Yes, some nice mares sold for almost nothing. :no: Congrats on the Astern breeding. He looks good.
Generally the further you are from the races, the less the horses are worth and that puts mares at the very bottom of the totem pole unfortunately. Thatâs just dollars and cents so any sale that focuses on mares and short yearlings is going to suffer. The recent California sale was absolutely horrendous.
This isnât new but it is getting worse. No one wants a mare. Breeding horses requires consummate patience and doing it thoughtfully and skillfully is not only expensive but very hard. Do it right and Mother Nature can still slap you upside the head not to mention Lady Luck. The money is in pinhooking which itself tends to be concentrated in a narrow slice of the horses out there. This is unhealthy for the entire industry IMO. Racing relies on a pyramid and youâve got to have the horses, owners and breeders at the bottom to support the ones at the top.
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The interesting thing to me is that pinhookers arenât just driving the sales market now. They are also affecting mare ownersâ breeding decisions, and even how long farms are willing to give their stallions to prove themselves. TB breeding is entering an era of instant gratificationâwhich is pretty much a pinhookerâs goal: get in and out in just a few months without ever having to put your decisions to the test by actually racing the horses youâve picked.
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Also ended up with an Animal Kingdom yearling. Needs some groceries, a good worming, and some TLC. I couldnât leave him there. ðŸËâ°
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I hope he repays you by running like his sire did. 
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Well done, you excellent person, you!
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This times a thousand is why the market is so volatile and top heavy. No one wants just a horse and advisors donât want to be wrong. But flipping a horse for twice you paid on one end of the transaction and buying the latest âhotâ sire on the other side gives automatic cover even if the horse in question canât outrun me.
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After watching a few days of the sale, I wish I was in a better âlifeâ place right now to welcome another addition to the barn. But with work; life is just too hectic right now. Certainly a buyers market and if you wanted to get in the game ; you can do so rather affordably at this point if you stay away from the boutique sales. Lots of solid mares selling in foal to some great stallions and even at this sale there was a lot of nice youngstock at very affordable prices.
I am not sure who âErin Fisherâ is but after scrolling the daysâ final results; I noticed her/his name appear many, many times as the buyer. Bought many of the really cheap mares. looks like she owns Harper Ridge Thoroughbreds located in Lexington
Erin bout
5 mares in session 5,highest paid was $2000 for a Menifee mare
5mares in session 4, the highest paid was $2000 for the Perfect Soul mare
1 mare in session 3 ($2500 Songandaprayer mare)
2 mares in session 2
2 mares in session 1
âŚ15 mares total
But then you have to foal them out, raise the baby, wean the baby, sales prep or break the baby and have a plan for the baby. A person who does it themselves should have some expertise. Paying someone else to do it costs. That cheap mare will cost $20,000 by the end of this year and multiply that if you get more than one.
Thatâs why they are so cheapâŚ
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The numbers the industry uses as averages are $30,000 to get a foal from birth to a yearling sale (not including the cost of the stud fee or the mare) and $50,000 to get that foal ready to race in its 2yo year (again not including stud fee or mare, and assuming nothing goes really wrong).
At $40 a day those âcheapâ mares start costing money the minute you get them home. (Actually even before that. Itâs $60 for the pregnancy check before leaving the sale, and $100 for the trip to the farm if the mare is being delivered in Lexington.)
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Yes, for sure. But âcheapâ in the long run compared to jumping in on a six figure prospect at one of the earlier, higher stakes sales. Even if you bought one of the youngsters; lots of great prospects for dirt cheap and there is no way that the majority of the sale offerings had vet issues. My point is that if you wanted to get in the game and wanted to spend the money, it is certainly a buyers-market.
But lets be honest; horses are very expensive. Racehorses even more-so depending on the level you are playing at. The sport has been on the decline for many reasons. One of them being the sheer cost to own, breed and raise them. its tough. But I always thought that this sale truly reflects the reality of the market or the business.
@mht Love how sheâs just standing there completely nonplussed with the experience (indoor arenas might be a bit new for her depending on where she came from).
Keep us posted on your new girl!!
:encouragement:
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Congrats @mht!! Iâd love to know more about the Woodbine incentive program (though this might be dangerous information lol)
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Not sure if the following link is going to work for you. Just google it if it doesnât.
Another reason that mares are at the bottom of the heap sales wise, is that you have got to have pinpoint accuracy when you do breed a mare. You have got to either breed to a first year sire (which sell at a super premium; its not unusual to see a second year sire have his stud fee cut 25% or more his second year), or you have to have a crystal ball to see who will be hot in 2 years, or who will not have been shipped off to Korea in the meantime. Those breeding mares to race have the distinct advantage of not having to worry about the sale market, and can breed to stallions they they like, that are proven, that are producing solid runners. Lots of really great stallion buys right now in the under $15k category.
