Keep The Old Girls At Home

Thinking back over the round of broodmare sales we had this autumn, I’m moved to make a plea to the auction houses – Inglis and Magic Millions – to bar entry to their sales of mares 20 years of age and older.

It’s not a big problem as such, but I just don't think it's a good look. Out of the many hundreds of broodmares which went through the ring this year, at major sales, there were only four 20+ mares. They made $6,500, $1,400, $500 and no bid with a $3,000 reserve. Convert This Price!Gerry Harvey nearly got in on the act, he accepted $5,000 for Donna Iris but she was only a juvenile 19. But what is it with the owners of these mares that they need money so desperately? As with humans in enlightened societies, we should take responsibility to care for our aged and infirm. (I hope my sons are reading this – I’m nearly 60). I feel we should have some minimum standards.

Give these old girls a decent home until the end of their days, or find a less publicly ignominious method of moving them on (the ignominy applies to the vendor, not the mare). Don’t reward them for their lifetime of effort with the stress and strain of going to market for what is usually just a pittance, playing Russian roulette with the dogger.

Ironically, the sales companies rip commission off the sale of these mares but not off Milanova and Divine Madonna! Go figure.

As the gap between commercially useful mares and ‘the others’ widens, the dogger is again becoming a fixture at sales.

At least 143 thoroughbreds sold at auction for $300 or less during the autumn/winter this year. I’m not suggesting all of them went to the dogger, they didn’t. But if you use $1,000 as a cut-off, the number not exceeding that price point is prodigious.

Several breeders were most upset to witness about 15 hapless mares being unceremoniously herded onto the back of a cattle truck and driven away, right in the middle of the Magic Millions complex, at the June sale. Doubtless the same might happen at Inglis, but we are spared the spectacle as their loading ramps are a little more discreetly situated.

In other news from the broodmare sales, I hear Arrowfield, Coolmore, Darley, Oaklands, Widden and Vinery – and even Bridgeview – have registered a whole bunch of variously named shelf companies to avoid being shunted off Day 1 at Magic Millions in future. They will pick a company name to sell under depending what the all-important starting letter is. Stunt Consultants Pty Ltd will have some opposition.