Grade 3 Larangeal scope results at sales

[Tim Carter]

It has always bugged me that when buying a horse at  auction you are never told what grade your purchase has scoped at once you have requested it be scoped. Even though you have requested and paid for that procedure you are not entitled to know the grade. This puzzles me. How do they get away with it? Vets will not tell you, yet you have paid the Auctioneer to scope on your behalf.  In the Auctioneer's eyes a horse has passed up to grade 3. The problem is not so much that horse cannot race successfully with a grade 3 scoping, but the horse cannot be  sold to Hong Kong , Macau, Singapore, Malaysia. A recent article in the "Foundation Bulletin " from Brian Anderson of the Ballarat Veterinary Practice, quotes statistics that show  horses with a Grade 3 result that have been sold at NZ Sales were not inferior to grade 1 and 2 when comparing race results. His conclusion was that there is no reason to change the post-sale scoping system used at NZ sales. I do not concur with that view having bought horses with a grade 3 scoping who have eventually deteriorated to grade 4. I think his article is bullshit to be blunt!

 

[Freda]

Yes,  I dont profess to be an expert, but in my experience an afflicted horse never improves, the only change is for the worse.

[Tim Carter]

Hi Pam,

Further to a grade 3 result they are subdivided down as follows

Grade 3a -arytenoid asymmetry observed at rest ,full abduction after swallow and maintained for a few seconds

Grade 3b full abduction only maintained briefly

Grade 3c fully abduction only momentarily

The big problem for the buyer is grade3 is considered a pass but  your purchase may be a 3b or a 3c which is virtually a one way ticket to grade 4/5. It would be interesting to know just how many horses bought at auction have subsequently gone in the wind. Many vendors would not want their horses scoped just before an auction and quite rightfully so. Some vendors have recognised this problem and have scope results available that were taken prior to arriving on the sales ground. My bullshit comment was not in relation to the research undertaken but to  the fact that the writer concludes by say "we see no reason to change the current post-sale scoping system"

I believe that a buyer is entitled to know what grade his purchase is and be able to get a second opinion if necessary. If it has been bought to sell on to Asia then a grade 3 is unacceptable to the various Jockey Clubs. If the buyer is happy to proceed with the purchase of a grade 3 horse then at least they know what they are buying bearing in mind that some grade 3 horses can race successfully. 

 

 

[Freda]

Absolutely.