Even in a bull market – and the recent NZ yearling sales at Karaka couldn’t be described any other way – there are winners and losers.
The sale featured numerous pinhooks. I identified 52 bought at public auction which went through the ring at the Premier Session.
Over half of them either made a clear loss or weren’t able to be sold on the day at the values placed on them.
While no loss is ever welcome, the losses were relatively restrained compared with many of the profits which in some cases were quite spectacular (but nothing rivaling Green Monkey).
I’ve crunched some numbers, calculating the cost of each weanling in NZ dollars, adding on an ultra-conservative figure for transport and keep costs, and calculating the sale proceeds net of commission.
Possibly the only significant costs not factored in are insurance and the cost of money which, if they were, would certainly wipe out the notional profits shown by three of the 21 which finished in the black.
Here’s how the Premier pinhooks fared:
Sold at a clear profit: 21
Sold at a clear loss: 14
Sold at break-even: 3
Passed in: 14
Here are the biggest profits by dollars, based on my method. All amounts hereafter are in New Zealand dollars:
Lot 41 Flying Spur-Chicago Wonder c (Ascot) + $483,200.
Lot 64 Fastnet Rock-Custodial c (Curraghmore) + $190,000.
Lot 403 Danehill Dancer-Taravain f (Wellfield) + $177,800.
Lot 407 Encosta de Lago-That Kind Of Girl c (Ascot) + $162,200.
Lot 200 Cape Cross-Khun Achara f (Haunui) + $129,000.
Lot 344 Charge Forward-Sensuous c (Hallmark) + $124,600.
Lot 435 Red Ransom-Tully Tango f (Haunui) + $122,600.
There were two lots whose profits were between $50,000 - $100,000.
The biggest returns on investments (reiterating that finance costs and insurance are not factored in):
Lot 403 Danehill Dancer-Taravain f (Wellfield) – 416%
Lot 41 Flying Spur-Chicago Wonder c (Ascot) – 271%
Lot 275 Cape Cross-Noble Air c (Ascot) – 260%
Lot 64 Fastnet Rock-Custodial c (Curraghmore) – 252%
Lot 344 Charge Forward-Sensuous c (Hallmark) – 236%
Lot 200 Cape Cross-Khun Achara f (Haunui) – 204%
Lot 435 Red Ransom-Tully Tango f (Haunui) – 183%
Lot 407 Encosta de Lago-That Kind Of Girl c (Ascot) – 182%
What of the losers? The yearlings sold which represented the biggest cash losses were:
Lot 212 Iglesia-Lady Min c (O’Hara) $89,080 loss
Lot 404 General Nediym-Tatham c (Tamgaly) $47,600 loss
Lot 84 Redoute’s Choice-Donna Dior f (Phoenix) $42,200 loss
(I fancy lot 84 might have been a buy-back, a yearling which cost about $530,000 to put into the ring).
The costliest yearlings passed in on the day were:
Lot 20 Rock Of Gibraltar-Bobsleigh c (Esker) – owed $338,000, reserve $500,000.
Lot 448 Elvstroem-Way Cool c (Chesterfields) – owed $148,000, reserve $180,000.
Lot 287 Footstepsinthesand-Passing Hope c (Fairdale) - owed $144,000, reserve $150,000.
Lot 221 Encosta de Lago-La Veine c (Trelawney) – owed $125,000, reserve $200,000.
Lot 397 Exceed And Excel-Swinburn f (Soliloquy) – owed $97,000, reserve $100,000.
The fact that the reserves were set, for the most part, realistically suggests these vendors paid yearling prices as weanlings, given conformation and other market factors.
Bruce and Maureen Harvey’s Ascot Farm have long been the darlings of the pinhook market. Their draft was much smaller than usual this year. Four of the five yearlings they presented were pinhooks and whilst I’m not certain they owned them all outright, the quartet produced a cool net profit in excess of $700,000. Not Green Monkey territory, but enough to make us green with envy.
It’s a matter of wonderment that almost every year they pick the right ones (not afraid to pay for quality has a lot to do with it) then mesmerize the buyers with their preparation and presentation skills. We just love giving them money and I’m as guilty as anyone as I was involved behind the scenes in the purchase last year of their Lonhro-Palme d’Or colt for an outrageous $1,050,000.
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