“I can’t find a bigger thrill,” he said.

A painter by trade, Mr Milne purchased his fi rst racehorse in a syndicate with 10 others in 2010.

With a passion for horses and some knowledge of breeding he got a few mates together to buy their own horse.

He picked Living On A Prayer who ended up winning 10 races including the Cleveland Bay Handicap in Townsville and an open sprint in Doomben.

“We were lucky with him,” Mr Milne said.

While Mr Milne picked the horse based on his breeding took his uncle and horse trainer, Dave Heywood, with him to check his conformation.

“He was the one I was keen on,” he said.

The $15,000 yearling ended up earning $224,445 in prize money during his career.

The desire to own his own horse came from his family with his dad also a racing fan.

“It was my upbringing as much as anything (that made him want to own a horse),” Mr Milne said.

The syndicate of about 10 people were mainly first-time owners and mates.

“We weren’t that old, most of us were in our mid 20s when we bought him,” Mr Milne said.

“We had a lot of fun with him because he was so successful.”

Syndicates are becoming more common with large numbers of people getting together to own a portion of a thoroughbred.

It’s also a relatively inexpensive way to have as much fun at a race day as someone who owns a racehorse on their own.

“I couldn’t have done it on my own and when the results go your way it’s more like a team winning than a single bloke,” Mr Milne said.

“It’s a more viable option for people like myself and the good thing about racing is you don’t have to have the most money or the most expensive horse to win.

“That’s the glory of racing.

“There’s million-dollar horses that get beaten in Wagga and thousand dollar horses that win at Randwick.”

Mr Milne is in syndicates with three yearlings who will start racing in one or two year’s time but he hasn’t forgotten about the best horse he has owned, Living On A Prayer.

They retired him in 2015 and he has started a new career as a performance horse.

“He’d done lots for us in racing so we wanted him to go to a good home,” Mr Milne said.

See the complete official Gold Cup guide here. Copies of the guide are available at the Daily Advertiser office at 48 Trail Street and will be available at both the Town Plate and Gold Cup.