Texas TB Yearlings In a Kill Pen

[snaffle1987]

Not sure if anyone saw this news but there is several TB Yearlings that are straight from the Texas Yearling Sale at the Bowie Auction Yard. Seems like the owner of that auction yard purchased 11 yearlings from the bottom rung of the sale ($2000 or less) and has them marked-up about $1000 on the kill pen site. Do I think any of them are actually at risk of shipping, no. But if he sells enough of the group he might cut his losses on the last one left or so because he’s already made a profit and send them over the border.

Looks like a few of the people who raised them (not even owned them) stepped up and bought them to get them out of there. Also looks like TTA is trying to get the horses back but not sure they can legally do that since it’s an auction selling to the highest bidder - unless they pay the fees for every one of them.

The even sadder fact is they are all really, really nice horses. Pretty movers, balanced, some nice breeding too.

Looks like Paulick picked up the story:
11 Yearlings From TTA Sale Listed By Suspected Kill Pen Buyer - Paulick Report | Latest news and commentary from the horse racing and equine world

[OhMissLibrarian]

Absolutely sickening!

[snaffle1987]

Here are the 11 yearlings he has

Hip 10

Hip 17

Hip 21:

Hip 26:

Hip 28:

Hip 36 (no Photos)

Hip 66

Hip 98: (I believe this one was bought back by the farm that raised him for the sellers)

Hip 114:

Hip 122:
(No Photo)

[Texarkana]

It’s a shitty situation all around.

People are allowed to buy horses to resell. But O’Dwyer deliberately purchased these horses to profit off his “the truck is coming” tactics.

I doubt he’ll actually slaughter them, but it would still be nice to see these horses out. And I sure as hell don’t want anyone to pay his inflated “bail” and reward him.

Glad TTA put their foot down and banned him going forward.

[endlessclimb]

Makes you wonder how many more of the horses in that lot are acquired through that method.

[snaffle1987]

probably a vast majority. While I don’t believe that lot has specific fulfillment contracts with a slaughterhouse, I am sure he has an easy way to dump off what he doesn’t sell to an acquaintance who does. It is Texas, the same place that has staging pens for the animals making that last trip over the border.
At the end of the day he’s a dealer operating on the lowest rung to turn 500 in profit. I did notice that TTA said they made efforts in recent years to remove killbuyers from their bidding lists which leads me to believe that this was a common problem at TTA sales in recent years and horses were actually being used to fulfill slaughter contracts from the lower end of the sales; especially the ones that receive no bids or minimal bids.

Makes you wonder about any and all TB sales, even the Keeneland and Fasig Tipton sales and/or digital sales that may have huge books and everyone knows the last few pages to sell, are typically the bottom of the barrel with little interest from the industry even if they might be very nice horses. There is inherent risk for those animals.

[Arzny]

FWIW, Fasig Tipton recently raised their minimum knockdown to $2,500 to combat this issue. Doesn’t help the parking lot private sales, but if they hammer, it’s for well above meat price.

[snaffle1987]

that’s great. I do worry about the RNA $1000 or $0 bid horses. Although if you look up some of them from previous years they still went on to do ok on the track and have had good careers. The TB world is often driven by the sales ring, even if the sales ring isn’t always the place to see what the “norm” is… too many people with too much money and everyone looking for absolute perfection which isn’t reality. Many good honest horses are passed over in a commercial setting like that were hundreds of horses are on offer.

[Jealoushe]

I saw that last one posted for sale on FB yesterday.

[LaurieB]

11 Yearlings Purchased By Suspected Kill Pen Buyer At TTA Sale Now Safe In The Hands Of Responsible Owners

[NaturallyHappy]

Such good news! I especially like hip 10- goes back to Mahmoud and Hyperion a fair bit. I know….its way back.

[enjoytheride]

This is very eye rolly.

First, while he is indeed a kill pen buyer, there was zero chance of these lovely looking yearlings going to slaughter. Online kill pens only advertise horses they expect to get money from, and they purchase them at prices above kill pen prices in the first place. It’s only a threat. You likely don’t even see the straight to slaughter horses they buy from other low end sales. He purchased them to list them 24 hours later and generated the social media storm he was expecting and wanting. They resold again less than 48 hours after listing and he made $1500ish per horse.

Second, because any random person could have bought these yearlings there is no way to tell how many of them are “responsible” owners or just plan on flipping them again.

Lastly, if any of these responsible owners were previously interested they could have purchased them directly from the yearling sale for less than half the price by outbidding him there.

[snaffle1987]

I believe the majority were purchased back by connections that either raised or help consign them or people that knew them.

For sure, its an auction and anyone could’ve out bid him to get the horses but I think by the time he bought these horses did people realize who he was and he was cut off from bidding by the TTA. Did he do anything wrong? Nope. He knew what he was doing and knew he would make a profit doing it.

There is no way to say these horses would’ve never ended up on the truck to Mexico. If he bought 11 and sold 8 of them for a profit, lets say, he was in the green and could’ve shipped the rest if there wasn’t interest

If anything, maybe it’s an eye opening thing for these thoroughbred sales and consignors. Do all of them care this deeply, no, but there is bad apples in every industry.

[LaurieB]

@enjoytheride

This is very eye rolly.

First, while he is indeed a kill pen buyer, there was zero chance of these lovely looking yearlings going to slaughter. Online kill pens only advertise horses they expect to get money from, and they purchase them at prices above kill pen prices in the first place. It’s only a threat. You likely don’t even see the straight to slaughter horses they buy from other low end sales. He purchased them to list them 24 hours later and generated the social media storm he was expecting and wanting. They resold again less than 48 hours after listing and he made $1500ish per horse.

Second, because any random person could have bought these yearlings there is no way to tell how many of them are “responsible” owners or just plan on flipping them again.

Lastly, if any of these responsible owners were previously interested they could have purchased them directly from the yearling sale for less than half the price by outbidding him there.

I’m not sure which part of this series of events has you rolling your eyes.

I don’t personally know the sellers, nor the consignors, nor the sales company. But I do consider TDN to be a credible source. This isn’t the first time that TBs have been sold into a bad situation, and when informed what happened, their previous owners have stepped up and bought them back. I don’t see anywhere in the article that it says random people now have these yearlings.

According to one consignor who sold 4 of the yearlings for a client, he (the consignor) personally got the horses back for his client. The sales company is vouching for the others. The “responsible owners” you are scoffing at are most likely the yearlings’ breeders who had hoped to sell the horses to racing homes at the sale, and have now returned them to their farms.

[enjoytheride]

But those same consigners didn’t put a reserve on these horses. They could have easily no saled them to Bowie livestock with a reserve. Had these yearlings gone to another flipper or actual kill pen buyer nobody would have been the wiser that the owners sold them for such a low price. The fact that they ended up with a facebook kill pen is why we know about them.

This isn’t a bad situation. It’s a flipper staged to make it look like a bad situation so people pay money they wouldn’t have paid in person. I don’t agree with what he does, but these horses were not in danger. Bowie does this all the time.

Your article says 4 of them were purchased back, the rest we have no idea of the quality of their new owners. I’m not saying the new homes are bad, but we don’t know who they are so we can’t make a claim either way. It is not uncommon for a horse on these kill pen sites to be panic bought and then dumped soon after when the rush of “rescuing” a horse wears off.

[LaurieB]

@enjoytheride

But those same consigners didn’t put a reserve on these horses. They could have easily no saled them to Bowie livestock with a reserve. Had these yearlings gone to another flipper or actual kill pen buyer nobody would have been the wiser that the owners sold them for such a low price. The fact that they ended up with a facebook kill pen is why we know about them.

This isn’t a bad situation. It’s a flipper staged to make it look like a bad situation so people pay money they wouldn’t have paid in person. I don’t agree with what he does, but these horses were not in danger. Bowie does this all the time.

Your article says 4 of them were purchased back, the rest we have no idea of the quality of their new owners. I’m not saying the new homes are bad, but we don’t know who they are so we can’t make a claim either way. It is not uncommon for a horse on these kill pen sites to be panic bought and then dumped soon after when the rush of “rescuing” a horse wears off.

These yearlings did have reserves–it was $1,000. And all but one of these yearlings sold for a higher price than that.

I’m not going to speculate on the quality of the horses’ new owners since it is highly unlikely that they have “new owners”. In cases like these, it’s the previous owners that entered the horses in the sale who usually buy them back.

According to the TDN article, ALL the horses have been bought back, not just 4 of them.

“Highlander’s post said, “From communication we have had this morning with both the Texas Thoroughbred Association and the Bowie Livestock Sale Barn, it is our understanding that all 11 yearlings purchased by a BLSB representative at the TTA Yearling Sale have been purchased now by responsible horse owners who will provide good homes for the horses.”

[enjoytheride]

I don’t see where it says that at all. It just says “responsible horse owners” It doesn’t say they were all bought back by their sellers, and it was Bowie that said they all found good homes. Bowie does not screen buyers. First person to Venmo money is all it takes. They’re saying that because these horses got public traction. And $1,000 reserve is might as well be free prices. It’s disappointing that they all sold for less than 2k.

[Texarkana]

@enjoytheride

First, while he is indeed a kill pen buyer, there was zero chance of these lovely looking yearlings going to slaughter. Online kill pens only advertise horses they expect to get money from, and they purchase them at prices above kill pen prices in the first place. It’s only a threat.

While we all know this, I think TTA is in the right by banning him.

Most of racing has adopted an anti-slaughter stance, with verbiage threatening penalties for those caught intentionally selling to slaughter.

So when David O’Dwyer posts a fictitious ship date to manufacture an urgent situation for his own personal gain, he should be punished the same as if he was actually shipping said horses. It doesn’t matter if he is sending these horses to slaughter or just threatening it to make a sale, he is promoting the slaughter pipeline.

[enjoytheride]

I certainly don’t disagree with you.