Whether it be pre-season tours or playing in European competitions, trips abroad are all part of the experience of being a modern-day Premier League footballer.
However, for 11 past and present members of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club the global adventure they have enjoyed with Seagulls Eleven has outweighed all expectations.
Since being purchased for 50,000 guineas the son of Galileo Gold has already taken those involved in the Two Plus Three Two Plus Four syndicate to races in Ireland and America.
Having enjoyed a spin at the Curragh in the Group One Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes, the Hugo Palmer-trained gelding then ended his two-year-old campaign with an outing at Del Mar in the Grade One Prevagen Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.
But following his recent success in the Group Three Bonhams Thoroughbred Stakes at Goodwood, the group could enjoy their biggest adventure yet with a trip to Australia to tackle the $10 million Golden Eagle at Randwick on November 1 now under consideration.
Although those still involved at the south coast club will have to make do with watching the race from the UK with the team set to host Leeds United in the Premier League that day, it has still got the group buzzing according to goalkeeper, and syndicate member, Jason Steele.
“I’ve been very lucky to have played in some big games, and won some big games, but we didn’t come into this expecting to have a horse this good,” said Steele.
“It is up to Hugo and the team at Manor House Stables if he goes out to Australia, but the thought of him running in Australia is amazing. We have briefly spoken about it in our group chat and Hugo is going to find out more and whatever they want to do I imagine the lads will support it.
“I know Hugo was keen to get another run into him, maybe back at Goodwood at the end of August, over the course and distance (Celebration Mile). That will be another step up in class and that would be another test for him. Whatever happens it will be exciting.
"We have a lot of ties with the Golden Eagle with our chairman Tony Bloom winning it last year with Lake Forest. That would be a nice story to go over there and follow that up.
“To say we have owned a horse that has already run at the Curragh, and in America, and potentially Australia is unbelievable.”
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However, while talk of a trip Down Under remains an exciting one for Steele, who has clocked up more than 300 professional appearances, the realisation that he is now part of a syndicate that owns a Group-race winner has given him an equal amount of satisfaction.
He added: “To actually comprehend winning a Group race is unbelievable. We haven’t done this for money or anything like that. We have done it simply to have the experience we enjoyed together on that Friday at Goodwood.
“We would have loved to have been at Goodwood to watch it, but the fact the majority of us watched it together was great, and if they weren't with us, they were all on facetime or texting. It was so special.
“I think as a horse he deserved that as he is super-talented and it has been hard for him. I’m really happy for Hugo and all the team at Manor House Stables as they work so hard.”
But while now able to look at even bigger and better prizes with Seagulls Eleven, both at home and abroad, Steele admits that he was starting to wonder whether he would ever add to his victory in a novice contest at Haydock Park following seven successive defeats.
He said: “I’ll be honest, off his mark, I was starting to question how he would win a race again as you know how hard it is to win a race at stakes level and his mark is that high you can’t just drop him into a handicap and expect to win.
“I was a bit worried how the team was going to find a race he could win. When you have got a horse that is as talented as him, and that is maybe not quite top class, it is really difficult to find a race to win.
“However, he has been competitive in all of his races, barring the 2000 Guineas, and he has never let us down like that. We did slightly question him after the 2000 Guineas if he wanted it, but he certainly wanted it at Goodwood the other day.”
Watching any race can be a stressful experience for an owner even, when like the other day, there were only three other rivals to contend with in the mile test.
But despite Seagulls Eleven, who had previously finished second in the Listed Edmondson Hall Solicitors Sir Henry Cecil Stakes at Newmarket, being there to be shot at up front Steele was relatively confident of the outcome as the race developed.
He said: “You can never be too optimistic in horse racing, but we knew that he was starting to get his confidence back. When we heard Opera Ballo, who beat him at Newmarket was out, that was a plus, while having one of the best jockeys in the world on his back helped.
“I was expecting him to sit in behind and take a lead, but when I saw him go to the front I wasn’t sure if that was right, but when Oisin (Murphy) feels it and that it is better to take an early lead you trust what his instinct is.
“I was quite happy to see how settled he was as he had been keen earlier in the season. It was two or three out where you saw both King Of Cities and Diego Ventura off the bridle before him and that made you start to think this can happen.
“I saw that they weren’t getting to him, and if he could stop Cosmic Year getting up the rail, which he did, with half-a-furlong left I knew he was going to win.”
Since the victory a video posted by the Premier League outfit’s media team of those syndicate members still playing for the club celebrating Seagulls Eleven win has clocked up thousands of likes after appearing on social media site X.
And although not able to toast the success with a beer or two in the immediate aftermath Steele admits the coach journey the team took down the coast that night ahead of a pre-season friendly against Southampton the following day was an enjoyable one.
He added “Those closing stages were just pure euphoria. The lads gave me a bit of stick saying that I celebrated a bit too early, but I had that much belief and confidence. He has been heavily tried at a really high level and you almost have a bit of empathy for him.
“We know what it is like when you go week-in week-out playing against the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City and not coming away with a result. He had probably had a similar journey to that up until Goodwood.
“We literally left the training ground ten minutes later to go to Southampton for a pre-season friendly. We were on the coach and still all full of adrenaline. It was a pretty special feeling and it was a pretty good coach journey for the hour and a half over to Southampton. It is safe to say the journey went very quickly.”
On Saturday, Brighton & Hove Albion will kick start their 2025/26 Premier League journey off with a home fixture at the American Express Stadium against Fulham.
But while the competition for places on the pitch remains fierce, Steele insists he couldn’t think of a better group of lads to go on the journey he has enjoyed so far with Seagulls Eleven.
He added: “We did this to have a laugh and create some memories and that is exactly what Seagulls Eleven has done for us. You have your friends, but especially in football, people move and drift apart. The fact is though we are all really good friends and we have something else in common that keeps us all together and that is massive.
“We say how lucky we are all the time as this really is beyond our wildest dreams, but hopefully it can continue going.”
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