Interested in Buying for sale: What to think about?

[karenkarenn]

Hello out there,
I am interested in buying a weanling to raise for either a yearling sale or a two year old and training sale.
I have been looking online here and there are over 4,000 weanling for sale. Alot of Catienus, Red Giants, I found an El Corredor, an El Prado mare open, but I have alot of questions that I need to answere before I pursue buying anything.
Is there anyone out there that can help?
Karen

[LB]

To be perfectly honest, the first question you should ask yourself is: how much money can I afford to lose?

Consider this about anyone who points you toward a "money-making" weanling...if they know of such a horse, why wouldn't they buy it themselves and make the money with it?

I believe that poster Walaa bought a couple of weanlings last year to pinhook. You might try contacting her, perhaps she might want to share her experiences with you.

[walaa]

believe that poster Walaa bought a couple of weanlings last year to pinhook. You might try contacting her, perhaps she might want to share her experiences with you. Ha Ha You enjoy gambling do you:) I bought 3. 1 went to heaven, and after the sales I now have 2 race prospects, that I will spend 20-40K next year getting ready to, HOPEFULLY...run Thats the way it goes though, I had fun, just wish they had sold. GET A GOOD CONSIGNOR, mine sucked

[karenkarenn]

Which consignor did you have?
K

[KBEquine]

Which consignor did you have?
K

With all due respect (and I don't know walaa's situation or consignor, so no reflection on either party) . . .

It isn't always the consignor. Sometimes it is the market. Some times it is how the weanling grows (or doesn't grow). Sometimes there are bad x-rays or a weak scope or something that wasn't evident when the horse was a weanling. Or something that happened to the horse after you bought it.

Sometimes what YOU like isn't important to someone else, and sometimes, what you liked when you bought the youngster isn't still 'flavor of the month' with the buyers at sales time. The sire tanked. The dam line didn't breed on.

Sometimes a lot of buyers like your horse (but he goes late enough in the sale that they've already bought their quota) and sometimes one buyer LOVES your horse . . . and would have bid it up, but there was no one to bid against.

Lots of things happen.

Example: We once bought a weanling by a KY sire out of the better 1/2 sister to the dam of a then-current Eclipse finalist. We'd sat through the prior yearling sale & knew the range for this filly should have been 3 to 5 times what we'd paid for her as a weanling - and she was going into the sale the Monday after the Eclipse finalist was running in a G1, so there was a possible plus factor there (turns out he finished 2nd by a nose).

The market dropped the day of the sale & we got a miserably small bid (not much more than we'd paid for her as a weanling - which by my research should have ensured a decent profit margin). We probably should have sold her, but we didn't.

More recently, we also watched a couple no-paper individuals bring more than reasonable (not excellent, but good) money - I'm happy for the sellers, but know those bids were based on emotion, and you just can't count on "emotion" to show up for YOUR sale horse.

So I will echo LB's question - how much can you afford to lose (because if there were a clear line to making money with pinhooking, the big players would be buying the money-making prospects - or keeping them to sell themselves as yearlings or 2 year olds in training.)

If you want to see the vageries of selling, look at the "Action This Day" thread in the sales forum -

http://www.pedigreequery.com/forum/view ... hp?t=29257

On that thread, I expressed the oh-so-sentimental "I hope this Breeder's Cup champion/Eclipse winner lands safely" thought.

But if you want a more practical approach, scroll down further & see where JCBloodstock lists a number of stallion prospects who sold for anywhere from the pass out fee to a decent dollar amount - with no logical reason for most of them hitting either end of the spectrum.

It might not be weanling pinhook prospects. But I think the lesson still applies.

Best of luck & I hope you get good suggestions. Take your best shot - and hope for the best.

[zinn21]

The first horse I ever bought was a short yearling. He was a chestnut by a non winning stallion out of a mare who produced a stakes place filly. I bought him privately for 2k. I pinhooked him as a two year old in training. Did all the work myself. Consigned with a trainer friend and to make a long story sold the horse for 25k after he co worked the fastest quarter of the bunch.

So the advice about how much can you afford to lose is very valid but thought I would share with you that it can be done with a positive financial outcome on occasion.

[karenkarenn]

Its true about what you say that lots of things happen. Some good and some bad. I just like to listen to all that are out there because there are so main different ideas and stories. It helps me to understand.
Karen

[Crystal]

well, you just got 3 really good examples of how this business is feast or famine.. some people always seem to land on their feet because they keep their options open. LB still hit the nail with How much can you afford to lose.
How much can you afford to invest as well? All good questions.

[toadie]

The first horse I ever bought was a short yearling. He was a chestnut by a non winning stallion out of a mare who produced a stakes place filly. I bought him privately for 2k. I pinhooked him as a two year old in training. Did all the work myself. Consigned with a trainer friend and to make a long story sold the horse for 25k after he co worked the fastest quarter of the bunch.

So the advice about how much can you afford to lose is very valid but thought I would share with you that it can be done with a positive financial outcome on occasion.

The key to this happy ending, "Did all the work myself." If you have the facilities and experience you stand a better chance of making a profit. I quit breeding show horses after I was no longer able to start them under saddle myself. When you have to pay someone else to break (or even prep) a young horse your profit margin is slim to none.

[KBEquine]

The first horse I ever bought was a short yearling. He was a chestnut by a non winning stallion out of a mare who produced a stakes place filly. I bought him privately for 2k. I pinhooked him as a two year old in training. Did all the work myself. Consigned with a trainer friend and to make a long story sold the horse for 25k after he co worked the fastest quarter of the bunch.

So the advice about how much can you afford to lose is very valid but thought I would share with you that it can be done with a positive financial outcome on occasion.

The key to this happy ending, "Did all the work myself." If you have the facilities and experience you stand a better chance of making a profit. I quit breeding show horses after I was no longer able to start them under saddle myself. When you have to pay someone else to break (or even prep) a young horse your profit margin is slim to none.

I'd intended to point that out, too. At Hidden Echo Farm, we stand a better chance of making a profit with show horses because we stand the stallion, foal out the mare, raise the foal & show it in-hand, if appropriate, and start it under saddle & get it basic show experience before we ever need to pass it off to another professional - and because we breed for temperament, by that time an amateur is likely to have bought the horse. With racehorses, if they do not sell as yearlings, we need to pay someone younger, smaller, who bounces more easily to get them galloping, so the costs begin to mount & there are no guarantees that an eventual sales price, claim or breeders awards will recoup the amount spent.

[jrctlc]

last year bought a yearling for 1k 5 months later sold for 16k did all the work myself. not always good but that why we take the gamble, i would rather take my chances with them than buy a boat and pay everyother week for repair then sell it for half what i bought it for...lol good luck