Challenge

To sup or not to sup?

Firstly, never ever sup before purchasing the horse – its mathematically a terrible decision. £2.50 to save paying £51 means you would need to pick up a ‘suppable’ horse approx 1 in 21 purchased…no chance (unless your pompadours or Shandyman!).

When you first pick up a decent horse it can be tough to decide wether its worth supping the horse or not. Assuming it’s a 2 yr old and it hits challenge times then I would generally say yes – sup it and see! This is more so, if the horse is purchased early on in the season as the standard of qualifiers is weaker due to owners sandbagging and the fact that less have been pulled from the ring.

There are lots to consider here but my key arguments for supping are:

It costs £51 (ish) in Bonus Credits. Most qualifiers have £50 cash bonuses attached to them therefore first prize in a 4 runner race is £50. I don’t recall seeing any maidens or novices getting near that.

Once supped they are supped for life. This means that even if they’re not able to compete versus the top horses they will still have consolation runs at 3, 4 and above. That’s a good few chances for Saxon to appear and even a place in one of those would get that £50 back.

Fields are small early in the season – Sometimes you are practically free-rolling in a 4 runner field almost getting your money back with last!

You gotta be in it to win it. Only way to gain experience in challenge racing is by running horses in challenge races.

Key arguments as to why not to sup:

If you are just starting or on a small budget then £51 might be a lot of cash. You also have to bear in mind that each race can be £15 each and a bad run of randoms, goings etc could see you £200 down on the horse.

Your horse simply isn't good enough. If its not hitting the TT's on the chart, its not good enough.

Remember, my advice is that its mathematically the best move over the long run to sup horses that hit Challenge TT’s, there are no guarantees though and even doing everything correctly doesn’t necessarily mean each horse will be profitable.

One story on the forums recently was from a relative newcomer who had picked up a horse doing 17.5 as a 2 year old and wanted to know wether to sup or not. Some owners actually advised him to just go through the divisions - nonsense. Brians Pride did 17.57 recorded a £156.10 profit after paying his sup and only has 2 wins against his name. This guys horse was bought on the first day. Not only did this guys horse still likely have more to gain in TT's but he also had monthly stayer qualifiers over the next month. Perfect races for the horse to win its first maiden with some nice pots paying for the sup already and leaving the supped horse available for future finals, conso's, qualifiers etc.