It's all about the girls as Legs brings the glamour to Goffs

Irish racing is about to get a shot of global glamour as the It’s All About The Girls Syndicate bought two fillies during the Goffs Orby Sale to be trained by Jessica Harrington for the team behind Global Glamour, the three-year-old filly of the year in New South Wales.

The all-women syndicate's purchases – a daughter of Sepoy on Tuesday and a Dragon Pulse filly on Wednesday – launch the Irish element of a syndicate that is living up its name by becoming truly global.

Founded by Elaine ‘Legs’ Lawlor of Goffs and Fasig-Tipton’s Anna Seitz, the syndicate will now have horses in training in Australia and America, as well as their new Irish fillies.

The syndicates are about sharing the fun and excitement of racehorse ownership with like-minded women and they enjoyed a dream start with Global Glamour. Bought for A$65,000 at Magic Millions, the daughter of Star Witness is trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott and has won two Group 1 races and more than A$1.2 million in prize-money for her enthusiastic owners.

“We got very lucky with Global Glamour being the syndicate’s first horse,” smiles Lawlor, who previously worked for Highclere Thoroughbred Racing. “Myself and Anna were on the bus at Magic Millions and talking about the bonus Katie [Page-Harvey, the auction house owner] has offered for the winner of the sales race if it was owned by a woman, we'd been involved in syndicates before and decided to set up a syndicate for women."

Fun and friendship for women who love racing is what It’s All About The Girls is about, as well as bringing back the glamour and excitement of racing. As well as regularly updating the various syndicate members about their eight horses in training, there are parties, lunches and days at the races for the women involved.

“Australia is superb for syndicates,” Lawlor says. “What really makes it is that, when the horses are entered to run, I get a call asking me how many tickets do we need for the owners and whether the womens’ husbands and partners would like tickets too.

Gai Waterhouse and the Global Glamour girlsCredit: Vince Caligiuri

"It’s great fun, we meet numerous times during the year outside of racing and it’s a chance for everyone to have a great time and enjoy themselves.”

Naturally, Ireland’s leading woman trainer Jessica Harrington was chosen to be the syndicate’s trainer when the decision was made to expand to Ireland, and the team is thrilled to have horses with her.

Around half of the women already involved in the syndicate travelled to Goffs for the sale and to meet Harrington and see her purchase their new fillies.

“It’s a group of like-minded people and a great opportunity for people who like racing to get into the sport without costing a fortune, have a lot of fun and learn how things work," summed up Lawlor.

Lawlor jets off to Australia on Friday for three weeks, before returning there after the November Sales finish at Goffs to spend the northern hemisphere winter with her Australian husband.

She is anticipating more fun-filled days with the equine Global Glamour.

“Global Glamour trialled a few days’ ago and she should be ready for her first race in about three weeks’ time," she said.

Read more on the Goffs Orby Yearling Sale:

Cloth Of Stars breeder Peter Anastasiou buys back into Arc hopeful's family

No sign of Pier House Stud's love affair with Lope De Vega ending

Dawn of a new era as Godolphin buy €1.2 million Galileo filly

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