Market Reflections: Record-Breaking Trade At Tattersalls Points To More Of The Same At Goffs

[Wandering Eyes]

Never in the history of the breeze-up game have the top horses been worth more. That was evident at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale last week when the record for the most expensive horse ever sold at the sale was broken not once but twice and top agents Richard Brown and Billy Jackson-Stops admitted to finding it hard to land a blow. 

Malcolm Bastard's 1.75 million gns record-breaking Havana Grey colt played a pretty significant role in the turnover reaching an all-time high of nearly 20 million gns. On top of that, the clearance rate rested at an extremely healthy 83%, suggesting there was a real depth to the market. Another encouraging sign for vendors going forward. 

However, Con Marnane, who sold the fifth most expensive horse in the sale–a 650,000gns Havana Grey colt to Godolphin–says there are still gaps in the market, pointing to the fact that he brought home two expensively-bought Too Darn Hot colts from the sale. 

“Hats off to Tattersalls,” Marnane said, “it was a remarkable sale–the crowds that were there and the money that was around the place was phenomenal. We enjoyed a fantastic result with the Havana Grey colt but we also took two Too Darn Hots home with us, which I was shocked about. But they are mile/mile-and-a-quarter horses who didn't do a time and, unfortunately, that's the way the thing is gone. We'll just have to race them now and, if they show something on the track, they'd sell like hot cakes to Australia.”

Few agents, if any, can boast the roll of honour that Blandford Bloodstock's Brown has in recent years and, despite buying on behalf of a country, he could only come away with two horses–colts by Starman and Starspangledbanner for a combined 590,000gns–from the Craven.

Reflecting on the trade, Brown said, “It must have been the strongest breeze-up sale ever. The top was very strong but, for me, it also felt as though there was a lot more depth to the market than normal. People say that there can be a knock-on effect to the top end of the market being strong. I don't necessarily agree with that because you are only talking about two or three very select lots that obviously made big money. I actually felt there was a lot of depth in that 50,000-200,000 range, which is so important.”

He added, “Olly Tait [Wathnan Racing Manager] has been very clear that we set a value on these horses and stick to that value. We didn't value horses as highly as other operations did so we didn't buy very much last week. If that continues to be the case at Doncaster, Arqana and beyond, so be it. It may well be the case that we don't buy many breeze-up horses this year if they keep exceeding the valuations that we put on them.”

Con Marnane | Tattersalls

Jackson-Stops said he found filling orders at the Craven to be “tricky”. He spent 390,000gns on three horses but admitted to being surprised by the strength of Amo Racing–who spent 3.16 million gns on seven lots, ending the sale as the leading buyer–, who played a pivotal role in the sale exceeding all expectations. 

He said, “It was definitely tricky. But it always is. When you are spending between 150,000-250,000, you always end up on the 400,000 and 500,000 horses and you're just hoping that it might fall into your bracket. I didn't think the Craven would be as strong as it was. I thought buyers like Amo Racing, for example, would not be as active given they had filled their boots at the yearling sales but clearly they wanted to continue. So it was difficult. But we have managed to buy nice horses out of Doncaster, France and Tattersalls Ireland, so there is no panic. There are enough sales so patience is key.”

With all of this money floating about and leading buyers openly admitting to struggling to fill orders, a case could be made that there has never been a better time to be a breeze-up handler. Not quite. Of the 133 pinhooks that went through the ring, 80 made a profit and 53 fell flat on their face. That means that 60% of the yearlings that were purchased for the sole purpose of going breezing made a profit. Another promising statistic, it must be said, but lest we forget that the cost of production has never been higher and the Craven is very much an elite sale. For many handlers, when they have a horse that can jump through the hoops, it needs to go on and make a premium to pay for the others. A case in point being Marnane's performance last week in netting a cool 650,000gns for the Havana Grey but bringing home two horses that stood him six figures. Rest assured there were plenty of others in that boat and the handler has put forward a quirky suggestion that might help prop up the middle market in the years to come. 

Marnane said, “I think that something should be done to help the sales houses, the consignors and the purchasers. A bonus scheme could work well and I've floated the idea before. Say for example if you took 2% of the turnover from the breeze-ups sales last year, there would be a million worth of bonuses. If you had, say, 100 bonuses to the value of 10,000 per bonus for every breeze-up horse that went on to win a race, it could be a huge help. How that money was collected would need to be decided upon by the sales companies, the vendors and the buyers but it could be something that would help the middle market going forward. The prize-money in Britain and Ireland is a disgrace and there's no doubt that it's hurting the middle to lower end of the market so we need to do something.”

Billy Jackson-Stops | Tattersalls

Goffs chief Henry Beeby was far from dismissive of such an idea and, speaking ahead of his breeze-up sale next week, revealed that the sales house has gone to great lengths to attract buyers from all over the world–particularly the Middle East–to help prop up the middle to lower tiers. Regarding the top end of the market, Brown, who purchased last year's Queen Mary heroine Leovanni (Ire) (Kodi Bear {Ire}) along with many other top-notchers from the sale, warned that Wathnan's principals would not be changing. If people thought the ace agent was sitting on his hands at the Craven in anticipation for Doncaster, they may think again. Brown says he will only be shopping if the price is right. 

“It's very simple,” he explained. “We value the horses. Olly and I sit down, he then goes to the powers that be in Qatar for approval, and they give us approval or they don't. That's it. The values are set. For me, there were a lot of horses there [at the Craven] that went a long way beyond our valuations. Like I said, it may well be that we don't buy many breeze-up horses this year if the market continues like that. We've set out to be very disciplined and I think that will stand to us in the long run.”

He added, “We'll see what's up there [at Doncaster]. But how hopeful am I? Not very given the marketplace. There will be other opportunities that will present itself if the market is very strong but we will go up there and work the sale hard and, if there are some nice horses up there, I am sure we will try. But we may only be trying. We don't feel we have to go and buy a load of breeze-up horses. We're not under pressure. We have the horses-in-training market, we have our own two-year-olds coming through from the yearling market and then we buy off the track as well. So we're not under pressure to go and buy, say, 10 breeze-up horses. We just deal with each sale, each horse and each opportunity that presents itself.”

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