I find this astounding, especially at the record price levels.
How can these folks objectively believe they will sell for more privately or earn more than their buy back if sent to the track??
Buy Back rate 41% at Barrett's
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Re: Buy Back rate 41% at Barrett's
zinn21 wrote:I find this astounding, especially at the record price levels.
How can these folks objectively believe they will sell for more privately or earn more than their buy back if sent to the track??
Perhaps they over paid for said horses as yearlings? Pinhooking is no place for amateurs over time. Anyone can get lucky once in awhile but few can make money year in and year out.
Sysonby wrote:There's also an ebb and flow to sales. People can miscalculate with a reserve especially early in a sale but some of those horses will be sold next week--maybe not for as much as they wanted but they will get sold.
There is also a new burgeoning secondary market... horses that don't sell, hit the track and race impressively. They are sometimes sold "off the track". But I think a new trend is going to be pinhookers willing to race the stock they don't sell. I for one do, happily. Got 2 new ones this year alone.
dray33 wrote:Sysonby wrote:There's also an ebb and flow to sales. People can miscalculate with a reserve especially early in a sale but some of those horses will be sold next week--maybe not for as much as they wanted but they will get sold.
There is also a new burgeoning secondary market... horses that don't sell, hit the track and race impressively. They are sometimes sold "off the track". But I think a new trend is going to be pinhookers willing to race the stock they don't sell. I for one do, happily. Got 2 new ones this year alone.
I'm not so sure we're not in the midst of this trend now. Why pay hundreds of 1000$ or even million$ for unproven bloodstock when so many top horses can be purchased privately after having proven something on the track? Curlin is yet another recent example and I thought he sold to cheap for $3.2 million after having broken his maiden by 13 at GP. He's by one of the best sires of the past 10 years, Smart Strike and should be able to handle a distance of ground. Henny Hughes sold privately for a shade over $4 million and he appeared to be a sprinter. I thought Curlin was a very good by at $3.2.
Other top horses purchased privately after having raced that have gone on to good things are: Discreet Cat(price unknown).. Medaglia D'or(unknown.. best guestimate $500,000).... Kip DeVille($500,000)... War Emblem ($950,000).... Downthedustyroad(guesstimate$400,000). These are just a few examples and why I believe this is a growing trend as opposed to the yearling and 2 year old sales. Why buy an unproven commodity for high dollars when you can buy a proven one for the same price or less?
larrygene wrote:Downthedustyroad.....$1.5 million
That was on the "resell" by the buyers that bought her a year earlier when she was racing at Oaklawn(she's an Arkie bred). She won a GI for them in California and they put on her on the auction block shortly after. I believe Zayat bought her last year and sold her recently as well.
dray33 wrote:Sysonby wrote:There's also an ebb and flow to sales. People can miscalculate with a reserve especially early in a sale but some of those horses will be sold next week--maybe not for as much as they wanted but they will get sold.
There is also a new burgeoning secondary market... horses that don't sell, hit the track and race impressively. They are sometimes sold "off the track". But I think a new trend is going to be pinhookers willing to race the stock they don't sell. I for one do, happily. Got 2 new ones this year alone.
Im not sure how "new" this is. Calder is, and has been, crawling with agents for years. As soon as a horse runs impressively, and doesnt even have to win, just an impressive race, running a good number, the offers come in. Saint Paul, a gelding, was bought out of Calder after breaking his maiden for a good price. There is a very good and competitive market for horses who show talent on the racetrack.
They don't. I think pinhookers have to be ready to race their own stock. All the more reason to keep them sound. At the end of the day, your worst horses (according to the public, or your own inflated idea of the horses value) are coming home.
I think in alot of these cases, the owner of the horse has to decide how far to hold. If the horse just doesn't show any speed, sometimes you don't set a reserve and let the horse go for anything. But who's to say that the horse won't be a monster at three, or a two-turn legend? That's opportunity knockin'. It's also why you don't see many El Prado or Pleasant Colony line horses going to these sales. Much too early for those stallions, and good pinhookers do their best to avoid the horses that aren't "early" or "precocious".
I think in alot of these cases, the owner of the horse has to decide how far to hold. If the horse just doesn't show any speed, sometimes you don't set a reserve and let the horse go for anything. But who's to say that the horse won't be a monster at three, or a two-turn legend? That's opportunity knockin'. It's also why you don't see many El Prado or Pleasant Colony line horses going to these sales. Much too early for those stallions, and good pinhookers do their best to avoid the horses that aren't "early" or "precocious".