Pre-purchase preparation is the key to finding the racehorse that will make each owner’s dreams come true.  Extensive research, consultation with industry experts, understanding price points, and exercising discipline in applying the guidelines set all significantly increase the chances of success at the sales.  Below we explore pre-purchase preparation in more detail.

Recognizing the Hype

Staying disciplined during the research process is sometimes as difficult as staying disciplined in the bidding arena or when negotiating a private purchase.  The hype is tremendous prior to the sales.  Many promoters and agents will have a hot new sire or sires they are promoting.  These horses will always have a stunning appearance, a dynamite race record, and generally, they will be completely unproven as sires.  Many times, the offspring from these sires will sell at the sales for significantly more than the offspring of sires who have proven time and time again to produce talented and durable sons and daughters.  Horse racing is not unlike many other high-profile industries.  The new kid on the block gets all the attention, while Joe Steady goes by with little more than a few acknowledgements.  Honor Roll Racing does extensive research prior to beginning to make a list of prospects.  A list of sires is compiled each spring that will be most seriously considered.  This list does not include unproven sires.

Establishing and Understanding Key Price Points

You have probably read or heard about multiple colts and fillies that sold for $500,000 or a million dollars or more at one of the spring sales.  We believe there are two general classes of sires that produce these high priced individuals.

One class is the high stud fee group.  This is the group of sires whose stud fee itself commands an exceptionally high sales price for any good looking individual.  For example, Storm Cat’s stud fee is $350,000.  The average selling price for his two year-olds is $358,000 (Jan. 2006), but many go for much more than that.  Storm Cat’s offspring have done well racing in general and some have gone on to be successful sires themselves, but many have not made $358,000 and have not gone on to be sires of winners.

The second class is the hyped new second or third crop sire group.  Stud fees in this group may only be in the $15,000 to $50,000 price range, but sale prices are often multiple times the stud fee.  For example, there are currently several highly touted freshman sires that stand for $20,000.  Two year-olds by these sires sold at auction this spring for an average sale price of better than $150,000 with more than 40 sold.  As with Storm Cat, this is an average and several sold for much more than this.  One of these high purchase price producing sires doesn't have a son or daughter that has made more than $60,000.  These freshman sires may turn out to be top notch sires, but then again, they may not.  There isn't enough empirical data to-date to suggest that buyers will make a profit racing the progeny of these sires.

It is our opinion that in both of these classes, offspring that appear to have potential with complementary pedigrees sell for tremendously big numbers that are hard to justify from a cost/benefit standpoint, and offspring that appear to have problems sell for more than can be justified because of the big name sires.

The risk to the member increases substantially when the initial investment is this high.  We believe that, although buying horses in one or both of these classes may nominally improve your chances to win stakes races, the small improvement in odds does not justify the significant increase in risk.

Creating the Prospective List

So the obvious question is what sort of sire and horse is Honor Roll Racing looking to purchase.

Honor Roll Racing is looking to buy solid, talented two year-olds from some of the top proven statistical sires.  Not the sires who covered the most mares, but sires with the largest percentage of foals making it to the racetrack, with the highest average and median earnings per runner (having what we consider to be a justifiable average and median sale price), and with proven ability to produce stakes winners.

Because these sires have generally been around for quite some time, they don’t receive the publicity and fanfare of the new hot sires, and because they have reasonable stud fees, good and sometimes exceptional looking two year-olds from these sires can be acquired for between $40,000 and $65,000.  These individuals turn out to be solid performers in many instances, and, under the right conditions, can become stakes quality athletes.  Honor Roll Racing takes the list of sires it feels fit into this category, along with a number of other criterion, to create the initial list of potential purchases from reviews of stock in sales catalogs and from available private offerings.

Here is a bit of history to back up our position.  Since 1989, the Keeneland sales alone have produced 16 winners of either the Kentucky Derby or of a Breeders Cup Race that sold for less than $40,000.  Moderately priced horses can and do win the most prestigious stakes races.  Here are some of the names and numbers.

Getting Hands On 

Once a list of potential purchases has been created using the initial research process, it’s time to get a good look at the horses.  Kentucky breeding farms that show privately and Florida and Kentucky yearling and two year-old sales in September, April, and May are the most likely purchase locations, but purchases may be made elsewhere.  

Creating the Short List

Members of the Honor Roll Racing team will travel to the sales several days in advance of the actual auction to examine and rate prospective horses.  Horses will be examined and evaluated by a selection team experienced in picking quality athletes at the sales.  Equine athletes that do not meet the criteria set forth ahead of time will be dropped from the initial list.  Individuals remaining on the list will be graded and ordered.  That ordered list becomes the list used for bidding.  Strength of bidding and order of sale at the auction will ultimately determine which individuals, if any, are purchased at a particular sale.

Post Purchase

After purchase, team horses will typically be sent to Kentucky, South Carolina, or Arizona to begin race preparation.  The first step is to evaluate their overall level of fitness and mental readiness for trackside training.  Their mental and physical condition will determine when they go to the track for speed and race training.  See the “Training Program” section on “The Honor Roll Racing Advantage” page for specific details on post-purchase race preparation for two year-olds.