vet bill in the world.
Who absolutely needs a racing manager?
International owners. If you live abroad and your horse runs in France, you need someone on the ground. Full stop. Time zones, the language barrier, French administrative quirks: without a local contact, it is unmanageable.
Busy professionals. You run a company, you are a lawyer, a doctor. You do not have time to call the trainer three times a week. But you want to know what is going on. The racing manager is your eyes and ears.
First-time owners. This is your first horse. You do not know the codes of the industry. A racing manager guides you, explains, helps you avoid the classic mistakes. It is an investment that pays for itself in the first season.
Multi-horse owners. Three horses with two different trainers, overlapping calendars, accumulating invoices, decisions to make every week. Without someone to coordinate, it becomes a second job.
What it costs
Racing management is not free, obviously. Models vary: some charge a monthly flat fee per horse, others take a percentage of prize money. At TS Bloodstock, we adapt the formula to the owner’s profile. The simplest thing is to discuss it directly.
What is certain is that the cost of a racing manager is marginal relative to the total budget of a horse in training. We are talking about a few hundred euros a month for a service that can save you considerably more by avoiding bad decisions (entering the wrong race, missing an administrative deadline, or passing up a sale opportunity).
Final word
Racing management is a job built on passion, rigour and availability. It means answering the phone on a Sunday morning because the horse has colic. It means convincing a trainer to be patient when the owner wants to run straight away. It also means sharing the joy of a victory you built together, week after week.
If the subject interests you, take a look at Thibault de Seyssel’s background and what led him to structure this service at TS Bloodstock. And to see concretely what it changes in your ownership experience, visit our dedicated racing management page.