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The BHA is to conduct a review into bloodstock sales amid ‘ethical concerns’.
I’m no expert but I’d reckon a newbie walking into that environment with a few million quid in his/her pocket and no expert on-side would be like a zebra walking into a pride of lions.
Article here
The RP article could reasonably have been expected to mention, as an example, the Sherwood/Webber collusion, when Exterior Profiles Ltd were buying their first horse.
Is there any part of being a racing owner where you can reasonably expect you won’t get ripped off? No wonder the number of owners is falling. Racing seems to be a closed shop as far as this is concerned, if a prospective owner is ripped off by an agent or a trainer who do they turn to? In the Webber case it went to court but how many owners don’t go through the hassle and take their money elsewhere?
More on this in an article by Lee Mottershead in the RP – sounds like something is well and truly rotten in the state of Denmark
Strong piece in the RP this evening (link in Corm’s post) building on the announcement of the BHA review and indicating the extent of malpractice in buying/selling @ TB auctions. Fraud, bidding up and ‘buy-backs’, ‘luck money’ plus widespread intimidation/bullying are all to the fore. Interesting that some are now prepared to ‘go public’ over this.
A swift perusal suggests that luck money is common in agricultural auctions (sheep, cattle etc.) but it’s a small amount of money.
http://farmingforum.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?15090-Luck-money
5% (the figure quoted in the RP) on the price of a yearling at Tatts Book 1 & 2 is not small beer. For some smaller vendors this will be their profit margin.
Interesting that the RP article includes reference to Sotheby’s. Whilst TBs are livestock, the art market is probably what more potential owners would have in mind as the closer parallel, rather than a sheep and cattle market. Issues of provenance are well to the fore in buying and selling art; potential buyers need to be assured that what they’re bidding for is what it purports to be. I’m slightly surprised that this hasn’t cropped up so far in discussion around the BHA review but – as with all pedigree animals – with TBs trust is the only thing that connects the pedigree with the animal that is being sold, or the X-rays with the animal being sold.
Short of a wholesale clean-up, I can’t see how what is now being openly spoken about is going to attract new owners into racehorse ownership.
It would appear that Shill Bidding is, if not quite accepted, then a tolerated practice. My limited understanding is that it’s illegal under British Law
The age-old practice of a few quid Luck Money being given at farmers’ markets is innocent enough and quite sweet. A shake of hands and a smiling ‘here, fill up the tank’ is the equivalent in the street-corner motor trade.
Both would seem to bear little resemblance to the percentage ‘payback’ being insisted upon at horse sales.
Hidden Reserves are okay in my book. It’s the only reserve system Ebay allow; though it cannot be changed when set, and I’ve used it myself when selling
Who’d’ve thunk it?
All those whispering billionaire industrialists, financiers and foreign royalty gazing down on the finest thoroughbreds whose bloodlines go back centuries … surely a scene for a Stubbs painting? Well, no, actually, it seems that an episode of My Big Fat Gypsy Horse Dealer would be much more appropriate.
an episode of My Big Fat Gypsy Horse Dealer would be much more appropriate.
I recommend a visit to Appleby Horse Fair, held annually in early June, if you want to witness a world and people that most would have thought had ceased to exist around the time the Lee Family and Peaky Blinders were cutting each other up. Genuine gypsy horse trading and street racing amidst a suitably drunken and violent atmosphere
Having also once spent a day at Doncaster Bloodstock Sales, I found the nudge-nudge wink-wink closeted, cliquey atmosphere rather less appealing than that at Appleby
Mind you it got off to a bad start: no sooner had I walked in than I witnessed Charlie Mann wearing pink corduroys, which is sufficient to ruin anyone’s day
A thirteen year old article where a judge is pretty scathing when he hears what had been happening in a trade involving leading agent Charlie Gordon Watson and trainer David Elsworth.
A taster –
Judge Dean: So he [Elsworth] was getting another £10,000 on top of that, was he?
McCormick: I think it is slightly more, but that sort of order, yes. There is no doubt he was taking commission from both parties.
Judge Dean: That is illegal, it is quite illegal.
Rest of article here
Absolutely delighted that this is coming out; never thought I’d see the day, such are the snouts in the trough. I got hassle myself at the sales from a purchaser who believed (wrongly) that I owned the horse they had bought. I was harangued for a considerable time (it was a well known trainer), while they accused me of being the vendor, and refused to believe that I was only leading it up. They kept telling me that the horse wouldn’t have made as much if they hadn’t been bidding on it, and wanted to know what I was going to give them. To be honest, although unpleasant, I didn’t really give a toss, and can laugh about it, but I know people who sell on a regular basis and have a string of undesirables telling them that they will buy their animal if they give them a kick back (‘luck’ is euphemism really: nobody minds giving a buyer a small few quid as a gesture/tradition). Apart from the financial aspect, it’s added stress, and they lead people to believe that they can ruin their sale. You need a thick skin, and that can be hard when you have a potential money spinner (in a fickle game, it may not happen every year). Another aspect not mentioned in the article is the cynical bidding up to top lot of horses in order to promote a young stallion. You only have to look at the buyers of certain stock to see what is happening. The price tags are then used as part of the advertising for that stallion. I could go on, but really they need to spread the net wider than the UK sales, and I really hope that they do.
Appleby sounds considerably more honourable the more I hear of what happens at these bloodstock sales. Drone’s Peaky Blinders reference seems more appropriate for the big sales than for Appleby – quite a few thugs around by the sound of it threatening all sorts.
A few hidden cameras and mics would probably do more the flush out the stables than the BHA can manage although their intervention is welcome.
The whole caper would make a classic Panorama/Cook Report.
Thoroughly agree Joe – a strong investigative documentary on the bloodstock market, out of the same drawer as the Pedigree Dogs Exposed programme (mentioned on the NH Breeding thread), would possibly have more bite (and ultimate effect) than the BHA review, welcome though this is. Would love to see that happen. Opening scene – a Stubbs painting – Sotheby’s – Royal Ascot – cut to Tatts/Goffs …
To add to the cast of ‘characters’ previous posts have highlighted (agents, trainers), there are also the ‘pinhookers’ – these are those who speculate on the value of TB young stock. They buy low (mainly at the foal sales and/or at the cheaper end of the yearling market) and aim to sell high (as yearlings, or at the ‘breeze-up’ sales). On just the one day at Tatts Book 2 this week that I looked at, and working off TDN reporting, 36% of the lots offered for sale that day were in the ‘pinhook’ category. The RP Bloodstock pages repeatedly trumpet successful pinhooks, highlighting the money that is to be made in this part of the market – & in some cases the return is colossal. Unsurprisingly, they say nothing about how that money is made in the auction. From what has emerged over this past week, it’s perhaps possible to hazard a guess.
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