Feast or feathers

[Pronzini]

Yesterday I sold what is probably my last baby at the Fasig Tipton sale in California. First of all, the good news–I thought Fasig Tipton did a great job. I had my doubts how committed they were to the California market place but I was wrong. They clearly have done this a few times before so kudos to them.

But the reality is that the regional commercial market is in transition and there is no place for the “just a horse” types. Even Kentucky stallions don’t get the breeder over the hump. The horse better have some quality or don’t even bother. The market on the bottom to middle has just evaporated. The consignors noticed that the top 20 percent had multiple people on them which pushed those prices up. But if they weren’t on your horse, no one wanted the horse at any price which is different than past years when you could move along horses by taking a bath.

This is not a healthy market. Any breeder will tell you that breeding horses is not like manufacturing widgets. Well bred animals can come out pretty plain and crooked and no matter what you paid to produce that animal, there is now no market for that horse.

Maybe this is a Santa Anita racing thing, but it feels bigger than that to me. I think this will hit the secondary saddle horse market hard in 5 years or so.

[Where_sMyWhite]

that you are struggling with the CA market but yeah, even KeeSep showed struggles in the mid and lower end.

I agree with some of the other breeders here that limiting stallion books may end up achieving something that was not intended by causing fewer breeders to breed the bread-and-butter horses (ie, the mid and lower end horses but horses that every track needs to have to fill races).

[LaurieB]

It’s not just the regional markets, Pronzini. Kentucky is just as bad (or worse). The TB media crows about how successful the sales are, but they are talking about the top 10% of horses entered and sold. The sold middle market we sued to have has vanished and the bottom is just people giving horses away for a fraction of what it cost to produce them. Any small ding on an otherwise lovely yearling will drop your horse off of everyone’s list.

The market wants only new (meaning first year) stallions and the Top Five guys (Tapit, Into Mischief, Curlin, Medaglia d’Oro, and Quality Road.) Other than that, the stars have to align for a breeder to break even much less make money in the current sales climate. It’s disheartening.

[skydy]

I watched a few horses go through on the live feed and decided not to continue watching. It was too sad.