“As Kiwis or Australians many of our owners dream of getting a horse in the Melbourne Cup because that is the race we all grew up on,” says Bosma.
“But the pull of Ascot is unbelievable. We find once owners have been they want to go back every year and then they come home, tell their mates and they want to go the next year.”
That pull is so strong that Go Racing has two horses running in its blue and white colours at Ascot this weekend and 30 owners have flown to London to watch them.
“We have Omni Man racing Friday [Saturday morning NZ time] and Dial Me In, who was going to race on Saturday, now racing on Thursday,” says Bosma.
“And even with all the uncertainty with travel through the Middle East and the sheer expense of going all the way to London we will still have 30 owners up there.
“It is an addictive experience. The racing is world-class of course but the ceremony, the fashion, the great trainers and jockeys and the royals being there, it is pretty remarkable stuff.”
Sadly for Bosma work keeps him in the Auckland cold this weekend while Go Racing executives Matt Allnutt and Pat Vinaccia oversee the company’s two chances and busload of owners.
“To have two horses at the Royal meeting is a big deal for a New Zealand-based company,” says Bosma.
“We have really expanded into that part of the world the last few years and we are lucky to have horses with Joseph O’Brien, who is a training genius.”
O’Brien is telling Bosma he thinks Omni Man, who finished fifth at Royal Ascot last year, can go close to winning the Duke of Edinburgh on Friday over 2400m, victory in which could lead to even bigger things.
“If he races the way we think we might he will be coming down to Australia for the Caulfield Cup [October],” says Bosma.
“And Deal Me In is a really progressive 3-year-old who we are excited to see go on Thursday.”
While Bosma won’t be at Ascot this week plenty of other Kiwis will be flying the New Zealand flag.
They are headed by global superstars James McDonald and Chris Waller, ex-pat trainer Bjorn Baker, an army of Cambridge Stud supporters for Joliestar, who races on Saturday, and an amazing cross-section of New Zealand sporting and racing personalities.
Some come for the horses, the betting, some for the socialising with the famous pre- and post-meeting carpark parties and some just for the fashion and the obligatory Instagram pic.
At a race meeting where the winners are not easy to find there is one very safe bet: those at Royal Ascot this week will want to come back again.
ROYAL ASCOT
(Last three days)
Thursday (starts 1.30am Friday NZ time): Ascot Gold Cup (4000m) and Ladies Day, Deal Me In owned in New Zealand.
Friday: Omni Man representing NZ’s Go Racing in Duke of Edinburgh Stakes.
Saturday: Joliestar favourite for the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes (G1) for Cambridge Stud, Chris Waller and James McDonald.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.