Sales Reflection: Pinhookers Wade In While Syndicates Cash In

[Wandering Eyes]

Here's to the hardy souls still grafting away at the Goffs December National Hunt Sale. For the mostly Flat brigade, however, we can now hang up bobble hats and waterproofs, put the final catalogue on the shelf (sorry, iPad users, not quite caught up with you yet) and wonder what to do with ourselves until the February Sale comes around. Oh yes, Christmas, that will distract us for a few days.

During the long and frenetic sales season there is little time for reflection, but as the dust settles on the largest breeding stock sale of the year in Europe at Tattersalls, another vibrant round of foal trade at Goffs, and the final whirl of the ring in Deauville, we have the chance to consider some of the themes of the last month.

Rowing against tide of fashion reaps rewards  

Despite the seemingly never-ending rounds of sales, plenty of top horses racing in this part of the world do so for their breeders. At the Tattersalls December Mares Sale, seven of the 11 seven-figure lots were either homebreds or had been sold privately in training. Among the others, the top lot, Barnavara (Calyx), who was sold for 4.8m gns, was a notably good yearling purchase by Patrick Cooper at €70,000 at the Goffs Orby Sale. It's not the first time that Cooper has pulled off something like this either, as only last year Village Voice (Zarak), who was picked up at the Tattersall Guineas Breeze-up Sale for 38,000gns, was bought for 1.3m gns by Resolute Bloodstock.

Tamfana (Soldier Hollow), too, was a tremendous purchase by Jeremy Brummitt for the Quantum Leap Racing syndicate at €20,000 from the BBAG Yearling Sale. She returned to Tattersalls as a Group 1 winner and sold for 2.6m gns.

Azure Blue (El Kabeir) had originally been bought as a foal at Goffs for €19,000 by Harry Dutfield, who sold her on to the Appleton family and trainer Michael Dods for 47,000gns at Book 3 of the October Yearling Sale before she made 1.1m gns last Tuesday. Roger and Hanako Varian also deserve credit for buying Lady Of Spain (Phoenix Spain) for 40,000gns at Book 2 from Whatton Manor Stud, who had pinhooked her at €16,000. The Group 3 winner was just outside millionaires' row but sold for a substantial 900,000gns to Katsumi Yoshida. 

None of these fillies mentioned above are by what might be considered top-tier stallions but their success on the track is not just a superb reflection on their trainers' abilities but also on their original buyers who were prepared to look past supposed sire power to the individual.

Alongside an established broodmare sire in Oasis Dream, and the fashionable names of Night Of Thunder and Kingman, it was refreshing to note that the sires of the top ten most expensive fillies and mares of the year at Tattersalls included Calyx, Caravaggio, Soldier Hollow, Churchill and El Kabeir.

It was a similar story at Arqana, where the Ten Sovereigns filly Half Sovereign, a 12,000gns yearling purchase by Karl and Elaine Burke, topped the sale at €2.6m. Nyra, a well-bred daughter of the Deutsches Derby winner Isfahan who was herself third in the G1 Preis der Diana, is on her way to America after being bought by Scott Heider for €875,000, while fillies by Soldier Hollow and Chachnak made €810,000 and €800,000 respectively.

Syndicates hit the big time

A whopping 11.9m gns was spent on the top three lots in the Tattersalls December Mares Sale – 14.5% of the total turnover from 580 fillies and mares sold – and while those three top race fillies went to just two powerful owner-breeder entities, there was plenty of shared upside to be had on the vendor side of the transaction.

All three horses were owned by syndicates: Barnavara by Alpha Racing, Porta Fortuna by Medallion Racing 2020, Steve Weston, Reeves Thoroughbreds and Barry Fowler, and Tamfana by Quantum Leap Racing. Christmas sure did come early for the members of those respective ownership groups.

One major buyer that was absent this time around was Amo Racing. Kia Joorabchian had spent 8,375,000gns at last year's December Mares Sale, including the purchase of top lot You Got To Me for 4.8m gns, but after another busy yearling season the Amo team kept away from the breeding stock sales.

Class of 2024 looks strong

There is nobody braver than pinhookers – except of course breeders – and there were plenty of enthusiastic young pinhookers to be found at Goffs in particular once again. Whether breeding or pinhooking, luck needs to go your way – for the foals to be born healthy, strong and correct, and for them to remain so. If you're breeding to race, the stallion doesn't matter as long as he suits your mare. Commercially, stallion selection has become ever more tricky, and getting into a decent sale can be difficult if you're not on the 'right' sire, whose popularity can wax and wane in a heartbeat. 

Despite contracting foal crop numbers, demand for sales places remains strong. First-season sires appear to be more popular than ever, having yet to blot their copybook, but woe betide those who don't get a bunch of winners early in the season that their first runners hit the track. 

At the foal sales, Chaldean, Shaquille, Dragon Symbol, Native Trail, Triple Time, Vadeni, Erevann, Ace Impact, Paddington and Mostahdaf have been well supported from what is looking a strong intake of 2024.

This flocking to new sires and then largely ignoring them in their third and fourth seasons is dangerous for the whole business, however. Plenty of stallion farms will be dealing on price this coming season – particularly for horses in those tricky years – but perhaps more incentives to loyalty should be considered and made public to keep things on a more even keel for a young stallion's covering numbers. That in turn may encourage breeders to be a little broader in their choice of stallions and allow pinhookers to follow suit when it comes to foal selection.

Three days of mares in Newmarket

This worked better than to have what had ended up as an abridged Thursday session which felt a bit after the show. That said, one larger consignor did suggest that having fewer horses spread across four days would be an improvement from the point of view of staff and potential buyers not having to be at the sales so late.

We appreciate that starting the Sceptre Sessions around 7pm is to make them something of an evening feature, but it's pretty dark from 4pm onwards in winter and bringing them forward a little in each day would help rather than hinder, especially for those folk trying to sell a mare in the small batch that appears after the Sceptre Sessions. This can feel like an afterthought in a near-deserted ring.

No mincing of words from Mahony

There is generally a touch of marketing speak to a closing statement from a chairman of a sales company, which is what made Edmond Mahony's address at the conclusion of the Tattersalls December Sale so startling. While acknowledging another strong renewal for Tattersalls – and it was – he pulled no punches when referring to the challenges facing the industry. 

Mahony is clearly no fan of this Labour government. While we can't blame them for all of racing's woes, it is also easy to feel that, as much as Lady Starmer clearly loves a day at the races, her husband and his colleagues in power have so far been no friend to the sector despite the tax on racing betting having been left unchanged in the recent budget. This was of course some small relief, but the tax hikes in other gambling sectors look likely to have a knock-on effect for British racing's finances.

“While government has accepted the racing industry's case with respect to betting duty, the wider industry dynamics remain perilously uncertain,” he said. “We are fortunate that the lure of Newmarket as the Headquarters of European racing continues to resonate globally, but we must also work to ensure that government does not allow the status of a globally admired industry to be eroded through neglect.”

Strong words from Mahony, who is all too aware that headlines regarding record turnover at the sales can be out of kilter with the more troubling state of the racing industry as a whole. 

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