Although racefans get to know the horses, the riders and the trainers involved in the sport, there are many involved in the industry who, within it, are as widely known to insiders as the likes of Bob Baffert and Frankie Dettori are to the general betting public. Ed Prosser is one of those people.
Whether you are with racing people in a pub in Dublin, a nightclub in Moscow, a Chinese restaurant in Newmarket or a hotel in Kazakhstan, if you are truly among racing people and you ask them, “Do you know Ed Prosser?” the response will be in the affirmative. And it will be given with a smile. Everyone knows Ed Prosser. And everyone likes him.
Prosser is two parts Hugh Grant to one part Johnny English, finished off with thick-lensed spectacles and grey hair, and he speaks like old money, a proud Yorkshireman, born to a family fond of horses and horseracing. Educated at the prestigious Oundle School in Northamptonshire, he took a degree in history at Royal Holloway in London. In his case, though, both seats of learning seemed to become more a base for ventures to the races than institutions of deep scholarship.
After university, Prosser got a place on the British Horseracing Board’s graduate course. That gave him a taste of work experience in the industry. He had spells with the Levy Board, the horseracing forensics lab, and a couple of racecourses.
A year later, he got a position with news and PR agency Racenews, which involved him spending long days and evenings at Tattersalls auctioneers in Newmarket, typing out sales reports for the Sporting Life and then the Racing Post, and it was then, through a mutual friend, that I got to know him. He ended up owning shares in various horses I trained over the years. He says he has had shares in horses with a lot of very good trainers, and Pat Gilligan.
We had fun, landed some gambles, drank some beer. And then, eight years ago, Prosser got a job with Keeneland - the highest-grossing Thoroughbred sales company in the world - as its European representative.
Prosser is perfect for the job. Although he could not be more the typical old-fashioned public-school-educated English gentleman, he is one of only a few Anglo-Saxons who can carouse easily in a crowded bar with the Murphia, or who can be found comfortably downing vodkas in Dudleys in downtown Lexington with Russian clientele, or, on occasion, even fermented horse milk in Kazakhstan, or even chewing on goat’s tongue in the Saudi desert.
“I only cover a small part of the world really, but Keeneland sells horses throughout South America, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, Russia, Kazakhstan, the Middle East, South Africa, Australia, Japan, South Korea and many other places. Perhaps our biggest international customer base, though, in terms of number of variety of clients for foals, yearlings and mares is Ireland.
Global reach
“We bill the September Sale as the world’s yearling sale, and there really is no other auction of its kind globally, offering the best of dirt and turf horses at the same time.”
He adds, “This year Keeneland graduates won the 2000 Guineas [Kameko], one of only a few 2020 European Classic winners to have been offered at public auction, the winners of both the Kentucky Derby [Authentic] and Oaks [Shedaresthedevil] changed hands with us, the Swedish Derby winner [Bullof Wall Street] was bought here, the UAE Oaks winner [Down On Da Bayou], Grade 1 winners in Australia and Japan, and the winner of a $1.5 million race in Saudi Arabia. We have even had a Classic winner in recent years in Kazakhstan, where racing is centered around Almaty in the south of the country.”
Prosser has been to Turkey, which he says is run very efficiently by the Turkish Jockey Club, and its stallion ranks were bolstered considerably last year by the purchases of Daredevil, Super Saver, Trappe Shot and Bodemeister. He has also travelled of course all around Europe and the Middle East. Where Keeneland does business east of New York, Prosser has probably been there.
There are five principal racetracks in Russia where they race mainly on dirt. The Central Moscow Hippodrome, which boasts a grand exterior, has held race meets since 1834. This year’s Russian Derby was won by a son of Constitution sold at Keeneland for $40,000 by Pope McLean and family, of Crestwood Farm in Kentucky.
Prosser has a contact list any bloodstock agent would pay a million dollars for. He plays his cards close to his chest, but lets juicy tidbits out at times. His role is varied, he might arrange the purchase of a session-topper for a sheikh, or lunch for an ex-trainer down on his luck. He travels extensively (in normal times), promoting Keeneland sales, and promotes also its spring and autumn race meets, annual highlights of the Lexington social calendar (in normal times).
Wherever Keeneland customers are to be found, whether in Sweden, or Bahrain, or home in the UK, then Prosser is there to support and assist them. Whatever he does, whatever the task, he seems to quietly and efficiently execute it, while at the same time wearing an air of slight surprise at his situation.
Kentucky trainer Phil Sims was apparently so impressed by Ed Prosser after getting to know him that he named a horse after him - seemingly overlooking the opportunity to immortalize the fruits of his own loins. There was to be no Matt’s Kitten, no Blake’s Kitten, there is however now a Prosser’s Kitten. It can hopefully be of some small solace to his presumably disgruntled sons that at least the filly proved less than distinguished on the racecourse and now plies her trade in New Mexico.
Most jobs in racing are not front-of-house, not played in the public eye, but many of them afford the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life and different places, and sometimes to travel to exotic destinations they didn’t think they’d ever visit.
It draws the world together quite well, horseracing. As does Ed Prosser.