SALES REPORTS
Sydney Weanlings (June 24th and 25th) sold reasonably well in a tough market. I can here the skeptics bristling already, but read on.
› Like all sales for the last ten years any weanling with faults was hard to move. However, in my opinion if you rate the faults and then give the weanlings a mark out of ten then you will quickly end up with a situation where you don't want to buy many horses. Forget the pedigrees, because pedigrees don't win races and then see what you really want to buy.
› Now you form the view that they sold exceptionally well. If I had started with this comment you may only have kept reading to sneer. So let's keep going as I surely have you analyzing this info already.
› For many critics they compare sales results with service fees and rightly so from an accounting profit or loss perspective. However, for many that is the only way they can rate the sales.
› Consider this analogy. Four prestigious kit homes. All cost the same. One is assembled incorrectly and the risk of it lasting very long under testing conditions is significantly reduced. One is laid on incorrect foundations and there in lies the problem that will never resolve itself. One is not suited to the environment and is consequently compromised thereafter. One is a perfect construction and will stand up to all the challenges it will face over its life. Remember they all started out the same.
› Surely you are starting to get the feeling that the initial cost has nothing to do with the present value.
› Substitute foundations, quality of products and building craftsmanship to say suitable mares, proper pastoral care, good management, astute physical matings, regular farrier attention, proper feeding and nutrition, etc, etc, etc.
› The other important factor is that these weanling sales are generally where people sell their problems. They are advised to move weanlings on. If they have the faults early they will not generally go away. So is this market really any indication of the state of affairs. I suspect not.
› When anyone breeding a horse with serious issues can expect a commercial return on the money they have invested, then we will have everyone breeding horses. It will not happen. You would not buy them, so why should you expect someone else to.
› So as I should have said at the start the weanlings on offer in Sydney sold very well. (IR).
