European yearling sales | Horse Racing Free Tips

Letter To The Editor: Yearling Sale Profitability

After reading John Boyce’s excellent article in the TDN (Nov. 12), I have the following observation.

Unlike John, my statistical training goes back to the days of the slide rule. Yet precious little arithmetical skill is required to understand the lesson he has parsed on the state of the bloodstock industry in his article on the 2020 yearling sales.

Taking up pen, paper, and employing some old long division skills, it is clear, when one approaches the subject from a slightly different angle, that his conclusion that the present situation “will surely hasten a fundamental review of the supply and demand of commercial young stock” is reaffirmed.

The Racing Post’s excellent ‘Sires Averages and Medians’ table of Nov. 2 captures results from all the major yearling sales of 2021 to date. In this table 109 stallions have 10 or more yearlings sold against their name. Yet, of that number, only 15 stallions returned a median price in excess of the 2018 advertised stallion fee plus a conservative (at least for my farm) £20,000 cost of production.

The average loss at the median across all stallions showing negative returns is £15,000, ranging from £57,000 in the case of the worst-performing stallion (by this measure) to around £1,000 in the best case among the negative group.

Some of the individual stallion numbers are especially informative as the season for choosing 2021 covers gets underway and stallion fees are reset. Interested parties will be able to do their own sums!

Of course, not all of a stallion’s crop sells at a yearling sale—some are retained, some sold as foals and,in addition, discounts on published fees are often obtained. So the complete picture is a tad more complicated.

Clearly though, returns overall do not come close to justifying the cost of service and production across the canvas as a whole and this lack of demonstrable ‘commerciality’ must be of real concern, as much from a fiscal perspective, as from the personal sense of striving for the satisfaction of success in one’s endeavours. Arguably, unless the days of the ‘Corinithian’ attitude to Thoroughbred animal husbandry can be consigned to the pages of history, we will be responsible for the commercial decline of a fine industry employing many people and enjoyed by equally as many.

While the diagnosis is rather easily found, the trick will be to come up with the cure in an environment where the funding model of the racing business is broken.

The statistical evidence does clearly show, however, the extent to which the breeding business is increasingly, for many, like balancing on a water biscuit in a torrent!

Colin Bryce
Laundry Cottage Stud
Hertfordshire

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Precocity The Key At New-Look Ascot

The yearling sale caravan rolls onto Newmarket on Monday for the relocated Tattersalls Ascot Yearling Sale, where 257 commercial youngsters will go under the hammer. The fledgling sale which celebrate its fourth renewal rides the momentum of a pair of group-winning 2-year-olds at major meetings over the summer, with Steel Bull (Ire) (Clodovil {Ire})’s victory in the G3 Molecomb S. at Glorious Goodwood preceding Miss Amulet (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire})’s score in the G2 Lowther S. at York’s Ebor meeting, which followed a victory in Naas’s Listed Marwell S. Both have already turned a profit for connections: Steel Bull, a £15,000 yearling, was sold privately to Chantal Regalado-Gonzalez after his Molecomb win, while Miss Amulet, with the residual value of black-type aside, has earned in excess of £84,000 off a £7,500 purchase price. Miss Amulet is set to appear in the G1 Cheveley Park S. on Sept. 26, while Steel Bull also looks bound for Group 1 company in the autumn.

“Those kinds of flagship horses are crucial for any sale,” said Matt Prior, Tattersalls Ascot’s head of sales. “Last year we sold approximately 150 horses and within that we’ve got a real flagship colt and a flagship filly. It’s been an ideal showcase for the sale-Steel Bull was bought for £15,000, won the Molecomb hugely impressively and looked unlucky in his last start and like one to keep an eye on in the later Group 1s in the year.

“Miss Amulet has been a revelation for a filly that cost £7,500. She’s a great bargain buy type of advert, which is what Ascot has the reputation for. Summer Sands was that the year before. Miss Amulet looks like she’s going to take all the beating in the Cheveley Park having won the Lowther, so she’s a dream filly to have come out of the sale. I think that will give people confidence to come back this year, and they should know that there is no doubt that some of next year’s high-class juveniles are in the catalogue and they can go out there with confidence and find them.”

With siblings to 96 2-year-old winners and 69 yearlings out of 2-year-old-winning mares catalogued, buyers won’t have to dig too deep to find precocious types, and two that should make most short lists are Ringfort Stud’s half-sister to Miss Amulet (lot 143) from the first crop of Yeomanstown’s Scat Daddy son El Kabeir; and Linacre House Stud’s full-sister to prior stakes-winning Ascot yearling graduate Flaming Princess (Ire) (Gutaifan {Ire}) (lot 116) (more on her in yesterday’s TDN). They are among 20 siblings to black-type performers catalogued.

“I think it says a lot about where the sale has come in four years that now we’re starting to offer the siblings to black-type winners that we’ve sold, such as James Kelly’s Linacre House Stud’s smashing Gutaifan full-sister to Flaming Princess,” Prior said. “It’s a really good filly family and she looks like she could be a Queen Mary filly next year; she’s that kind of filly. As an individual people won’t be disappointed when they see her; she’s by a stallion that’s really kicked on this year with Fev Rover coming out recently. I think she’s going to be on people’s short lists.

“And Derek Veitch of Ringfort Stud, who bred Miss Amulet, he’s returning this year with a filly from the first crop of El Kabeir, so there’s a bit of residual value as well. Reports are she’s a really nice individual that I think is going to be popular and could go to any sale, so we’re lucky to have them in our sale. It’s a real feather in the cap for the sale this year to have those vendors that have been rewarded by selling nice horses with us to come back and have confidence to bring the siblings to the market.”

Whitsbury Manor Stud has been a regular supporter of the Ascot Yearling Sale, and the Harper family’s nursery brings eight yearlings this year including a colt from the second crop of Goken (Fr) (lot 245), the leading first-crop sire in France this season and second only to Mehmas (Ire) currently among all European first-crop sires. Goken sired Sunday’s G3 Prix la Rochette victor Go Athletico (Fr). Lot 245 is a three-quarter brother to Kendargent (Fr) stakes winners Kendam (Fr) and Kenfreeze (Fr) and is the only progeny of his sire thus far offered at a UK yearling sale. Ed Harper purchased the dam, Damdam Freeze (Fr) (Indian Rocket {GB}), for €50,000 carrying this colt at Arqana December in 2018 and, with the addition of some updates from Kendam’s G3 Prix La Rochette victor Kenway (Fr) (Galiway {GB}), she was sold to Mags O’Toole at Tattersalls July this year for 70,000gns in foal to Showcasing (GB).

“I had an inkling that Goken might surprise a few people amongst the first season sires so I was keen to buy the best quality mare I could that was in foal from his second season,” Harper explained. “We’ve been fortunate the mare has provided us with an athletic colt, he’s compact but has a lovely way of going and there’s also been a nice update on the page with Kenway picking up more group race placings under the first dam. He should attract good attention from anyone that has seen how well Goken’s runners have been performing.”

With Showcasing as its flagbearer, Adaay (Ire) and Due Diligence having gotten off to promising starts and the G1 Flying Five S. winner Havana Grey (GB) also coming up through the ranks, Whitsbury Manor has laid its foundations with speed, and thus the Tattersalls Ascot Sale is a natural fit.

“This sale has been specifically positioned to offer precocious 2-year-old types, which is exactly the section of the market that we aim to focus on with our stallions,” Harper confirmed. “In addition, the usual location of the sale at Ascot is only an hour from Whitsbury which is considerably closer to home than all the others. Therefore, if this sale is able to continue as a good outlet for our stock it provides us with a very efficient market as far as travel, staff, hotels, etcetera are concerned.”

Whitsbury Manor offers two of the three yearlings by Showcasing in the sale-a filly, lot 69, and a colt, lot 127-and Harper described them both as “great walkers.” Another he pointed to in the consignment was a Due Diligence filly who is the first foal out of the unraced Eshq (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}) (lot 7), a granddaughter of American champion mare Fleet Indian. Whitsbury Manor scooped her up for 1,500gns at Tattersalls December last year.

“She is the absolute image of what I think the sale is looking for: strong, compact, and a ready-made 2-year-old,” Harper said. “I just hope she goes to a trainer that won’t be afraid to push on with her as she’s ready to go.”

The likes of Showcasing and Gutaifan represent a strong sire profile at the burgeoning Tattersalls Ascot Yearling Sale. There are similarly three yearlings catalogued by young sensation Night Of Thunder (Ire), with representation as well from the likes of Acclamation (GB) and his red hot son Mehmas (Ire); Dandy Man, Holy Roman Emperor (Ire), Iffraaj (Ire) and Zoffany (Ire).

“We’re over the moon; three Night of Thunders tells you how far the sale has come,” Prior said. “He’s been a revelation as a sire and we feel very lucky that we have that calibre of stallion not only once but three times. That sire power makes such a difference. Mehmas is off to a flyer and we have nine of those so buyers will have plenty to go at there.”

As the third European yearling sale on a re-shuffled calendar in an unprecedented year, all eyes will be on Park Paddocks on Monday before the action shifts to Deauville on Wednesday. Last week’s Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale achieved a solid clearance rate of 84%, but with turnover nearly half of what it was last year and other markers significantly down, vendors will be hoping the desire for bloodstock grows as the season marches on.

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TDN Q&A With Billy Jackson-Stops

With the yearling sales now in full swing, TDN quizzes industry figures on past purchases, life during lockdown and gets their perspective on the sales for the next few weeks. Billy Jackson-Stops answers our questions today.

TDN: What was your best yearling purchase over the last few years? And your favourite?

BJS: I set up JS Bloodstock Consultancy in the summer of 2018 and bought my first yearlings that year. Those 2018 yearling purchases resulted in my best purchase to date which was Shadn (Ire) (No Nay Never {USA}), who won the Listed Rosebowl S. and G2 Criterium De Maisons Laffitte last year before heading to the States to take her place in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. She and a little horse called Soldierpoy (GB) (Sepoy {Aus}) would be my favourites. Shadn was very sweet natured and was a very determined horse, whereas Soldierpoy, who Tom Clover and I bought for £7,000 last year, was completely the opposite. He was shockingly behaved each time I saw him at the sales, but he was structurally very neat and came from a good breeder. The temperament never left him, he was always a handful in training but he was very quick and ended up finishing third in the Super Sprint, having won a race, and was subsequently sold at the August sale for £67,000, a great touch for the owners.

TDN: Is there any positive you have taken from how the sales have been conducted this year?

BJS: The overall positive is that the sales are on and all credit goes to the sales houses who have worked tirelessly to make that happen. It’s great to have seen the separate sales houses coming together and successfully getting horses sold. They deserve a huge amount of praise for being able to hold the sales in what has been an unpredictable and difficult year.

TDN: How has your business adapted?

BJS: We’ve focused on a bigger online presence. Without being able to travel and meet prospective clients personally, it’s been important for those people to have been able to see our work and what we do through our website and social media pages. We also upped our communications by making use of The Racing Manager app which has been a huge help in keeping clients up to date, whether it’s videos of horses training, entries and declarations or voice notes directly from the jockeys after the horses have raced, we’ve tried to keep everyone as informed as possible.

TDN: In general what are your thoughts on the 2020 yearling catalogues? And what progeny of new stallions are you most looking forward to?

BJS: The catalogues are very much in line with previous years in terms of quality and quantity, other than the Tattersalls Ascot Sale which has almost doubled in size with consignors looking to get a five week jump on what would have been their other option in Tattersalls Book 3. Some consignors have taken the view they might do better selling earlier in a stand-alone sale rather than at the end of a long two weeks of Book 1, 2 and 3.

Having done the first yearling sale at Goffs UK already I was impressed with the progeny of the two Scat Daddy horses in El Kabeir and Caravaggio. But having seen a lot of the progeny of Profitable (Ire) at Goffs UK I’m most looking forward to seeing his stock hit the track, they looked a good group and I’m sure we’ll see a lot of those at Royal Ascot next year.

TDN: Did you develop any new interests or hobbies during lockdown?

BJS: I felt fit for probably the first time since leaving school. There was quite a lot of running and eating healthy throughout lockdown, all of which has gone out of the window since sales have started again. I did a lot of reading as well; I really enjoy biographies and autobiographies, the best of which were Andre Agassi’s, Peter Moody’s and that of a tough ex-army man called Mick Dawson who rowed the Pacific from Japan to San Francisco on his second attempt at it having sunk his boat in the middle of the pacific on his first attempt.

TDN: Who’s the most interesting person you know?

BJS: My Dad is without question the most interesting person I know. He’s full of stories from throughout his life from successfully firing fireworks directly through the window of his headmaster’s office while he was at school, to getting his pilot’s licence and racing cars all around Europe; he seems to have packed a lot into his life. He worked full time in property and still somehow, despite the work, family and machines, found the time to read a lot and therefore seems to know a huge amount about random aspects of life.

TDN: What’s one mistake (if any) you made in your career, and what did you learn from it?

BJS: I never spent much time with an agent before setting up myself and therefore didn’t know the intricacies of running a bloodstock consultancy, so my entire career to date has been based on trial and error, a lot of error! So in hindsight I wish I’d spent a few years working with an established agent before going on my own.

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Goffs Moves Orby Sale Forward

Goffs will shift its two-day Orby yearling sale-to be staged this year at Goffs UK’s Doncaster sales complex-forward by a day and it will now take place on Sept. 30 and Oct 1. The change was made to allow an additional day between Orby and Tattersalls October Book 1. Orby yearlings will ship into Doncaster on Sept. 27, following the Goffs Sportsman’s Sale there on Sept. 24 and 25.

“Our job is to deliver the greatest opportunity for every lot with which we are entrusted,” said Goffs Group Chief Executive Henry Beeby. “Feedback from a wide range of Orby vendors since Friday was that the timing between Orby and Tattersalls Book 1 was too tight and we were asked to revisit the dates both for vendor logistics and to ensure that every lot receives the full attention of the maximum number of potential purchasers for the most time. At this difficult time we are mindful of working for everyone in the industry and so, after discussing the matter at length with Edmond Mahony at Tattersalls, we have decided to move the Orby Sale back 24 hours whilst we will also turn the complex around in 24 hours following the Sportsman’s Sale to ensure the stables are ready for the Orby yearlings that much earlier, so allowing them to settle in before showing starts. Every hour counts for these world-class yearlings and we have listened carefully to the feedback and requests that have come from all our vendors, many of whom will also be selling the following week. An extra 24 hour window might make all the difference at the end of our sale so having the stables ready a day earlier will also be important. On both counts the Goffs team will do whatever it takes to deliver.”

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