ROB’S SHOUT – TOUGH SALE IN MANY WAYS BUT A PLEASING OUTCOME FOR MY STABLE

By Robert Heathcote | Thursday, April 21, 2011

Robert Heathcote is the leading racehorse trainer in Brisbane. 'Rob's Shout' - the personal blog of the premiership winning trainer will appear every Thursday on HRO.

The QTIS 600 sale at the Magic Millions has concluded and, from my perspective, I was very satisfied with the outcome of the sale. Mind you, I am saying that as a buyer and not as a vendor as there were no doubt many with horses for sale who went away feeling quite disappointed.

I am referring to the many vendors/breeders who found it a very difficult and demanding market which, unfortunately, is just a sign of the tough economic times and breeders have to meet the market.

Throw in the dreadful recent weather which has affected just about everyone in one way or another and, on balance, it wasn't such a bad sale!

The average was still quite a healthy $20 grand or so, but there were a lot of horses who went home without new owners. The ‘top quality' end of the market very much supported the sale but, fair to say, every sale can be like that.

It’s perhaps a fact lost on many as to what it actually costs to produce a yearling which is put on offer for sale!

A number of times during the sale I would hear a comment like 'this one's a bit expensive’ as the bidding pushes past $25,000 or 'gee, I didn't think it would bring that much!’

The reality is that, for many of the breeders, the cost of getting a yearling to the sale in most cases exceeds $30,000.

Let me do a rough calculation for you … agistment for the mare for a year is about $9000, a service fee for example of about $10000 and then to agist the mare and foal for another year or so et voila … there's little change out of $30000.

That's not even calculating getting the yearlings ready for the sale let alone the sale fees and costs … and you do not get to choose how the resulting foal looks!

Heaven forbid if it's got a dodgy leg or a bit on the small side or it walks toed in or out etc! Aaaarrrggghhhhh, and it has only taken three years to get to this stage.

Yes breeders, you certainly do have my sympathies!

It is certainly a tough caper for the breeders/vendors and it is a business where it's very easy to get 'your fingers burnt' if you do not know what you are doing or if, quite simply, you are out of luck.

Mind you, like most aspects of this racing industry, in many cases it's a passion and a labour of love, even if it's not often financially viable and profitable.

It was a satisfying sale for me as a trainer though as I have come away having acquired a nice number of youngsters for future racing … some bloody nice yearlings at the very affordable prices bringing some new owners into the industry.

For me, the QTIS sale was a bit different this year as I went into the sale with a pre-determined order for the purchase of some yearlings.

In the past I have gone to this sale and picked up a few yearlings 'on spec'! That means once I have brought the yearlings I then advertise for some new owners to take up the shares on offer, but that is a lot of work ... believe me!

I have never marked up the prices of the yearlings which I have syndicated in the past, being happy to hopefully wait for the success of the horse when it races to make an earn.

Syndicating horses after the fact can be a lot of work and very time consuming so it was nice to go the sales this year knowing the owners were pretty much already in place!

It was less stressful I must say, with the only stress this year being finding the right horse for the right buyers at the right price so we could all go home happy.

As is my tried and tested method of selection, I use Paul Willetts to do most of the leg work in the pre-selection process of the yearlings up for sale.

I rate Paul as the finest Bloodstock Agent in the country (and also in his own country across the ditch). Paul has a rigid set of selection rules and he's uncompromising in applying those rules, even if it's the full brother to a previous good horse we have brought. If it fails his selection criteria, it simply doesn't make his list!

Anyone can go to a sale and spend several hundred thousand dollars and find a good horse. Try doing it regularly for horses under 30 or 40 grand … not so easy!

Paul makes a commission on any horse purchased, but his experience has been a major part of my success over the years and the fee is well worth it as he helps buyers through the minefield of a yearling sale!

Paul gives me a short list of twenty to forty or so after having viewed all the horses on offer and then I go with Paul and the prospective new owners to try and match each other up.

It's important the youngster appeal to me as well but I believe the owners should also play a major part in the selection process, as has happened over the two days of the sale, as they then have the confidence in our abilities to find them a nice horse.

Many will have preferred sires and race criteria as well as the breeding with the overriding factor invariably being the budget.

Of course there are many who like to closely follow breeding patterns and trends of previous mating's and what the mare has achieved to date with her foals that have already raced.

There will never be a guarantee of success but, considering Paul and I have normally 'shopped' in the lower end of the market over the years, we have
been extremely successful with just about a clean record of getting them all to the races. Sure, a few slow ones along the way but that's to be expected in this uncertain part of the industry.

Buying new season sire offspring can be dangerous but they can also be great buying value!

It is worth understanding that there are in fact a large number of yearlings bred each year that don't in fact get to the races and an even higher number that get to race and do not win a dollar each year. So, whilst it's scary, for me it is essential that a firm set of rules be in place to limit the risk of failure as much as possible.

There will always be the stories of people who buy horses on a 'whim' and get a ‘goodun’ or a host of other good luck stories, just like there are the many stories of lottery ticket winners, but over a long period of time.

You won't hear of too many stories of the expensive ones that couldn't trot and believe me, there are plenty of them … but like I said earlier, there are no guarantees in the racing business!

I have enjoyed a pretty good strike rate for getting some nice youngsters using my proven method, although it can be a bit tricky with the sale under way knowing which ones we have selected to have a bid on?

Yes, the budget is important as is working out who wants to bid on what. It's also a bit complicated in regards to which order the selected lots come into the ring, but you really just have to play the cards as they come!

I have always had a pretty firm rule that once the bidding price is set, that's the limit we bid to … but it's not always set in concrete.

That was the case on Monday when I purchased the full sister to Gundy Son for $55,000.

The Sydney based clients asked me to go to $50000 for the Falvelon filly, but I took the punt and went to $55000 and won the bid.

They are happy to have got her. I didn't want to lose her so the little extra turned out to be worth it … well hopefully she will be worth it, but we won't know for a while yet. Fingers crossed she is as good as her big brother when she hits the race track!

One group of guys had about $35 grand to spend and they missed the first one we bid on as it exceeded the budget.

We then decided to wait a bit and go for the Outback Prince colt we all liked. The bidding halted at $15000 which was great news for the boys as they got a horse they liked at about half their budget … so there's enough in the tank to keep him in chaff for the next year as well!

Maybe the vendors wouldn't be so happy knowing that there was a few more bob in the bidding tank, but that's all part of the roll of the dice, I guess!

Relatives of successful horses to have raced in the past will nearly always attract a lot more interest and usually a higher sale price.

I don't always put a lot of emphasis on that, but it does help as long as the yearling meets the other selection criteria regarding conformation.

I generally like to see the mare having had success with her previous foals, but this of course can also affect the price!

I came away from the sales with some happy and contented owners. It was a shame I could not have taken more youngsters home as there were quite a few other nice yearlings that I could happily have found a box for!

There was a nice Librettist filly who I liked, but I couldn't find an owner for that. I know the breeder took her home!!!!

I was the under-bidder on some and others simply went too high for me, but that's how it is at times at the sales. As many owners now know, often the cheapest part can be buying the buggers!

I do not get involved in 'impulsive' buying as this is literally like buying a lottery ticket. There's enough that can go wrong without increasing the element of luck.

I remember one 'robust' trainer who came into a few bob a few years ago now who kept his hand in the air constantly during bidding and he took a couple of truck loads of yearlings home with him. I don't recall seeing too many of them win much?

Spontaneous yearling buying, especially with a few grogs under the belt is a recipe for a train crash!

There may well be a different set of 'rules' pertaining to the feature sales such as the January Magic Millions and the Easter Inglis sales or even The K1 sales in NZ where there exists a perception of a fair bit of wheeling and dealing being done prior to the sale. I haven't really been too active in that buying arena so I can't comment too much on that from my experience.

I have always found the local QTIS MM sale excellent value in terms of buying for the market which I predominantly work with and that was the case again this year … an average median price which makes it possible for most to get involved in the Sport Of Kings at an affordable price!

There will no doubt be a few 'Buffering's come out of the sale just as he did a two years ago. I just hope he or she will be in my care!

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