b4breeding

I’ll come back to Bettor’s Delight later, because it is a fascinating topic for the future.

But right now, we are bang in the middle of the New Zealand standardbred yearling sales. Day One in Christchurch is over, and I’m adding those selling prices into my catalogue for future reference.

Harnesslink describes the sale so far in fairly favourable terms, with the average only just down on last year. But averages hide many a loss. As I go through the catalogue I can see many yearlings that would not be making a profit for the vendor – or a very marginal one depending on how much of the work you do yourself and how much you have to pay others.

Yes, real quality will always attract interest and money, and there are some prices that indicate there was maybe a fault in the individual that put bidders right off. Which sort of begs the question why some of that isn’t sorted out in the inspections? Well, perhaps it was flagged up and the vendor had realistic expectations going into the sales and few other options.

It is a buyer’s market now, and has been for a few years. On the positive side, these prices leave a bit more for the new owners – a chance to try the horse and maybe get it to the races without over-investing, and a chance to make something if you are lucky. Which is important – because over-inflated yearling prices can be a disaster for the industry if buyers get burned by low stakes and the odds of success.

But I feel for those breeders who don’t have the numbers to average out their income and, like me, are relying on one or only a few horses to provide some sort of return on two years of effort and costs. It is a very nervous time at the sales!

Later today we are heading up to Auckland with our Lot 148 in the float, “Duncan” as we know him. It will be a busy few days. Somewhere along the line I will make time to look at as many of the horses parade or go through the ring as I can, particularly those whose breeding interests me for some reason.

As I said in my blog about selecting a ‘virtual yearling stable’, the sales are a good opportunity to compare and view types of yearlings and what sires are stamping their foals, what types are appealing to the market etc.

In a week or so, I will be posting up my ‘virtual yearling stable’ for 2012, and invite anyone else to pick their four lots too – just list the Lot number, Chch or Karaka, sire and sex as a comment and we can track them over the next couple of years.

Bragging rights: one of my 2011 selections was Alta Christiano, recent winner of the Kindergarten Stakes (making it 2 from 2 after a win in a Young Guns heat). Breeder Tony Dickinson often comes up with a little beauty from families that lack a lot of recent black type. Alta Christiano sold for $50,000 last year, and in the catalogue I noted (at the parade) “walks nice, character”. Well, not a very technical comment I know! But he was one of those yearlings that really catch your eye in the parade ring. I’ll hopefully get some comments from Tony over the next weeks on the breeding side of things.