The Chronicles Of Victor Consortio
The Story So Far
The Story So Far
Twas the Spring of 2007. The English sporting world was a dark place. Steve McClaren was the England manager, the Ashes had just been humiliatingly lost five nil and the England Rugby team were stuttering towards the World Cup. The public cried out for heroes, for someone to illuminate the darkness…
What any of that has to do with Raceclubs is anybody’s guess (probably starting with my psychiatrist). But at about the same time, Paul and Justin scraped together a few pennies and started the Victor Consortio Stable.
The success of the stable was initially limited to spelling the name correctly. An early purchase of a group of horses from the top Ken Allan’s stable was perhaps the most notable development and that led to some early progress. But momentous events were about to unfold…
“Three that’s the magic number”
Only a few months after opening two were about to become three with an additional person joining the stable. Even now we are not at liberty to divulge his identity but suffice to say that Leon, formally of the Golden Glory Racing stable, was a valuable new partner. This new addition, new horses and new found ‘wealth’ saw the meteoric rise (hmm yeah right) into the top 50 earning stables. This was helped in no small part by the transfer of the previous seasons Juvenile Classic Champion - Prince Josh - from Paul’s own stable. By the season’s end they were comfortably sat in 41st place in the earnings table and poised for an assault on the top 40 (not ‘arf pop pickers). But storm clouds were on the horizon…
“In a heated argument we are apt to lose sight of the truth.”
And so they did. The truth in this case being that at the end of the day Raceclubs is meant to be a bit of fun. It’s not difficult to see the potential flash points. Three men all of whom had owned their own stable and had their own way of thinking. Two men who had initially come together to form the stable and had gradually eased into the partnership. One really stubborn bugger. If it was only as simple as that this would be a far easier story to tell but alas dear reader it is not. For in the middle of all this is the auction purchase that shook Raceclubs to its very core (or not) - The Beloverley Affair. In 1970’s America, the Watergate Scandal brought down Richard Nixon. In 1960’s England, the Profumo affair brought down an entire government. In July 2007, the Beloverley Affair almost brought down a stable.
The Beloverley Affair (as absolutely no-one called it) centred on the purchase of two horses - Saint Beloverley and Bold Beloverley. The two horses had been placed into the auction as a private sale group. In Raceclubs terms a private sale is an auction sale agreed in advance between two owners. It relies on a gentleman’s agreement that other people will not bid on those horses - In effect it’s like a private transfer but with no facility for this on Raceclubs this is the next best thing. In this particular case, Victor Consortio were not the intended buyer and swooped to buy them late on, taking them from under the nose of the owner who had agreed the deal. This lead to some heated words on the forums although it wasn’t the first time this had happened but it was probably the most high profile (if there is such a thing on internet game). However what most people will not be aware of are the heated words that took place away from the forums within the stable. The issue was that one of three did not want to hijack the private sale as it was against his moral code [cue stirring music and an enigmatic stare into the distance]. So it was two versus one and the one was not best pleased. If we re-visit an earlier passage specifically the ‘one stubborn bugger’ bit it’s easy to see how the seeds of destruction were thus sewn.
“Two’s Company, three’s a crowd.”
From this point on there were distinct ‘artistic differences’ (arguments) which led to the one being politely asked to leave (told to piss off) by the two. Well it wasn’t quite like that but over the following few weeks it became clear that a wedge had been driven into the very heart of the stable. Eventually it got to the point where they would either split completely or the one (and lets be honest we mean Leon) would do the honourable thing and sod off, which he did.
And so the stable returned to relative tranquillity. The August 2007 - November 2007 season was to be a hugely successful one. With an ever increasing stable of excellent horses, the remaining two members of Victor Consortio powered into the top 20 earning stables. Alongside this they were also able to boast their first finals win when Nefertiti’s Gold sprang a surprise in the Cesarewich Fillies final. In the same finals week, the dynamic duo also had two further places with Stone Thrower in the Juvenile Colts Classic Challenge final and Bold Beloverley in the Nunthorpe Colts Sprint final. Generously the pair agreed to share the bounty of this successful season and agreed to split the prize money with their erstwhile partner as he’d left part way through. With Justin taking 50%, Paul 50% and Leon 0% the division was very equitable (not that Leon’s still bitter or anything, oh no). So with Paul and Justin celebrating with Champagne & lighting cigars with £20 notes etc and Leon left destitute & a broken man our story moves into the following season - December ‘07 - March ’08.
“Sanity calms, but madness is more interesting.”
Nothing happened during this season. It was all quite boring really. Well, ok, that’s not strictly true but when you compare it with the sheer drama of the previous two seasons it pales by comparison. No tiffs, no controversy, no finals wins and no Leon. Urgh, how dull….
The most notable aspect of this season was probably the purchase of the 2yo filly Unscrupulous Miss and her subsequent runners up spot in the 2yo Fillies Stayers Final and creditable 7th place in a Monthly Stayers final with the worst jockey in the race. She was bought for a ‘bargain’ fee of £700 from the MrTug stable after he probably overlooked her potential qualities as a stayer. With the only other horse involved in the end of season finals finishing 7th (Hear the Angels) this quiet season saw the stable drop back out of the top 30 earning stables finishing 33rd overall.
Was Victor Consortio in decline...?
“We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance.”
The simple answer to that is ‘No’. But there were to be some major changes this season within the stable. The biggest of which was the possibly stupid return of Leon to the stable. It all happened rather quickly after he had agreed to purchase the remaining horses from the dallas1 stable. When the idea of collaboration was originally muted it had been to with the intention of opening a new stable to purchase these horses from and to each own a third of this new stable. That idea was quickly scrapped however and Leon was asked to rejoin Victor Consortio instead. Pooling together the two groups of horses was a big boost to the stable although the intention was always to sell some of the new horses as soon as possible.
The season started well enough with some good qualifier wins and plenty of success in stakes races and the three guys seemed to be working well enough together (although Leon did offer to leave after about a week of teething troubles). However things settled down and became…well they became almost normal as it happens. Very strange.
The season really began to move into gear with the addition of two horses to the stable - Greek Gladiator in May and Joyride in June. The purchase of Greek Gladiator highlights just how badly the stable can work at times albeit with a good result in the end. Auctions are a particularly bad time for Victor Consortio as they are all usually not around at the same time as each other for various reasons and because of this there is usually an attempt to pin down some buys during the week leading up to the auction. This almost never works out as planned. In this case the following happened:
Justin and Leon looked through the auction content separately and spotted different horses of interest but none that really stood out as a definite ‘must have buy’. Justin highlighted Greek Gladiator as a horse he’d like to buy but Leon wasn’t that interested as the three of them had agreed that this particular type of horse wasn’t what they were after at that point. Justin wasn’t overly interested in buying anything else and neither was Leon so neither showed up for the auction. However, the horses looked at were sent to Paul and when he showed up for the auction he decided to buy Greek Gladiator anyway. So a horse type that we hadn’t wanted and a horse that we weren’t agreed upon was bought for £500 by the only person who showed up for the auction and had been working for the best part of two days straight without much sleep. Genius. As you can see the stable doesn’t quite run like clockwork…
With the two new purchases and a real stroke of luck in the sales ring - only the second ever challenge class horse found - Sun Chariot - the stable was poised for an exciting climax to the season with some real finals chances. The first of these was at the end of June when Joyride the odds on favourite won the June Monthly final. The success was to continue on into July and the end of season finals. There were high hopes for a few of the horses especially after the goings came up - most notably Joyride in Juvenile the Sprinters Final, Fly to Fame in the Newbury Colts Sprint Final and Hear the Angels in the St Leger Colts Final. As it turned out, two of those were to be triumphant - Joyride and Hear the Angels with Unscrupulous Miss also running a great race to place 2nd in The Oaks. With the success in the finals and their return to the top 20 earning stables the season had been a real triumph for madness over method or perhaps there really is some method to the madness? I’m in the stable and even I don’t know which way around it is.
So what next…?
“Experience is that marvellous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.”
Well, first and foremost it would probably be a good idea to try and stick together for more than just one season. So far it’s mostly been smooth running with a more laid back atmosphere around the stable - perhaps with everyone recognising the mistakes of the past - hence the quote above. Having said that, already Leon has offered to leave, Justin has pondered leaving and…well…Paul is too tight to consider leaving to be honest. Shame. So who knows what the future holds. Hopefully it will be fun whatever happens and we hope you’ve enjoyed reading the story so far.
What any of that has to do with Raceclubs is anybody’s guess (probably starting with my psychiatrist). But at about the same time, Paul and Justin scraped together a few pennies and started the Victor Consortio Stable.
The success of the stable was initially limited to spelling the name correctly. An early purchase of a group of horses from the top Ken Allan’s stable was perhaps the most notable development and that led to some early progress. But momentous events were about to unfold…
“Three that’s the magic number”
Only a few months after opening two were about to become three with an additional person joining the stable. Even now we are not at liberty to divulge his identity but suffice to say that Leon, formally of the Golden Glory Racing stable, was a valuable new partner. This new addition, new horses and new found ‘wealth’ saw the meteoric rise (hmm yeah right) into the top 50 earning stables. This was helped in no small part by the transfer of the previous seasons Juvenile Classic Champion - Prince Josh - from Paul’s own stable. By the season’s end they were comfortably sat in 41st place in the earnings table and poised for an assault on the top 40 (not ‘arf pop pickers). But storm clouds were on the horizon…
“In a heated argument we are apt to lose sight of the truth.”
And so they did. The truth in this case being that at the end of the day Raceclubs is meant to be a bit of fun. It’s not difficult to see the potential flash points. Three men all of whom had owned their own stable and had their own way of thinking. Two men who had initially come together to form the stable and had gradually eased into the partnership. One really stubborn bugger. If it was only as simple as that this would be a far easier story to tell but alas dear reader it is not. For in the middle of all this is the auction purchase that shook Raceclubs to its very core (or not) - The Beloverley Affair. In 1970’s America, the Watergate Scandal brought down Richard Nixon. In 1960’s England, the Profumo affair brought down an entire government. In July 2007, the Beloverley Affair almost brought down a stable.
The Beloverley Affair (as absolutely no-one called it) centred on the purchase of two horses - Saint Beloverley and Bold Beloverley. The two horses had been placed into the auction as a private sale group. In Raceclubs terms a private sale is an auction sale agreed in advance between two owners. It relies on a gentleman’s agreement that other people will not bid on those horses - In effect it’s like a private transfer but with no facility for this on Raceclubs this is the next best thing. In this particular case, Victor Consortio were not the intended buyer and swooped to buy them late on, taking them from under the nose of the owner who had agreed the deal. This lead to some heated words on the forums although it wasn’t the first time this had happened but it was probably the most high profile (if there is such a thing on internet game). However what most people will not be aware of are the heated words that took place away from the forums within the stable. The issue was that one of three did not want to hijack the private sale as it was against his moral code [cue stirring music and an enigmatic stare into the distance]. So it was two versus one and the one was not best pleased. If we re-visit an earlier passage specifically the ‘one stubborn bugger’ bit it’s easy to see how the seeds of destruction were thus sewn.
“Two’s Company, three’s a crowd.”
From this point on there were distinct ‘artistic differences’ (arguments) which led to the one being politely asked to leave (told to piss off) by the two. Well it wasn’t quite like that but over the following few weeks it became clear that a wedge had been driven into the very heart of the stable. Eventually it got to the point where they would either split completely or the one (and lets be honest we mean Leon) would do the honourable thing and sod off, which he did.
And so the stable returned to relative tranquillity. The August 2007 - November 2007 season was to be a hugely successful one. With an ever increasing stable of excellent horses, the remaining two members of Victor Consortio powered into the top 20 earning stables. Alongside this they were also able to boast their first finals win when Nefertiti’s Gold sprang a surprise in the Cesarewich Fillies final. In the same finals week, the dynamic duo also had two further places with Stone Thrower in the Juvenile Colts Classic Challenge final and Bold Beloverley in the Nunthorpe Colts Sprint final. Generously the pair agreed to share the bounty of this successful season and agreed to split the prize money with their erstwhile partner as he’d left part way through. With Justin taking 50%, Paul 50% and Leon 0% the division was very equitable (not that Leon’s still bitter or anything, oh no). So with Paul and Justin celebrating with Champagne & lighting cigars with £20 notes etc and Leon left destitute & a broken man our story moves into the following season - December ‘07 - March ’08.
“Sanity calms, but madness is more interesting.”
Nothing happened during this season. It was all quite boring really. Well, ok, that’s not strictly true but when you compare it with the sheer drama of the previous two seasons it pales by comparison. No tiffs, no controversy, no finals wins and no Leon. Urgh, how dull….
The most notable aspect of this season was probably the purchase of the 2yo filly Unscrupulous Miss and her subsequent runners up spot in the 2yo Fillies Stayers Final and creditable 7th place in a Monthly Stayers final with the worst jockey in the race. She was bought for a ‘bargain’ fee of £700 from the MrTug stable after he probably overlooked her potential qualities as a stayer. With the only other horse involved in the end of season finals finishing 7th (Hear the Angels) this quiet season saw the stable drop back out of the top 30 earning stables finishing 33rd overall.
Was Victor Consortio in decline...?
“We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance.”
The simple answer to that is ‘No’. But there were to be some major changes this season within the stable. The biggest of which was the possibly stupid return of Leon to the stable. It all happened rather quickly after he had agreed to purchase the remaining horses from the dallas1 stable. When the idea of collaboration was originally muted it had been to with the intention of opening a new stable to purchase these horses from and to each own a third of this new stable. That idea was quickly scrapped however and Leon was asked to rejoin Victor Consortio instead. Pooling together the two groups of horses was a big boost to the stable although the intention was always to sell some of the new horses as soon as possible.
The season started well enough with some good qualifier wins and plenty of success in stakes races and the three guys seemed to be working well enough together (although Leon did offer to leave after about a week of teething troubles). However things settled down and became…well they became almost normal as it happens. Very strange.
The season really began to move into gear with the addition of two horses to the stable - Greek Gladiator in May and Joyride in June. The purchase of Greek Gladiator highlights just how badly the stable can work at times albeit with a good result in the end. Auctions are a particularly bad time for Victor Consortio as they are all usually not around at the same time as each other for various reasons and because of this there is usually an attempt to pin down some buys during the week leading up to the auction. This almost never works out as planned. In this case the following happened:
Justin and Leon looked through the auction content separately and spotted different horses of interest but none that really stood out as a definite ‘must have buy’. Justin highlighted Greek Gladiator as a horse he’d like to buy but Leon wasn’t that interested as the three of them had agreed that this particular type of horse wasn’t what they were after at that point. Justin wasn’t overly interested in buying anything else and neither was Leon so neither showed up for the auction. However, the horses looked at were sent to Paul and when he showed up for the auction he decided to buy Greek Gladiator anyway. So a horse type that we hadn’t wanted and a horse that we weren’t agreed upon was bought for £500 by the only person who showed up for the auction and had been working for the best part of two days straight without much sleep. Genius. As you can see the stable doesn’t quite run like clockwork…
With the two new purchases and a real stroke of luck in the sales ring - only the second ever challenge class horse found - Sun Chariot - the stable was poised for an exciting climax to the season with some real finals chances. The first of these was at the end of June when Joyride the odds on favourite won the June Monthly final. The success was to continue on into July and the end of season finals. There were high hopes for a few of the horses especially after the goings came up - most notably Joyride in Juvenile the Sprinters Final, Fly to Fame in the Newbury Colts Sprint Final and Hear the Angels in the St Leger Colts Final. As it turned out, two of those were to be triumphant - Joyride and Hear the Angels with Unscrupulous Miss also running a great race to place 2nd in The Oaks. With the success in the finals and their return to the top 20 earning stables the season had been a real triumph for madness over method or perhaps there really is some method to the madness? I’m in the stable and even I don’t know which way around it is.
So what next…?
“Experience is that marvellous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.”
Well, first and foremost it would probably be a good idea to try and stick together for more than just one season. So far it’s mostly been smooth running with a more laid back atmosphere around the stable - perhaps with everyone recognising the mistakes of the past - hence the quote above. Having said that, already Leon has offered to leave, Justin has pondered leaving and…well…Paul is too tight to consider leaving to be honest. Shame. So who knows what the future holds. Hopefully it will be fun whatever happens and we hope you’ve enjoyed reading the story so far.
