JUSTRACING IS OWED AN ETERNAL DEBT OF GRATITUDE BY YEARLING SALE BUYERS

22/01/13

Without blowing my own trumpet, the thoroughbred racing in this country arguably owes an eternal debt of gratitude to the Justracing website for virtually single-handedly stamping out the rot that used to go on at sales companies like Magic Millions and Inglis.

Put simply, both organisations, which everyone knows totally dominate the thoroughbred sales market in this country, used to look after their mates who owned studs that harboured stallions who had totally pathetic statistics, by simply leaving those statistics out of their sales catalogues. That is simply corrupt, as if the relevant figures are readily available, well to just look the other way and not include a stallion’s current statistics as at the date the catalogue is issued is simply a disgrace and shows what I’d call “a blatant lack of integrity” on the part of the sales company.

Justracing initially worked with people like Paul Knight at Magic Millions then thankfully Vin Cox became the CEO of that organisation – and to his credit he put an immediate stop to the rot, so whilst we’ve never met, his effort in making sure all available stallions statistical information is included in the catalogues these days is commended.

So that said, it always amazed me just how stupid yearling buyers were, as they’d be spending money on yearlings whose father’s statistics were so bad that you simply wouldn’t want to own one of his progeny.

These days the stallion statistics of each stallion are in the catalogue and all a prospective owner needs is a calculator nearby to work out all the winners-to-runners and stakeswinners-to-runners information pertaining to a particular stallion.

The yearling sale market is an extremely volatile market to get involved in and for most who buy one of the many thousands of yearlings sold in this country annually, buying one or more yearlings will be proven with the passage of time to certainly not be financially astute. In fact it is generally a very financially debilitating experience. Like any other speculative financial foray in one’s life, some participants will make a profit on their outlay, via buying a good horse or getting a good horse that can go on and win a Golden Slipper and be a commercial stallion and so on, but they will be a miniscule minority.

Mainstream media will predictably make a big song and dance about the Real Surreal’s that win say a Magic Millions, that got passed in at the yearling sales, or the Sebring’s that go on and win a Golden Slipper prior to having a huge career at stud, but you can take it from me that you’ll very rarely see an article in mainstream media about the 20 highest priced yearlings bought in the last few years that never looked likely to repay their initial huge outlay, let alone show a profit for those who got involved in the original purchase. Thoroughbred racing in mainstream media is generally all about remaining positive at all costs, when the reality is generally far from that. Mainstream media relies heavily on advertising dollars from large, cash strapped studs that in certain racing television stations, on racing radio stations, and in racing publications spend a fortune on advertising.

Each year the Millers Guide comes out in this country around August and it has a section called “High Priced Yearlings” – and each year their wonderful publication is worth buying just to show you how bad for your financial health getting involved in buying yearlings is.

Here is a list of eleven high priced yearlings Miller’s Guide advise were sold between 2007 and 2009 inclusive and check out the financial tear-ups here.

YEAR

NAME

SOLD FOR

P/MONEY

STARTS

2007

Mount Olympus

$3,000,000

$19,215

17

2008

Leicester Square

$2,000,000

$77,400

21

2008

Kookaburras

$2,200,000

$23,975

9

2008

Metallurgical

$2,200,000

$264,740

29

2008

Foxtrot Oscar

$2,200,000

Nil

Nil

2008

Killy

$2,500,000

Nil

Nil

2008

L’Heritier

$2,700,000

$5,050

6

2009

Shadowofexcellance

$1,200,000

$50,630

19

2009

Light Brigade

$1,400,000

$183,100

15

2009

Rockstardom

$1,500,000

$17,825

8

2009

Surrcosta

$2,000,000

$4,150

5

 

So as you can see from the aforesaid, buying a $3 million yearling is a quick way to the poor house, the same as buying a $20,000 one is, as the trainer charges the same rate daily whether the yearling cost $3 million or $3,000.

 

Tomorrow and Thursday on this website I’ll give you a look at some of Australia’s thoroughbred stallions statistics and those two articles will help educate website visitors on the high number of ordinary stallions we have in this country.

 

Today on www.brisbaneracing.com.au there is the first of two big montages of photos from the Charlie Pratt fundraiser last night and Eagle Farm last Saturday. Tomorrow on Justracing I’ll give readers a full run down on the Charlie Pratt fundraiser. On www.sydneyracing.com.au today David Clarkson writes about the Italian superhorse, whilst on www.melbourneracing.com.au Matt Nicholls continues his top 12 countdown, today recognizing Ortensia’s effort on the world stage.

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