From Raviliiga 2014 tulee avaten mahdollisuuden myös suomenhevosille (Raviliiga.fi 26.2.2014)
Ostrobothnia will get at least one new Trot League team in 2014. Photo by Raviliiga
Trot League, or Raviliiga in Finnish, is a project that aims to provide positive, low-risk experiences of horse ownership. The idea comes from Sweden, where Rikstravet is already a thing. Finnish Raviliiga started in 2013 with eight teams and eight standardbred yearlings, each of which has 700 owners. In 2014 the amount of shares will be 800 per horse.
Soon these young horses (now 2-year-olds) will hopefully start their racing careers. The project goes on for three more years, and the winner of this competition will be the horse with most winnings. It’s not the main point, though. I’m sure that with 700 owners Pamina Hip, Grainfield Fanny, Golden Luxi, Stone Capes Olive, Oberon, Lady Adele, Sahara Crack It and Arctic Madonna won’t be short of apples, carrots or admiring looks for a few years. ;)
One share of a horse for three years costs 100 €, with no additional cost whatsoever. You could say this must be the easiest and also a very cheap way to own a horse! The horses live and train in professional trainers’ stables, so ownership doesn’t require any experience about horses. People have a great opportunity to get to know people and structures behind horse racing as a horse owner.
The League started off so well, that the project received an award for its success. It has introduced hundreds of new people to horses. In my opinion this is the way to market horse racing -through horses themselves, not betting or other trivia.
2014 – Finnhorses step in
The project has received quite much feedback, mostly positive and excited. But what seemed to trouble people the most was the fact that there weren’t any finnhorses in the league. In 2014 the new teams have a chance to choose between a finnhorse and a standardbred -both breeds get their own leagues.
Each team chooses a professional horse trainer, and trainers get to choose the horses. The standardbreds are bought as yearlings and finnhorses as 2,5-year-olds.
The participating race tracks will announce their choices (finnhorse or standardbred league) soon. I have to say, I’m excited!
Finnhorseblog.com 