Draper Farm is far from a new name on the consignor line of North American sale catalog pages, but their offering at this year's Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale might be the largest of its two decades in operation.
That was by design.
The seven mares on offer from the Draper Farm consignment marked an early step in Breandan Draper's plan to expand his family's small broodmare operation into a commercial seller of horses beyond their own band.
“It felt like the right time,” Draper said. “I worked for Schumer Bloodstock for a few years, which was a fantastic experience. I learned a wealth of knowledge from [Chad Schumer], and it just felt like the timing was right to do something on my own and try to make a go of it, and see where consigning takes me.”
Draper, 34, operates a 12-acre farm in southern Fayette County in Central Kentucky with his father, Labhrás Draper, where they tend to keep about five broodmares and various young horses bred for the commercial market. The younger Draper was quick to credit his foundation of knowledge in the Thoroughbred realm to his father, who first arrived in the U.S. aboard a horse plane from Ireland in the late 1970s.
A Lexington, Ky., native, the younger Draper attend Mount Ida College in Newton, Mass., pursuing a place to continue playing lacrosse, along with continuing his education. When he came back home for the summers, he'd work the Fasig-Tipton July Yearling Sale for consignor Paramount Sales.
Draper returned to Kentucky after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 2012, and while he was mulling over his career options, he and his dad bought a broodmare. They have remained business partners since then.
However, it was the second mare they bought together that solidified the younger Draper's resolve to make the family business into his own career. The mare was a multiple Grade 3-winning daughter of Kelly Kip named Bettarun Fast, purchased at the 2014 Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. Fall Mixed Sale,
“The second mare I ever got with my dad, we bought a mare in Ocala in foal to Maclean's Music in his second crop,” he said. “We bought her for $9,000, foaled her, and sold the foal the following November for $62,000. I think that was probably the moment that really got me hooked. The whole process was very exciting. That's not a huge home run, but it's still a decent hit, and having that early on when I was starting to get involved really propelled me and motivated me. Obviously, they don't all go like that, but that was nice.”
Draper had experience with the hands-on portion of the Thoroughbred business, foaling, raising, and prepping horses on the family farm, but the sales grounds pose an entirely different set of challenges, often requiring social abilities to match or exceed one's horsemanship. To help build experience in that realm, he spent time working as an assistant for Schumer, handling the logistics that can come with traversing a sale and a catalog looking for prospects.
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If you appreciate our work, you can support us by subscribing to our Patreon stream. Learn more.“Breandan was a super conscientious, hard-working guy with lots of enthusiasm,” Schumer said. “He would work the barns with us at the sales, and keep us well-organized in terms of what we had to see – big lists.”
Draper's interest in the commerce end of the bloodstock business came at a time when the farm's broodmare operation was downsizing. The operation previously included 42 acres in Scott County, Kentucky, where they boarded 12 to 15 mares.
This eventually led Draper to reach out to John O'Meara of Milestone Farm about handling some of his mares as a consignor. The seven mares of the Draper Farm consignment all came from Milestone Farm.
“(O'Meara) and my dad have been good friends for years back,” Draper said. “I've known John my whole life, and it was great of him to give me this opportunity to sell these mares for him. I'm very appreciative of him.”
Being the front-facing part of a consignment involves a lot of public relations work: Shaking hands, answering questions, and knowing the right people to get their eyes on horses and set up deals.
With that in mind, Draper said his measurement of success for his early consignments was realistic, in that that it wouldn't necessarily be dictated solely by the bids on the board. Establishing brand recognition was one of Draper's key short-term goals to help him achieve his long-term goals.
“I would like to grow the consignment, and reach out and meet new clients,” he said. “The sales are a great place to meet new people, and you never know what's going to present itself. It's nice to have modest expectations. You don't want to start off the bat trying to shoot for a huge home run, but I definitely would like to build a consignment with consistency, and hopefully in years to come, we'll have a larger amount and still building.”
The post ‘It Felt Like The Right Time’: Draper Aims To Grow Consignment At Fasig-Tipton February Sale appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
