Although best known for presenting hit television shows, such as “I’m a Celebrity…” and “Britain’s Got Talent”, Anthony ‘Ant’ McPartlin and Declan ‘Dec’ Donnelly have made the occasional foray into racehorse ownership, but it would be fair to say the venture has produced mixed results so far.
Alongside fellow television presenter Georgie Thompson, who was, at the time, in a relationship with Donnelly, and her mother, the pair formed “The Foncey Syndicate” and initially purchased the five-year-old Pivotal colt, Primaeval, formerly owned by Lord Vestey and trained by James Fanshawe in Newmarket. Having been gelded, Primaeval won four of his 15 starts for his new owners between May 2011 and September 2012 and enjoyed his biggest payday when comfortably justifying favouritism, under Hayley Turner, in a seven-furlong handicap – worth £12,938 to the winner – at Goodwood on May 24, 2012. Fanshawe was appreciative of their ownership, too, saying, “They [McPartlin and Donnelly] are part of a syndicate with a few friends and it is exciting for the yard and great for racing.”
After their initial success, McPartlin and Donnelly subsequently joined forces with pop mogul Simon Cowell to purchase another horse to be trained by James Fanshawe, the aptly-named Bahamian Bounty gelding, It’s A Yes From Me, who reportedly cost £35,000 as a foal. It’s A Yes From Me was gelded prior to making his racecourse debut at Ripon on June 18, 2014, where he was soon outpaced and eventually finished last of five in a six-furlong maiden stakes race. In fact, he fared little better in five subsequent starts, never once troubling the judge, including when sent off favourite, in a first-time visor, for a lowly Class 6 handicap at Kempton on his fourth start. At the end of his brief, five-month career he had failed to win any prize money at all.