Bloodstock industry at a crossroads, with danger lurking ahead

‘It’s been a disaster,” was the opinion of one of the leading racehorse sellers after the first bloodstock sale since the lockdown took place in Newmarket last week. And the numbers would appear to bear him out.

This sale was the last-chance saloon as far as these horses being a tradable commodity were concerned. To the outside world, horse racing may look like a playground where billionaires find out whose pet can run the fastest. And that is a very visible part of the sport. But if you look under the bonnet, you will see thousands of people creating tens of thousands of jobs producing, training, buying and selling bloodstock.

The sale catalogued 154 twoyear-olds who were “oven ready” for the racecourse. Their “consignors” will not only have spent significant time and money training them, but also borrowed heavily against their assets to acquire them in the first place.

The auctioneers, who have ridden the hog’s back of a bull market for the past 20 years, have always been quick to trumpet their sales returns.

But they were not so quick to circulate the stats last week.

Seventy horses were withdrawn, unwilling to face the reality of the sales ring. Of those who did try their luck, 14 were not sold, while the turnover of those that did was down 36 per cent, the average was down 22 per cent and, more importantly, the median was down 28 per cent. Figures which the chairman of the auction house bizarrely described as “pleasing”. I will have whatever he is smoking.

One man’s loss, however, is another man’s opportunity. And there is no doubt that Irish and English breeders will always produce the most resilient bloodstock in the world. Horses bred to run in Flat races will also continue to be a commodity that has international value. So, as long as these horsemen and women have the liquidity to get over this hiatus, they will have a worldwide market again in the future when the ship rights itself.

Whether the same can be said of the market for jump-racing stock is another matter.

The only countries in the world where jump racing is really significant are Britain, Ireland and France. And the French do not buy many British or Irish-bred horses.

So, the sale at Doncaster on July 28-29 is going to be the first key indicator as to the health of the jump-racing breeding and trading industries in both of those countries.

The horses will be a mixture of untried babies and experienced performers. Some will be sold as part of an annual cycle; others will be on the market as a result of their owners cutting back. But one wonders who will be buying, for two principle reasons?

First, people who would normally buy horses with their earned income may well be seeing the profits of their companies slashed, or their bonus canned. So, something has to go.

Secondly, will those who can actually afford to buy horses be worried by the perception of doing so when so many people are losing their jobs? Which of these is the most significant threat, goodness only knows.

There is, of course, a massive irony here; those that can afford to should buy more horses, not fewer, to preserve employment and give the economy a boost at this difficult time.

Meanwhile, racing authorities are struggling with the practicalities and perception – that annoying word again – of getting the horses’ owners back on to the racecourses.

After all, without the people who pay the bills to feed and train the horses, there is no sport/industry – call it what you will.

This endeavour, however, is fraught with risk. As long as racing is conducted behind closed doors, there is a bigger chance that it could continue to do so even if the virus infection rates were to flare up again.

But maintaining the exclusion risks owners thinking: “Sod this for a game of soldiers … what’s the point in paying the trainers’ bills if we can’t go and watch … let’s go to Tuscany and blow our budget on a villa with a swimming pool.”