There are two kinds of purchase options on the good 'ole sales page and it seems to me like we are getting a lot more of one than we should.
When I sell a horse, I have need of a stall or I feel that the horse doesn't fit into my plans anymore for whatever reason. Most of the time, almost always in fact, I sell the horse as a BUY NOW.
In some cases, because I don't want to quibble over a few thousand dollars, I'll sell the horse quickly and painlessly as a BUY NOW for a modest amount. Stowaway is an example. I sold this nice horse to Plugger Racing for $7500. Obviously, an excellent buy for Mr. Kayll as the sprinter has pulled in approximately $400,000 in winnings since then.
In the other cases, I sell the horse as a BUY NOW at a blowout price because I feel the horse is not worth owning. Even though I may feel that way about a particular horse, there appears to be an ass for every saddle. People do buy donkey's every day.
Which more or less brings me to the point of this article.
Why are so many owners using the AUCTION function for horses that should obviously (in my mind) be sold as BUY NOW?
Umstellan up for auction? Seriously? The only thing more incredible than that is the fact that there is currently a $35,000 bid. In fairness, he's probably immature and shouldn't even have raced as a 2yo, but he comes in last place every time he races so his upside is probably limited. I'm sure Rainbow doesn't need the cash so this horse should be a BUY NOW for $5000.
Secret Son up for auction? Quick! Where's my checkbook? A career record of 15-0-0-0 without a hope and HHH actually expects owners to bid on this horse? I'd try BUY NOW for $1 and hope someone is feeling generous.
There are horses that may deserve to be bid on. Anubis is a good example. He's fast and has a potentially long career. In GR3 or less races, he can be a consistent money winner. If the owner is willing to fiddle around with the AUCTION for a few more bucks, more power to him.
When I sell a horse, I have need of a stall or I feel that the horse doesn't fit into my plans anymore for whatever reason. Most of the time, almost always in fact, I sell the horse as a BUY NOW.
In some cases, because I don't want to quibble over a few thousand dollars, I'll sell the horse quickly and painlessly as a BUY NOW for a modest amount. Stowaway is an example. I sold this nice horse to Plugger Racing for $7500. Obviously, an excellent buy for Mr. Kayll as the sprinter has pulled in approximately $400,000 in winnings since then.
In the other cases, I sell the horse as a BUY NOW at a blowout price because I feel the horse is not worth owning. Even though I may feel that way about a particular horse, there appears to be an ass for every saddle. People do buy donkey's every day.
Which more or less brings me to the point of this article.
Why are so many owners using the AUCTION function for horses that should obviously (in my mind) be sold as BUY NOW?
Umstellan up for auction? Seriously? The only thing more incredible than that is the fact that there is currently a $35,000 bid. In fairness, he's probably immature and shouldn't even have raced as a 2yo, but he comes in last place every time he races so his upside is probably limited. I'm sure Rainbow doesn't need the cash so this horse should be a BUY NOW for $5000.
Secret Son up for auction? Quick! Where's my checkbook? A career record of 15-0-0-0 without a hope and HHH actually expects owners to bid on this horse? I'd try BUY NOW for $1 and hope someone is feeling generous.
There are horses that may deserve to be bid on. Anubis is a good example. He's fast and has a potentially long career. In GR3 or less races, he can be a consistent money winner. If the owner is willing to fiddle around with the AUCTION for a few more bucks, more power to him.
6 comments:
one again your 100% correct jim. i cant believe HHH would bid 35k on umstellan. what gets me is not often a 1/2 decent young horse gets put up for sale so when i decided too sell a 3yr old with a record of 10-4-1-2 $302,000 i thought well he should at least fetch between 350k and 400k considering he has plenty of upside has a nice AR and is a group 2 winner as a 2yr old and won up too a 8f i thought there would be a fair bot of action. well i was wrong in 1 week too say bidding was light is an understatment i put what i think was a fair reserve of 225k he reached 175k. now this is a horse who almost beat BC JUVI AND JAPAN CUP DIRT WINNER KRAZY SHIEKH AS A 2YR OLD it took KS too run a TR to beat him.is it because he is mine am i biased? but when you see people pay upwards of 100k on a horse who is a plodder and people even think of spending 35k on umstellen it just makes me think thats why alot of stables struggle. well i guess he will just race in my silks and he will win races for the next 2-3 seasons he has already finished a 2 length 3rd in a grp 3 this season.
steven
I was gonna mention Emergency in this article Steven, but never got to it. You're right, it's very rare when a nice racer with some potential is available.
4th Alarm's bid of $175,000 wasn't too far off your reserve. Maybe people didn't bid more because he doesn't have eye-popping PSR's? But he has a nose for the wire (4 wins in 10 starts) and that's worth as much as the raw speed if you ask me.
Nova was as fast a filly as you could find, but managed only 9 wins in her career.
Good luck with him. Hopefully, he'll make people say, "Dang, I coulda had that horse!".
yeah your right about the psr's his average is only just on 80.4 but he has hit 100 as a 2yr old which shows he can pull high numbers.i think what turned people off is that he is a dirt sprinter(dont think he is a miler) he fell in over a mile as a 2yr old and lead all the way but got over-run by stringer horses last start. but i still think he will still have a very sound career his ar states that entire career peak so ill just potter him around the grp 3/2 sprint circuit and try and rack up the wins. by the way a very nice win with arctic fox i remember her from when she use to race my filly policromia in the 3yr filly classics she was just a shade of her back then but looks to of matured nicely and seen as you bought her for a breeder she might just rack up quite a few wins if that was anything to go by she might stave of retirement for a season? good luck with her
Totally agree. And then when you try to sell a decent horse - like Steven - you can't give them away. For some reason people want to gamble that a horse with no successful history will suddenly turn around - when a perfectly good G2/G3 horse would earn back ten times the asking price.
OMG. Groomsman, a 6yo journeyman sprinter, not only up for auction, BUT WITH A RESERVE? LOL. Kidding, right? This horse has won just $150,000 in 38 CAREER races. I can only shrug my shoulders, scratch my head, and roll my eyes on this one.
I think one reason is that a Buy It Now horse will sit on the system FOREVER if nobody buys it, where as an Auction horse with a set deadline if unsold will go automatically to EV with no further action on the owner's part.
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