Quaterhorse Yearling Auction- Gauging interest

[Bryan Doolittle]

I am considering auctioning off 7 QH yearlings (10% of the total yearling population) which all received the "nice gallop- hard to tell" comment.

I'm just not sure how much interest there is in auctions, let alone QH yearlings so let me know!

[Paul Sellers]

I would be VERY interested.

I am always interested in unworked QHs.

[Abe Froman]

R u talking forum auction, player auction?

[Regina Moore]

If they're out of crappy mares, then I wouldn't be interested.

If they're out of winning/stakes-placed mares, then I'd definitely be interested but probably unable to afford them.

[Scott Eiland]

Bryan I might jump in just to have something to do on wednesdays.

Never underestimate the power of expected boredom.

[Bryan Doolittle]

Unfortunately there are only 3 stakes winning QH mares that are retired and I don't own any of them. Some of the mares are CAH's that I bought strictly for breeding, others had some place/shows in races.

[John Hannibal Smith]

The quarterpounders are nearly impossible to put a price on. I know that my mare that ran four times and only broke her maiden and banged out three checks isn't really worth much, but then you look around at the other 'dams', and 95% of the others can't even claim to have gotten the checks, much less the maiden win.

I sold all but two of my quarter horses partly for that exact reason - it's tough to try and build a cache of either runners or breeding stock when an 0 fer 8 maiden mare commands $25,000.

I kept my winning mare and her yearling foal, a filly by Corona Cartel, simply because when I saw the other yearlings, I had one of the only ones out of a winning mare, and I believe THE only Corona Cartel yearling out of a winner.

But what is the foal really worth?

I'm not sure if its worth $20,000 or $200,000.

I know that sounds idiotic, but it should be worth a lot closer to the $20,000, but relative to all of the others in her crop, that would make all of the other worth about $2,000 if the mare has anything at all to do with appeal and talent.

I'm just kind of rambling here, not really saying much other than trying to get a line on whether or not folks kind of feel the same way.

Don't you feel a little odd breeding a terrible mare to a $15,000 stallion and then having to justify that the foal is worth more than the stud fee?

I know it isn't the fault of anyone; there are only a minimal number of mares to choose from and I began doing the same thing. I claimed a cheapo mare that was worth about $45.50 tops for $15,000 or some ridiculous number simply to breed her and then wondered how in the heck I could ever justify (as a buyer) paying a dollar more than the stud fee. I had an even harder time justifying marking the foal for sale for such a price.

And so I took what I could get for the mare and foal (and a few older allowance/stakes geldings) and mostly bowed out, figuring it would be wiser to simply wait until I had a massive bankroll and try to buy a few young fillies that had a bit of upside and hope they would become "top 5%" quality mares (won a race or two).

END OF ESSAY... Michelob Mafia better be one rapid filly... chuckle... I want to be a QH superchamp.

[Landon Alexander]

Well, the foals by stakes winning mares will probably be going for close to a $1 million (i.e. Jarrod's yearling filly by Dbacks, out of To Cute Four You) I would assume since the QH's have the potential (like the standardbreds) to earn that much in purse money.

Bryan, I would be interested.

Oh, and Jarrod, I sent two of my mares back to Dbacks since I liked their 1st foals so much... And I love Dbacks' headshot (I'm partial to buckskins)!

[Regina Moore]

The quarterpounders are nearly impossible to put a price on.

I think this is true of all the mixed breeds. They are such a young market.

only broke her maiden and banged out three checks

I think this would be decent accomplishment for a TB mare, and a major accomplishment for a mixed breed mare. I wouldn't apologize for a winner.

i

t's tough to try and build a cache of either runners or breeding stock when an 0 fer 8 maiden mare commands $25,000.

They might be *asking* that price, but I'm not sure any are really selling. I keep a pretty close eye on the mixed breed lists, and I don't see poorly performing horses moving very well. But then, I also don't check back to see what happened when they're no longer on the list -- ie, if they finally got sold or the seller gave up.

I think the mixed breed market has settled down quite a bit, compared to when I came along the last third of Year 23. I don't see so much of the outlandish asking prices for poor performers that I used to.

But what is the foal really worth?

In theory difficult to say, but the hard reality is always what a buyer is willing to pay and a seller willing to accept.

Don't you feel a little odd breeding a terrible mare to a $15,000 stallion and then having to justify that the foal is worth more than the stud fee?

I haven't been around long enough to breed much, but I'd like to think that I'll never practice the "any open womb will do" theory of breeding.

it would be wiser to simply wait until I had a massive bankroll and try to buy a few young fillies that had a bit of upside

Two thoughts here:

1. I always keep my eyes open. It's amazing how, every once in a while, something comes along that has a good record *and* is affordable and you happen to see it before anyone else.

The one mixed breed mare I feel I paid a premium for was a minor stakes winner. She started out at an asking price of 50k and there weren't any takers. I waited until she dropped to 30k, and even though I felt I was probably overpaying a bit, I decided to take her before anyone else did.

2. If you can afford the real money, I'm a big believer in creating mixed breed horses. That way, they never take any money out of your SIM balance. You probably have a better chance of lucking into a good horse, or an okay horse, than trying to buy something that has 50% proven lousy racing genes.

The one drawback I see to CAH is that it's the same studs being used. Because the mixed breed gene pool is so small, I can see a situation a couple of generations down the line where, eg, it will be almost impossible to find a QH horse wtihout Cutting Corners blood. In my case, if I luck out with a nice stud and an okay mare, I won't be able to breed them to each other because they'll both be by Cutting Corners.

I would like to buy from other breeders to both support the SIM breeders and to diversify my bloodlines. But while I'd risk a few thousand on a youngster by a good stallion out of a lousy race mare, in the hope that the stallion genes dominate, I'm not going to spend any more than that. Instead (assuming I can't afford proven quality stock), I'd just stick with CAH to keep providing my stable with youngsters, and deal with the inbreeding situation as best I could.

This was an interesting post. As a newbie, I love the mixed breeds, because when I came along in week 11 of last year, I was only 2/3 of a year behind everyone else. With TBs, I accept that it'll be quite a few game years before I'm likely to have any kind of impact on the racing scene. With the mixed breeds, and especially CAH, it's pretty close to a level playing field and I have as good a shot as anyone with lucking into a star performer.

Plus, the mixed breeds are just plain interesting, diverse, and fun. (And frustrating at times with the market polarities.)

[John Hannibal Smith]

...only broke her maiden and banged out three checks

I think this would be decent accomplishment for a TB mare, and a major accomplishment for a mixed breed mare. I wouldn't apologize for a winner.

I hope I didn't * up all of the quoting, but...

How much would you expect to get at auction for a 4yo. filly by Blaze The Green that ran four times, broke her maiden in a $15,000 MCL, and previously managed a third and fourth against maidens, and then subsequently a fifth in a five horse field in her lone start against winners?

How much would you expect to get for the exact same thing, but substitute "Cutting Corners" for "Blaze The Green"?

Maybe my perspective is skewered some, but I'd guess I'd be lucky to get much more than a thanks from Alexandra Jaysman for the thoroughbred, whereas I suspect someone would give me
tens of thousands for the quarter horse version.

Cripes, the maiden plug that I claimed and ran once before retiring with a 6-0-0-0 record (or something similar) was sold in hours for $7,500 on the sales page... I'm very skeptical that any TB mare with those credentials would have even found a new home...

My point wasn't to minimize the grand accomplishment of winning a race, but to point out the vast difference in what the two breeds command for 'similarly' accomplished stock. I understand the "why's" of the mechanics behind that disparity; my issue is one of 'breeding to sell', as I had intended to some degree as a goal, is at this point an exercise in self-loathing unless you actually possess the small sample of high-end mares that can justify a sale price on a foal that exceeds the investment of breeding that foal.

But then again, I could be wrong, like usual...

[John Hannibal Smith]

Crudd, I meant to quote the part about liking the mixed breeds as a newbie because you feel at a bit more close to a level playing field... I'm not fighting that HTML war again...

I completely agree... I haven't been here a whole lot longer than (I believe) you have been here, and that was one of the main reasons that I jumped in that pool. Unfortunately, I've never liked appy's and paints unless they are leading quarter horses or thoroughbreds to the gate (oh, sorry someone), so I really only wanted the short necks and maybe some jiggy joggers...

It seemed real clear to me pretty early on that I actually wasn't much better off in this realm; the only thing that may have given me a bit of a lift was the fact that big money hadn't conquered the division yet, but only because they just weren't all that interest. Unless you are using CAH and breeding 100 Cutting Corners to find the 4 or 5 that can run a bit, you pretty much needed to have the money to be able to make an ungodly offer to someone that had those 4 or 5 that can run in order to build a stable of runners quickly. Emphasis on quickly; I'm a tad impatient and thus, not terribly interested in slow and steady, which is an approach that could work for someone like me.

Instead, I decided the spot for a newbie looking to build a decent roster of males, females, old and young was in the all-weather department. A guy (or gal) with a limited bank and lofty goals can actually turn the trash of the wealthier into a mini-treasure by spending $25,000 on ten horses and finding a couple that will be competitive when spotted with some care on the poly-circuits.

At least, I hope so.

[Regina Moore]

Unless you are using CAH and breeding 100 Cutting Corners to find the 4 or 5 that can run a bit, you pretty much needed to have the money to be able to make an ungodly offer to someone that had those 4 or 5 that can run in order to build a stable of runners quickly. Emphasis on quickly;

I can see where the impatience could be a problem, LOL. I've only created a male and female of each age group (save an occasional addition), for each breed. I've been extremely fortunate in that I haven't had any duds yet from CAH. Also not any superstars, but some looking to be very good horses (considering most have only run one or two races so far). So, while I've been dependent on CAH, I've also used it sparingly and deliberately, and have been leery of going to the well too often.

But I think I've got a better shot with CAH than with trying to buy something overpriced with a dubious female side.

Anyway, good luck with your All Weather runners.

[Bryan Doolittle]

Well I'm glad I checked before setting an auction up. Seeing as it's easier to give them away then sell them, everyone that already posted/showed interest got a freebie. Good Luck with them!

[Landon Alexander]

Awesome!

[John Hannibal Smith]

My Doolittle bred is going to smoke all your Doolittle breds... Whataguy, eh?!?!?