July to September 2008
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.
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 Vecchia 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.
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.
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 Hussler, however the Hussler was no match in a sensational race.
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.
Good Week at the Office
12 September 2008 - With Vin Cox in Kentucky for the Keeneland September Yearling Sales there has been plenty of good news on the home front with a win at Sandown on Wednesday for Port Isabel and great runs from Kick’n’ Chase and Vecchia Roma in the Group Three AJC Tramway Quality at Radnwick on Tuesday, all three horses purchased by Vin Cox Bloodstock.
A four year-old mare by Encosta de Lago, the Lee Freedman trained Port Isabel started favourite in the Ratings 82 event for mares over 1600 metres and got the job done in scoring by a neck and taking her overall record to four wins from 14 starts with prizemoney in excess of $54,000.
Port Isabel was purchased by Vin Cox Bloodstock for $350,000 at the 2006 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale on behalf of American based breeder Helen Alexander.
The owner of Middlebrook Farm in Kentucky, Miss Alexander has extensive thoroughbred interests and is also a Director of the Keeneland Association.
She has had a long involvement in Australian breeding going back to the days of Derby King Ranch, which was the farm that is now Woodlands Stud.
Miss Alexander still owns a number of horses in Australia and tasted success just a few years ago with the Grahame Begg trained mare Prenuptial, a Listed winner of five races who is now at stud.
Bred and offered for sale by Stratheden Stud, Port Isabel is the first foal of the Zeditave stakes-winner Calming and is bred on the exact same, Encosta de Lago/Zeditave cross as Hong Kong superstar Sacred Kingdom.
Port Isabel has also received some massive pedigree updates since the time of the sale as her dam Calming is a half-sister to outstanding producer Royal Solitaire, the dam of South African Group One winner War Artist and Group One placed filly Sashenka.
Exciting four year-olds Kick ‘n Chase (Red Ransom (USA) x Cool Chick) and Vecchia Roma (Testa Rossa x Mirror Image) indicated they’ve got their hooves on the till with terrific runs for second and third respectively behind boom galloper Bank Robber in the Tramway.
The Clarry Conners trained Kick ‘n Chase has been a great buy for connections having been purchased for $80,000 from the Widden Stud draft at the 2006 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale.
Entered for the Group One AJC Epsom Handicap, Kick ‘n Chase has already won over $185,000 in prizemoney with the promise of more to come.
Keeneland September 2008
While the Keeneland Sale continues along, the sale thru the first 4 books was stronger than it appears on face value. Up until the end of book 4, the average and turnover were down approximately 12.5%, while the medium was down 5%. If you consider the fact that there were nearly half as many million plus yearlings sold as the year before, this truly indicates where the market is.
The market is seemingly softer at the elite level, while the middle market is as strong as it was last year. For those that operate under the elite level, it is more of the same and very strong at that. There were a number of consignors that told me,”we are having a boomer,” “never had a better sale,” or “my usual turnover is $1.5M, this year I am over $3m and I have 2 more sessions to sell.”
At the time of writing Book 7 is complete and the picture is beginning to change dramatically. Session by session comparisons tell a different story, with averages and turnover down nearly 30% and clearance rate getting towards 70%. Cumulative comparisons are more or less in line with the statistics thru Book 4. There are far smarter people than me that will be able to interpret what this all means for the future. Yearling purchases on the Sales Results page
VCB Debutants
30 September 2008 - The first of the Two Year Old races kick off at Randwick on Saturday, the colts in the Breeders’ Plate and the fillies in the Keeneland sponsored Gimcrack Stakes.
We are delighted to have runners in both races. Delago Bolt will be in the Breeders’ Plate, having brilliantly won a trial at Warwick Farm beating the highly touted Zikmann (Fastnet Rock). Delago Bolt was a $50,000 purchase from the Melbourne Premier sale, owned by some long standing clients of VCB and Gary Portelli’s.
While in the fillies race we have 2 runners, Sheeznodoubt and Angel of Hope. Sheeznodoubt ran the fastest trial of the morning at Warwick Farm and winning by a good margin, while on the same day Angel of Hope was second to the $1.1million filly of Darley’s, Come Hither. Sheeznodoubt was a $160,000 from the Easter Yearling sale and from the first crop of Not A Single Doubt and Angel Of Hope was purchased for $90,000 from the Melbourne premier sale.
It is great to have runners in the first of the Two Year Old races, we are looking forward to a good year with our juveniles.
