I recently (9/2/11) purchased a TB racehorse directly off the track, have his JC foal registration papers and a signed BOS from the horse’s (former) trainer. What do I have to do to get this horse registered with the JC in my name? Thanks in advance.
http://www.jockeyclub.com/registry.asp?section=3#seven
“The transfer of ownership for all registered Thoroughbreds may be reported to The Jockey Club by completing a Transfer of Ownership Form or through Interactive RegistrationTM at registry.jockeyclub.com.”
That link will work but assuming you aren’t going to be racing the horse there really is no need. The bill of sale is what matters.
Thank you, Simkie. I just went in and did it and was a bit surprised there are no documention requirements or fees to transfer ownership. It appears anyone go there and change ownership for any horse? :eek:
This is my first TB. Previous experience has been with the Arabian Horse Registry which requires real signatures from both the seller and the buyer on the actual registration papers before they reissue them in the new owner’s name. There is also a reasonable fee for this (last I knew ~$35) if the transaction is completed within 9 days (cost goes up after that).
Laurierace, yes I know to folks in the racing world the horse’s registration papers don’t mean a thing unless the horse will be raced. However, to the great unwashed masses, they DO. You probably wouldn’t believe how many “regular” horse people ooh and ahh when I tell them I have my horse’s “papers” since so many TBs are sold without. They think that makes him more valuable.
BTW, I have no intention of racing this horse. He was a complete dud on the track. :lol:
I didn’t say his papers weren’t of any use outside of racing, I was pointing out that the Jockey club doesn’t care as you saw when you changed the ownership.
Ownership with TJC is just so that you can do business with them based on a certain horse. Doesn’t prove ownership and from what I know, they don’t keep a database on owners. Everything is by horse. Another reason there are no membership fees as with AQHA and other registries. TJC is a true breed registry, not an ownership registry.
It’s an eye opener for many who have only dealt with non TB registries, isn’t it, not to be nickeled and dimed with an “ownership tranfer fee”? LOL It just shows WHY all those other registries were created/invented (money maker game). If you have the signed papers, and a BOS with that too, the horse is definately yours, and the JC isn’t interested one way or the other unless you are going to race it, or breed it, or consign it to a TB sale. In which case, you can produce the registration papers, and get any ownership paperwork done with the JC at that point, just as easily as you did.
We’ve always just signed the back of the papers. I’ve never gone thru the JC to transfer ownership…
[QUOTE=NancyM;5964371]
It’s an eye opener for many who have only dealt with non TB registries, isn’t it, not to be nickeled and dimed with an “ownership tranfer fee”? [/QUOTE]Personally, I’d rather pay a fee and have new papers reisssued with my name on them. At say, $35, I wouldn’t feel as though I was being nickled and dimed at all. $35-$50 is peanuts in the overall horse owning scheme of things. Coming from the Arabian horse world, I consider registration papers important and keep them in a safe place even after the horse is dead. It’s proof they existed and mattered.
In my experience, plenty of people buying TBs for non-racing purposes would like to have their horse’s papers with their name on them too. Perhaps the JC should look into something like this as a way to make money? Might also improve the impression some have that an OTTBs is a cheap, throw away horse. As I’ve stated before, a papered horse is almost always worth more than one without.
Not that it matters one iota but IMO, it’s rather foolish to allow just anybody to get on the JC website and transfer “ownership” of any horse to themselves. For example, if I enter that I’m the owner of say, the latest hot 2 year old, will my name appear as the owner on Equibase when the horse races? See where I’m going with this? I suppose it doesn’t matter if y’all don’t care what records the JC keeps regarding ownership. I just don’t understand the mindset.
Anyway, thanks to all who have responded. It’s been interesting and much appreciated.
The jockey club has nothing to do with ownership so no your name would not show up as owner if you changed a horse into your name falsely.
What Laurie said. Papers must be in the office of the racetrack day of race with ownership clearly stated (and approved by the stewards in cases of recent sales, which most always means a signed and witnessed bill of sale presented and accepted by them) and used by the identifier to verify the horse by tattoo and identifying characteristics over in the paddock just before the race. Transfering Zenyatta online in your name not only breaks the little agreement you checked stating you own the horse in question when you submit the change, but it also doesn’t mean a hill of beans 
:lol:
I do still sometimes do that when I happen to be in there for people who have bought horses from me after their career ends, but since I sell with signed over papers to very non-race people, and they get a bill of sale, they’ve got all they need to say a horse is their’s.
