Ruination for Florida 2yo sale consignors

[horsenuts]

My hat is off and my body bowing to the initiators of this legislation. Jess Jackson's infiltration of the nasties played in KY is having wide ramifications for the rest of the country. I hope Barretts Sales in CA gets on the bandwagon, too. Until buyers can believe they are getting a square deal, there will likely not be as many of them as time passes.

However, I don't see the consignors stepping up to the plate behind this clean up movement. Where is the NATC? Where are the Hartley/De Renzo's, the Murray Smiths, Becky Thomas', Brocklebanks and McKathans? My guess: buying each other drinks as they strategize on how to beat the system, again. Can't imagine they are smiling over the crackdown.

Agree, about JJ having a major impact. Unfortunately, the prices are falling as a result and rather drastically due to JJ / Matress Mac / Padua and a few others. Here's a trivia question that can't be answered: What would "actual" prices have been at sales the past 30 years or so IF things had been on the "up and up"? I still see a lot of people buying one another's horses or suporting their stallion which only inflates the reality of said horses involved. Sales will always be "shady" no mattter if its art / real estate / cattle or horses involved.


Yes, they are making efforts to alert the general public about the perils of TB sales which may actually have a negative affect as it now appears to be having. So based on that. "everyone back in the water"? It hurts the tax base in both Kentucky and Florida to have the sales "cleaned up" which equates to falling prices. So shady sales do have positive impacts as well.

[dray33]

dray,
What confuses me is why you advocate Adena's 'slow-go' approach while practicing the more popular 'pop-n-stop' method.
Why aren't your actions more congruent with your beliefs?

Fair question. It's kinda like how you sell your stock at two year-old sales and hate the practice too (understood).

I think we both feel as if we have "better" resources than many of the sleeze that we suspect populate the sales industry. I also suspect we are both so keenly focused on the health and welfare of our horses, we make sure they are bought fairly, prepped fairly and sold fairly. I have utmost confidence in the horseman I employ, and confidence in my true motives in which I balance profits with soundness, since eventually I race the two year olds that I dont sell.

If slow-go works for some horses, I am all for it. I too know that when my team selects stock for the sales (in which I employ two set of eyes, both whom I pay commission) they are looking for the more precocious horses that can stand the rigors of training without burnout (mentally and physically). So far, they are extremely successful at choosing the right horses. When I enter the yearling sales market (soon), the same applies.

That said, I can still be a proponent for change, and a driver for helping to make the business better.

[Rokeby Forever]

It's not fair to compare Adena's sale to other two year old sales. Adena's not out to impress anyone with fast works simply because (1) the horses aren't pinhooked and there's no pressure to at least recoup a purchase price, and (2) the horses aren't bred to sprint, so there's no point to working them fast.

Adena will always have an image of breeding for distance and turf, and working babies fast at the Adena sale goes against philosophy, breeding, and image. A Macho Uno and City Zip type are more the exceptions than the rule. People seem to think that Red Bullets are "early" foals, but Red Bullet himself didn't race until he was three.

Stronach can easily afford to keep the stock he offers for sale...so he has no immediate incentive for burning out babies with fast works. The $2 Million or so he receives from selling at this venue doesn't make a dent in his Empire's balance sheet.

[dray33]

I think the unprecedented success of the sale has to be an important consideration.

Regardless of whether the horses are bred differently (and if that really matters, it opens up the discussion of validity of what type of horses are the precocious kind) and are raised diffently, they simply have thus far performed better statistically. Balance this with the fact that they also control the upbringing of these horses, so they do not go through the hypothetical yearling pump, and it makes it difficult to tell which factors are the cause for such success (I suspect both).

I wish there was a way to determine how good it would be for the horses and resulting earnings if we backed the yearling and 2YO sales one month. Just one month. But that data will have to be hypothetical till practiced. It's a small hit for the breeders and 2YO pinhookers who have been doing the job right, with concern for the horses, but thats a small price to pay for improving the sales markets for eveyone.

[dray33]

And the news keeps getting better:

From the Daily Racing Form:
Regulators Consider Anabolic Steroid Limits
by Ryan Conley
Date Posted: April 24, 2007


A model rule that limits anabolic steroid use to four approved substances was unanimously passed in a committee hearing of the Racing Commissioners International annual conference April 23, highlighting the opening-day morning session of the annual conference of North American regulators in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

The model rule, which will now be sent to the April 24 RCI board of directors meeting for disposition, recommends that regulators push for legislation that would allow for limited sample levels of only four anabolic steroids–stanozolol (Winstrol), boldenone, nandrolone, and testosterone.

Under the rule’s guidelines, all other anabolic steroids would be prohibited. Presently, only Iowa has rules in place for the testing of anabolic steroids in North America, while Europe has been testing for years...

An audience member asked if the guidelines would apply to sale horses as well, and Waterman said it would, noting that perceived abuse in the auction industry was a driving factor in the committee’s focus on anabolic steroids.

“I’ve heard too many stories about the ‘incredibly shrinking horse,’ ” he said."

Bravo. I hope it gets passed.

[Cathy D]

I'd like to see them prohibit corticosteroid use, both systemic (like Azium) and joint injections of sales and race horses as well.