ROB'S SHOUT - IT'S SALES TIME, WHEN OWNERS TAKE AIM AT THE BIGGEST PUNT OF ALL
By Robert Heathcote | Thursday, January 5, 2012
Robert Heathcote is the leading racehorse trainer in Brisbane. 'Rob's Shout' - the personal blog of the multi-premiership winning trainer will appear every Thursday on HRO.
It is with great sadness that once again the perils of being a thoroughbred racehorse rider has brutally hit home. Sadly Kristy Banks has had an horrendous fall and is currently facing a long and anxious recuperative process in the PA spinal unit. Our love and best wishes are with Kristy and her family and we wish her all the best with her recovery.
Kristy is a charming lady and a credit to the industry and our love and prayers are with her. It is a sad time indeed and we hope things work out well for Kristy.
It is a stark and brutal reminder of the dangers each and every rider faces every time they get onto a racehorse. It is an aspect of this industry that often gets overlooked by many, be it in the heat of the battle in a driving finish to the line in a race or just plain track-work riding each and every day that these tireless 'warriors' go about their craft! It was not long ago we said farewell to a young jockey in Corey Gilbey who lost his life in a tragic fall.
I salute you all!
It's coming up to the yearling sales time again. Whether you are a first-time owner in a horse outright or you want to own a share in a horse, there is basically only one guarantee in this game … 'the fact that there are no guarantees.'
History is littered with expensive flops from the most famous of all being Snaafi Dancer, who Sheik Mohammed famously paid $10.2 million for, and more recently The Green Monkey.
Snaafi Dancer was bred by Donald T. Johnson under the name of his Crescent Farm. He was out of the mare My Bupe and sired by Northern Dancer whom the National Thoroughbred Association calls "one of the most influential sires in Thoroughbred history."
Sent to the 1983 Keeneland Select Sale, forty-five seconds after the $1 million opening bid, a new record price was reached of $4.5 million … but did not stop there.
In the end, the unnamed yearling sold for an unheard of $10.2 million to Sheikh Mohammed's Darley Stud.
Looking for a Northern Dancer horse that could be a foundation stallion for his breeding operations as had happened with chief rival Coolmore Stud, Sheikh
Mohammed not only paid the highest price ever for a yearling, but the highest price for any thoroughbred ever sold at auction.
That was however to be famously over taken some years later.
Snaafi Dancer never raced. It was reported that he was so slow in training that it would have been embarrassing to run him in public. He was retired to stud duty where he was discovered to have fertility problems.
From two years of breeding, he sired only four foals, three of which raced with very limited success. Retired, Snaafi Dancer was last reported as being at a farm in Florida.
A bigger budget, making horses with the fanciest pedigrees affordable, does not guarantee anything … as the old breeding motto 'breed the best to the best and hope for the best' indicates. Everyone, from Darley and Coolmore down, makes mistakes.
At the January 2006 Fasig-Tipton Calder sale of selected two-year-olds, the Green Monkey was sold for a world record auction price of $16 million.
The colt's buyer at the world record amount was Irish agent Demi O'Byrne, who held off Sheikh Mohammed's bloodstock manager, John Ferguson, in an intense bidding battle.
On September 15, 2007, The Green Monkey made his racing debut in a six-furlong maiden race at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Made the 2-5 betting favourite, the colt finished third behind winner Roi Maudit and runner-up Sixthirteen.
The Green Monkey made the second start of his career at Belmont Park on October 13th in a seven-furlong race for non-winners. In a field of seven, he finished a well-beaten fourth to winner Giant Deputy in a time of 1:21.20.
The Green Monkey was officially retired February 12, 2008 after failing to break his maiden in his three career starts.
In addition to becoming the most expensive thoroughbred ever sold at public auction, the Forestry colt is just the third to sell for eight figures in history. The eight-figure club remains rarified air, but the seven-figure club contains countless yearlings, two-year-olds, weanlings, and broodmares who have sold for millions, some with success and many with no success.
You can certainly see from these several examples that even the very best 'experts' in the breeding world can get it wrong. They are good examples of how difficult it can be in selecting a successful racehorse.
The yearling sales in the 2010/11 season generated nearly 250 million dollars in Australasia. About 4650 yearlings were sold at an average of about $53,000.
In the 2007/08 season, which preceded the global financial crisis, buyers spent a record 375 million at a whopping average of $75 grand.
There has of course been a market correction since then.
It was only recently that the most expensive yearling from the 2010 draft won his first race at Cranbourne.
The Mark Kavanagh trained son of Zabeel was resuming from a spell and jumped smartly before being eased back to settle midfield.
Allowed to find his feet by Michael Rodd, Zephyron unwound a big finish out wide to power home in the straight for a very soft win in the 1300m maiden at his third race start.
This horse is by Zabeel from the legendary Eight Carat family and he topped the 2010 sales at 2 million bucks. He’s got about $1,990,000 to go to recoup his purchase price!
In saying that though, Pete Moody outlaid just over 200 grand for a filly we now know as Black Caviar. That was a pretty astute buy, eh!
There are many variables which determine the price you have to pay for a yearling. Breeding and conformation of the individual are perhaps the two biggest determining factors. Throw in athleticism and a good temperament along with well performed siblings!
Of course, in any auction, two buyers with a desire and a huge budget can see the bidding soar as in the case of The Green Monkey, so it's essential to have a budget when purchasing a yearling.
Remember, a big percentage of horses sold at the top yearling sales will not earn their sale price and a good percentage will not even make it to the races which further emphasizes what a gamble the entire process is. Maybe a bit scary.
Perhaps the most influential sire seen in our part of the world is Danehill. Of the 2230 foals he sired, 550 of them never got to the races and of the 1680 which raced, 365 of them did not win a race.
Whilst this may be somewhat of a reality check, most buyers do go into the sales with their eyes wide open and all having the same dream of owning a star galloper.
My favourite quote in racing has to be, "Winning is a habit that's very hard to give up"!
I have been fortunate over the years to have had a good, proven record with our yearling selections with the help of my bloodstock agent, Paul Willetts.
In saying that we have pretty much shopped in the lower end of the market trying to find the more affordable 'champion' with Buffering being the best example who I paid $22k for and he's now won over a million.
Paul does all of the leg work at the sales adhering to a strict and proven criteria. Once we have then narrowed the list down to the ‘possibles’, we then head into the bidding ring with our budget to try our luck.
Paul takes a commission only on successful purchases and as I said earlier, his record in what's perhaps the most crucial aspect of horse racing has been excellent over the years!
It's essential that each new owner fully understand what owning a racehorse can cost. Many will say the cheapest thing is actually buying the yearling (well, not in The Green Monkey's case).
The first year after the yearling purchase is usually the lowest cost with the youngster spending the majority of its time in the spelling paddock growing and maturing.
On average, with the breaking in process and a couple of shorter stints of training to further the education, it will be about $15k. This increases when the racehorse is up and racing with average monthly costs being around $2500 / $2800 with daily training fees at $70+ per day here in Brisbane.
Yes, it can work out to be quite expensive pastime/hobby or business, especially if it's a slow horse but, if it's a good city class racehorse, the winnings can far outweigh the costs and the excitement and thrills are incalculable until you have been there and experienced the thrill of winning.
Winning can certainly become very addictive which is why racing is a passion for so many.
Getting involved in partnerships is certainly the most affordable way to go. Up to 10 people can be in a partnership and this is becoming more the way to go.
The Gold Coast swings into gear in the next week or two, then it’s onto New Zealand for the Karaka sales and then back to Ingles for the Easter sales.
Some big dollars will be spent chasing that dream of owning a champion!
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