'I might fail dramatically but I'm going to give it a crack' - Kia Joorabchian opens up on sensational spending spree

Kia Joorabchian believes his multi-million-pound spending on yearlings this week was essential to break into the elite bracket of owners contesting the biggest races and hopes it can act as an inspiration for others trying to compete at the top end of racing.

Joorabchian spent more than £24 million on 25 yearlings at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, purchasing on behalf of his Amo Racing and in partnership with Anthony Ramsden, Sheikh Joaan Al Thani and Evangelos Marinakis, the billionaire owner of Nottingham Forest FC.

The buys included a Frankel filly for £4.62m, making her the second most expensive yearling sold in Europe, and a Wootton Bassett colt for £4.52m, the highest amount ever in Europe for a yearling colt.

Speaking at Newmarket, Joorabchian said the big spending was due to his competitors having agreements such as foal shares, where a stud provides a free nomination for a stallion and owns half of the resulting foal when it is sold.

He said: “If we want to compete we have to get those top pedigrees, otherwise you are going to get left behind.

“A lot of the sales are, and have been, controlled by three or four big groups and we knew that we had to pay over the odds because they are paying fifty cents to the dollar on a horse because they are on a foal share but we are paying dollar for dollar. Until we break that and try to get to the next level we won’t be in a position to compete.

“That’s not just us. I’m hoping we’ve triggered other people coming in to be positive. I hope what we've done is to trigger some juice in other people to say, ‘Hey, let’s go do the same thing,’ and create a better competition and make the sales more fair for people. We’ve tried to change that scenario. We can’t do it on our own but hopefully it’ll trigger other people.”

Joorabchian compared his attempted disruption of the established order with an audacious deal he was involved in that brought footballers Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano to West Ham United in 2006.

Newsells Park's Frankel filly out of Aljazzi stuns in the ring on Tuesday to the tune of 4,400,000gnsCredit: Tattersalls

“I want to see racing in this country compete and become a top elite sport,” he said. “I’d like to see a situation where there are lots of owners enjoying big days out and not just one or two groups. In order to do that you have to have a fair and balanced system.

“We did this many years ago in football. A long time ago when Tevez and Mascherano went to West Ham it was a smaller team but today they have grown and are a huge team. Racing has been dominated fully by two or three groups and I hope we’ve done something to change that.”

He added: “I'm trying to lift it because I love it, like I do with football. It’s not about me or Amo, it’s about the sport and every single guy. I might fail dramatically but I'm going to give it a crack.”

Read these next:

 What we learned: Tattersalls takeaways from the Book 1 Yearling Sale 

'We knew she was very special' - Godolphin cap Book 1 bonanza with 3,700,000gns Ylang Ylang sibling 

'It's great when two operations like Godolphin and Kia lock on and take each other on. That's the dream for any commercial breeder' 

'A week which has shone a bright light on a great industry' - Tattersalls chairman salutes spectacular Book 1 

The Racing Post is now available to follow on WhatsApp channels! Follow Racing Post Insider on WhatsApp and you can now start receiving messages and alerts for the latest news, tips, insights, live reactions and much more. Click the group link and get Racing Post notifications straight to your phone via WhatsApp.