An online magazine based in New York is rallying the internet to buy a real-life racehorse. The adventure site called True.Ink kicked off a crowdfunding push on Indiegogo on Tuesday (April 26) to buy, train, and stable a racehorse for a year or longer if it gets continued support to care for the animal.
The publication, which prides itself on giving readers the chance to “live their stories,” aims to show people firsthand what it’s like to own a racehorse.
“For centuries, the experience of owning a racehorse has been open to the very few and very rich,” said founder Geoffrey Gray, in a statement. “We’re changing that history. We’re taking the old sport of kings and making us all Kings of the Track.”
A thoroughbred steed costs a lot to buy, care for and feed. The horse alone can cost a minimum of a few thousand dollars and prices rise steeply from there. Owners spend $45 to $120 a day to house, feed, and train the horse at the track.
True’s goal is to raise at least $35,000 to cover the horse’s expenses for a year. At the time of this writing, 18 hours into the crowdfunding campaign, the company had raised $6,900, or 20% of its target.
The magazine, founded in the 1930s and recently relaunched online, is chronicling the experience for readers online.
It’s calling the project “True Stable: Home of the People’s Horse.” The animal itself, however, would be legally owned by the magazine. Racehorse owners are required to pass background checks and be fingerprinted, which would be too challenging to do with hundreds of donors. Donors, called stablemates, who contribute $100 or more to the Indiegogo campaign will get to help pick out, name, and choose a trainer for the horse, with the help of a team of experts.
Stablemates can visit the horse at Belmont Park in Long Island, New York, where it will be housed, and check it out via a live webcam feed to be set up in the stable.
Horse racing syndicates are relatively common and sometimes pay off with a winning steed. A group of six friends from Saratoga Springs, New York pooled their money and bought a horse they named Funny Cide, which went on to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in 2003.
Should the People’s Horse achieve similar acclaim, and turn a profit, True will confer with its stablemates to figure out what to do with the winnings.
The company, which has hosted other stunts like fishing trips and tango lessons to attract readers, is currently promoting the crowdfunding campaign with a pop-up race lounge in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. It will be open for the next three weeks—coinciding with the Triple Crown races, which kick off on May 7 with the Kentucky Derby.