Vin Cox Bloodstock Latest News
Gold For Shoba
17 August 2008 - The highlight for the week was the win of Shoba Princess (Scone yearling; $28,000) at Canterbury. Owner, Mark Gold tipped her to anyone that was prepared to listen or in the way, but we were too smart to have even $5 each. Shoba Princess landed the money after as much as 60-1 was bet in the ring. Needless to say the scenes on course were something that hasn't been seen on a mid week racecourse in many years.
Another pleasing result was the return to the track of Peregian, this time in California at Del Mar. Peregian comes from a strong American family and it has always been an ambition to see her race in the States. When the opportunity arose we moved her to Hall Of Fame Trainer Neil Drysdale. Her first start back was in a US$75,000 Mares race over a mile, running a very promising third. Being the only non black type mare in the field we are excited as to her prospects State side.
Bob and Ro Unbeatable
17 August 2008 - What a "fantastic" week it has been for some of the "real good guys" in the business, Bob and Rosemary Scarborough. It started with Mauralakana winning the Grade 1 Beverly D Stakes at Arlington Park, Chicago and finishing with Light Fantastic winning the JJ Liston Stakes fairly and squarely.
Mauralakana was purchased by Bob and Rosemary at the 2007 Keeneland November Breeding stock sale, and since her purchase she has been all but unbeatable winning a trail of Graded Stakes races along the way, sending her value into orbit. Light Fantastic started second favourite to the all conquering Weekend Hustler, however the Hustler was no match in a sensational race.
Keeneland Media Release : Soft Market Spells Opportunity
12 August 2008 - Yearling sales conducted in North America during the past week have again revealed a softness in the US bloodstock market with the boutique Saratoga Sale down by 12 % aggregate while the New York Bred Preferred Yearling Sale was blighted by a frightening clearance rate of 53%.
There is no doubt that top quality individuals are still selling well and the upper echelon of the market will in all likelihood be as strong as ever when the Keeneland September Yearling Sale rolls around starting on September 8, but for the astute Australian investor there has never been a better time to buy in the US.
With a record catalogue numbering 5,555 lots and the US economy now sliding into recession, it’s not hard to see that buyers from overseas will be presented with opportunities like never before at Keeneland this year.
Keeneland is not all about Storm Cat and A.P. Indy, there is real depth in the stallion ranks and diversity in the female pedigrees not found at Australian sales and for investors looking to broaden their bloodstock portfolio to complement our homegrown stallions in the future then America is one obvious answer.
While Books One and Two are the traditional home of the million-dollar plus horses that attract all the media attention, subsequent Books offer a myriad of more affordable options and with expert grading of yearlings down through the sale, plus the help of an excellent search engine on the website, it’s not hard to come up with a workable short list of suitable horses to consider.
It’s a matter of doing the required homework or seeking some expert advice and with a good number of Australian agents now regular visitors to Keeneland, it’s not hard to find a reliable and reputable man on the ground to inspect horses and provide feedback on the physical aspects of selected yearlings.
A strong Aussie dollar is another keen incentive with today’s buyers finding their currency stretching further than in years past, when a small Aussie contingent looked on as their dollar traded at two for one.
For more information contact Vin Cox Bloodstock, Australasian Representative for Keeneland on 0418 471061, 02 9328 5788 or email vin@vincoxbloodstock.com
New Season Underway
5 August 2008 - It was great to get August underway with a winning double, Zassi sailing in at Kembla and Test Edition winning at Rosehill. Zassi is the $100,000 Zeditave filly we purchased at the 2007 Classic sale, she has now had the 3 starts and hasn’t missed a cheque. She won extremely well and given the impressive times she ran we might be in for a bit of fun yet.
Test Edition has been a great little earner for connections over the years, purchased for $52,500 at the now defunct Sires’ Produce yearling sale. His earning now in excess of $125,000 and all 4 of his wins in town.
You couldn’t help notice the return of Vechia Roma in the Missile Stakes, running an extremely unlucky fourth. Owner Scott Murray said he wanted to “protest against the world,” in the end happy to have her run such a great race first up.
While disappointing that Lighthorseman didn’t win first up, given the depth of the field and what he will derive from the run, we haven’t heard the last of him.
Flawed Scoping
25 July 2008 - The time has come for the Australian Auction houses to institute the world wide practice of pre-sale scoping. All very well the hoo hah of x-rays and issues on x-ray, but the fact of the matter is most issues are resolved with time.
In stark contrast, issues on the “scope” very rarely, if ever, come right. From my experience, any horse that has had an issue on the scope at the time of post sale scoping has never been right, 100% of them. The usual line from the vet is, “it has a slight condritis, 6 weeks of penicilin and it will be fine.” I am yet to find the one that will be right.
Buyers at North American sales are able to scope any yearling they desire, by their own vet before the horse goes through the ring. The purchaser then has the option to follow the horse through the sale ring or move onto the next prospect. Here in Australasia we are forced into a post sale regime of the auction house vet, whom applies the conditions of sale that are heavily weighted in favour of the vendor.
At the end of the day, if the horse can’t breath, you haven't got a horse.
US Dollar near enough to Parity
22 July 2008 - Anyone that follows the trends of the Oz dollar against the US dollar, as we do in this office, would be well aware that the Oz dollar is at a generational high. Currently trading above US97cents is out of this world for Australian bloodstock investors, I remember being in Kentucky in 2000 and it was below 2 for 1.
Australian investors are in a unique position at the moment, where never before has the American market been so accessible to Australians. Not only is the dollar strong but with the recent Northern Hemisphere sales in Kentucky and Japan, the market is seemingly down over 10%. As the year progresses it could come off even more, with extraordinarily low clearance rates reported at these sales.
It is a good time to be considering getting into the US market, you can buy pedigree and performance for less than what you buy a similar product locally. Recently we purchased an extremely well pedigreed filly and left her in work, she won her first start for the new owner in Virginia and is due to start again before going into quarantine.
2008 Magic Millions June Weanling, Yearling and Mares
Vin Cox Bloodstock's purchases at the Magic Millions June Sale are now on the sales results page.
Breeding Stock
24 July 2008 The Mares on offer on the Breeding Stock pages have been updated. Don't forget the new section in Breeding Stock for mares overseas.
Nominations and Stallion Shares
31 July 2008 - Details of stallions that we have share holder nominations to sell are now on the Nominations page. There are also some Stallions Shares on the shares page