Thoughts on a Mixed Breed Sale

[Roguelet]

We are going to include some Quarter Horses in our Yearlings and Horses of All Ages sale this year. This will be our first time doing this, so I thought I'd pick some brains here.

Do you all think it would make more sense to lump the two breeds together... as in the yearling session would be for yearling TBs and yearling QHs, all ages session would be for both breeds together as well? If so, would it make sense to assign catalog numbers by dam name regardless of breed, or do one breed first, followed by the other breed in each session?

Or, would it make more sense to just have a QH session that is separate from the TB sessions altogether?

Seems that if they were intermingled, buyers from both breeds would be "forced" to stick around through the entire sale, and with slots just passing in Indiana, some TB person might decide to try their luck on a QH and some QH person might decide to try their luck on a TB. But, would that be too confusing and/or annoying for buyers?

Any comments or thoughts would be appreciated.

[Gerry]

Honestly, I probably wouldnt attend a mixed breed sale for racing purposes. I would think a set starting time for QH and then TB or viceversa would be the best. The if people are interested in 1, the other or both they would know what time to arrive and not have to sit thru a bunch of horses they have absolutely no interest in.
Just my 2cents
Gerry

[wen8t]

well I am in favor of it being seperate and I think we really need to concentrate on getting buyers there , like putting some money figures out there or something . we just need the buyers there I have 3 weanlings and 4 mares and one yearking I would really like to sell there but no buyers I can't do it, I will have to take mine to keenland or fasig tipton.

[Roguelet]

Gerry, I never would've thought of that. Most people arrive pretty early in the morning, several hours before the sale, because they want to mill around and see the horses that they might be interested in, make sure they have their buyer number, etc. before the sale, so it never occured to me that people might want to show up just in time for their breed's portion of the sale. That is something to consider, though.

wen8t, the decline in this sale over the past several years has really been a direct result of purses here taking a nose-dive, therefore the value and number of Indiana breds also taking that same nose-dive. I heard from several people over the past couple of months, "If slots pass I'm putting horses in the sale, if they don't, I'm not." I believe that we will have a MUCH better sale this year, in terms of number of horses offered AND buyers interested in purchasing Indiana horses, than we've seen in the past several years. The demand is going back up, so should the people there who are interested in buying, and therefore the prices.

To clarify, I don't believe that we are talking about a huge group of Quarter Horses here. This will just be an opportunity for the QH folks to offer some of their horses for sale and also do some buying, but if we put them in their own section, that portion of the sale will most likely not take very much time at all. I do think it will be a good method to attract even more buyers, though, as many people in this area participate in racing with both breeds, and several others who now concentrate on one breed started with the other. So there is quite a bit of crossover, and offering more variety and a larger number of horses (thicker catalog) is ONE way that we are planning to attract more buyers this year. The sale will be held right before the Fall meet starts, and trainers will probably be looking to fill their barns... and the Fall meet there consists of both breeds, so this makes sense.

The passing of that slots bill really should do the sale a world of good for both breeds and everyone involved, though.

Thanks for the input... keep the comments coming.

[valerie]

I have to tell you that there are a lot of quarter people at the mixed sale every year anyway. I would put all the yearlings together and mix them in, you could put the TB first if you wish. Indiana is a mixed bag and there are several people that run both. I know the sale has been going down but I also know that several that have been sold out of the ring have been purchased by the quarter breeders. Just my take on this and I am not saying that this is any type of answer to the problem at all.

[casallc]

If you were going to have a thousand horses or so it might inconvenience one group or the other. It is doubtful you will have over a couple hundred so mix them all together and keep the maximum crowd. That is the name of the game. There is no excitement at an auction with no crowd (or bidders). The Heritage Place has done it for years. I have made money buying cheap mares in the east and selling them to quarter breeders. You can sell 30 horses an hour so if someone is too busy to spend 6 or 7 hours at the sale, they are probably too busy to come anyway.

[Roguelet]

For those of you who like to mark these things on your calendars and plan ahead, the sale this year will be on Saturday, August 25th, and will begin at 1:00PM. More to come later on how the QH's will be worked in.

Entry deadline is June 25th, consignment contracts are being printed now. If you're interested in consigning a horse, please send me your mailing address and I'll make sure a contract gets out to you. Late entries will be accepted, but we cannot guarantee that late entries will make it into the catalog. We will provide a supplemental list at the sale for late entries that do not make the catalog.

Thanks!

[mlwinter]

Roguelet,

I think your idea of having them mixed in and going by the mares name is a good idea. Most people are there early like you said, and stay all day anyway because the sale is not 1000 horse in one day. But this year's consignment numbers might surprise you. Have both mixed together gives people time to check out other horses between some they might not be interested in. I think it would be benificial for everyone. If you had enough horses you could have three or four different sessions with the TB's and Quarters mixed together.

Just my opinion though. I know I will be looking at the Quarter Horses as well as the Thoroughbreds.

I tried sending you a PM with our mailing address but it gave me an error. Can you send us some consignment contracts? Thanks,

[Roguelet]

The PM came through, even though you got an error message. I double checked, and you are already on the mailing list for consignment contracts, so as soon as the printer gets them ready to go, you should be getting yours in the mail.