Hi, I am from hunter/jumper land and have friends with two registered racehorse yearlings, one or both of which they are interested in offering at a thoroughbred auction this summer/fall. Yearlings were born in NJ, but are by FL stallions. The first relevant sale that I have found on the calendar is the Fasig-Tipton eastern yearlings sale at Timonium in the fall. To the extent that any of you can offer any advice on any or all of the following topics, I’d greatly appreciate it: (1) tips generally on navigating such sales, (2) rundown of where the sale mentioned falls in the universe of yearling sales (e.g., second-tier, cheap, middle-of-the-road, etc.), and (3) any suggestions on alternate sales or when it makes sense to wait until two-year-old year (and when they are expected to have first been topped, etc.). Many thanks in advance for any replies.
The longer you wait, the more expensive the sales get. If they do not have commercial pedigrees you will essentially be giving them away after paying expenses. People breed to race and breed to sell. If they weren’t bred to sell, they won’t. Sorry for being Debbie Downer but it is what it is. Without their pedigrees we can’t give you any real constructive advice.
More than likely, they wont bring the price of raising them and putting them thru the sale. I could be wrong, hard to judge without a pedigree. The Fasig Tipton sale in Maryland would be the right place for them. The really good horses there can sell for 6 figures, the ordinary ones barely sell. Im not sure if thats a select sale or not; Im thinking not, so they could be entered there.
If you are waiting for 2 year old sales, you can figure on having at the low end $12-15,000 in them to get them thru a 2 year old sale.
Question:
Can anyone go to one of the big sales and watch or do you need “something” (whatever that is) to get in?
Tx.
[QUOTE=sonomacounty;6309237]
Question:
Can anyone go to one of the big sales and watch or do you need “something” (whatever that is) to get in?
Tx.[/QUOTE]
Yup you can go and watch just make sure you don’t wave, blink or move or you may buy a horse! lol Slightly kinding but the auctions are fun to watch and try to figure out who is actually bidding. Also go check out the barns and horses.
P.
Thanks Polydor. I remember I went to one auction (sb) in PA that you had to have an invite/admission ticket or something to and couldn’t get in ! Made a fun day of it, looking around some cool towns anyway.
Say, do you still have the horse that chases the cows? I remember the photos of that on one past thread. Funniest thing ever !
Your best bet is to look for a consigner. Some of the more well known guys will come out and personally look at your youngsters, especially if you all are “unkown”. He or she can evaluate your horses and let you know if they fit in (or point you to another sale). They will also tell you what your babies need to know as far as being handled, and schooled to wear a chifney bit.
It’s good to keep in mind that the bigger consigners get the most traffic in their barns at the sale.
Keeping a baby around to sell at a two year old sale is a huge financial risk for the backyard breeder (no offense). Big expense and your risk for injury multiplies. Horses go to training farm and are galloped and breezed, and are expected to breeze at the sale.
Thanks everyone who has responded to date - this is such an unfamiliar space in the horse industry to me that the advice is really helpful. The yearlings are each by well-known FL studs (High Cotton and In Summation), so it sounds like the Ocala sales would be worth considering - depending on what is still open for entry. Thanks to whoever brought up the idea of using a consignor, as I didn’t know to suggest that to my friends. Does anyone know - in a rough, ballpark sense, what kind of floor there is in terms of how cheap a yearling it would be worth hiring a consignor for? E.g., I’m not sure how the consignors work - if they take a percentage of sales or just have flat fees, or both, etc. Basically, I don’t want the expense of shipping down to FL or wherever and the cost of the consignor to cancel out any sale proceeds or put the owners in the red in connection with the sale. On the other hand, successful sale/placement of the yearlings is highly desirable to the owners - they are not in the racing side of the horse industry, but have been involved in breeding other sporthorses are not expecting big profits or anything - they want them to go get a shot at a life. Any recommendations on consignors also welcome - thanks yet again to everyone for responding to this - the Chronicle is the best!
It wouldn’t be worth going without a consignor to any sale regardless of the value of a horse. You would have to literally go there yourself and stand there for days to show the horses to potential buyers.
High Cotton has had some decent runners but they are generally not the “win early sprinters” that sell well. In Summation was a very good sprinter and I imagine his babies would sell well in FLA to folks looking for a quick youngster.
Currency Swap, winner of the Hopeful, is by High Cotton.
Currency Swap won another stakes race yesterday.
Timonium is not a select sale…
Check out the Stallion Register Online for the auction sales stats:
http://www.bloodhorse.com/stallion-register/pdfs/highcotton.pdf
This page, for example, shows that High Cotton had 27 yearlings that sold for an average price of $19,044.
If you check out the Fasig-Tipton, Keeneland, and Barrett’s Equine websites, you can do a search by sire to find out how his progeny sold at their auctions. Those are the big three in the U.S. that I have noticed while surfing online. (So take my advice as a starting point only).
The Fasig-Tipton catalog for the Timonium Two-Year-Olds in Training sale in May is on this page:
http://www.fasigtipton.com/catalogues/2012/index.asp
If you are going to the auction to check it out, be sure and find out what dates the barns are open for viewing the horses before the auction. That way you can see how the consignors market and maintain their charges. The two-year-old sales will have Under Tack Shows where they breeze the babies, which you can observe in person or online, and the catalog will show the stats. Oh, and you can view the sales catalog online in advance. Some of the sites have started placing conformation photos on their websites.
Now, a question for Altershmalter; why did you say Timonium is not a select sale? Was it because it doesn’t have restrictive criteria for the horses and is therefore literally not select, or because you don’t think it is a high-end or quality auction? They had two sales in 2011 restricted by age, (yearlings and two-year olds, so I’m curious.) I know nothing about Timonium except what I have seen online.
Oh, and the thoroughbredtimes.com site shows a nice breakdown of auction stats, and shows that High Cotton had several babies go through the Ocala Breeders Sale auction.
OBS was my suggestion.
If you go to the Bloodhorse site, and click on Stallion Register, then auction results you need to click through beyond numbers sold and averages. This will being up info on every foal sold at auction by the stallion. You will see detailed info regarding date, hip no., abbreviations for the specific sale venue, price and consignor name. Once you have this info, some auctions will still have the prior year’s catalog pages online. I would look at the catalog pages to compare the dams of the other horses sold.
Be aware, no matter which sale you choose, the horses must be nominated a couple months ahead of time. You do not want to miss this deadline or the horse will become s late addition and will not appear in the catalog.
One of the most important decisions is the selection of the individual sale and the consignor.s overall success there. Shipping costs are a valid concern but has to be balanced against the number of potential buyers at the sale. Fees for consignors are pretty much a standard 5% commission. What you must be cognizant of is the owner is liable for the the commission (and a commission to the auction house) when that horse goes through the ring–even a “No Sale.” you will pay based upon your Reserve Price.
It’s always nice to hear when someone has sold a high dollar horse but you need realistic expectations. The majority of consignors prefer to prep the yearling themselves 60 days prior to sale during which they are working on s horse.s cost, exercise, getting its feet in really good condition and teaching it to stand and walk properly wearing a chiffney bit. Some consignors will work with owners to minimize costs when they know the farm can properly prepare the young horse.
Those ar 2 nice stallions, so, depending on the mare’s page you may be in luck. I would run a catalog page for each on Equineline and see how they look in black and white. The mare is as key as the stallion and you want to see black type up close - 1st dam preferably. I agree - you need a consigner. You will pay $650 at the least to be in the sale, and then add in the consigner’s fees. If you do the sales prep yourself, you can save some money, but that is a whole thread in itself (feed, walking, grooming, farrier work etc are all key). It’s very expensive if you send them to the consigner to sales prep 30 days out. I know that the deadline has passed for the August sale, but you may still be able to get in. OBS is inspecting yearlings for the Select sale now (we are having them check our colt out, but while he has a nice page, he is a late foal and is probably too small for the Select).
Good luck - it is a real crap-shoot. Be sure to put a reserve on or plan to bid yourself if you don’t want them to go really cheap. I believe the consigner usually gets 5% plus expenses.
sales
Not an easy game. …at best. Good luck.
Don’t all TB sales these days have a minimum knockdown price of 1k? So if the thought of your young ones going for 1k makes you ill, you’ll have to set a higher reserve.
