DEPOSER, the Jersey Stakes runner-up, has been sold to continue his career in Hong Kong, a deal that has put Kent Bloodstock, the eight-horse syndicate set up by trainer John Best, into profit.
The three-year-old colt is due to leave Best's yard in Hucking, near Maidstone, this week, after becoming the third horse to be sold from a string of horses the handlerput together under a two-year arrangement.
The owners in Kent Bloodstock invested £75,000 each for eight shares in eight horses in the first year and, through the previous sales of Mullionmileanhour and Axel Foley, have paidno training fees in the second year, which has saved them £25,000.
Best said: "After two years of fun they are going to have made a reasonable profit, which is what we intended to do. We sold Mullionmileanhour before the end of the first year to stay in the yard, which paid everyone's training fees. Having sold Axel Foley and now Deposer we are into a profit and there are five horses still here.
"Every year we do it. Last year sales of horses brought in £2.5 million, we won prize money of over £500,000 and the cost of the operation and purchases was £1.5 million. That doesn't mean everyone made money but the yard made a profit for the owners overall."
Best's highest profile training successes have come from two-year-olds like Kingsgate Native, who won the Nunthorpe as a juvenile, and Square Eddie, who won the in the US before staying there permanently, but this year's crop have yet to make significant impact.
"We have bigger, more progressive types this time who are taking longer to come to hand, but there are some very special ones that you've not seen yet," he added.
"A hell of a lot of them will be very nice three-year-olds and there is more money to be made from selling good three-year-olds than two-year-olds."
