The sale wasn't too successful from our point of view - $20k for a Jeremes Jet colt (easily the best colt we've bred - I'm confident he'll make it on the track) and $9k for an Art Major filly (who had a few conformation flaws).
It seems the best recipe for success this year was to have a monstrous Art Major colt. The $100k colt was one of the biggest yearlings I've ever seen. If he continues growing at that rate, he'll be over 18hh by the time he's done.
If I was buying a yearling, I think I would have had a great time. There were a few yearling I liked a lot that didn't bring top dollar - and some of the high-priced ones I didn't like at all. To me, it felt like a lot of the top-end buyers were 'trend' driven (paying big money for one because it was popular), rather than doing their own homework.
I spoke to a top trainer (very high-profile) who told me he bought one on Friday night because it had a white snip on its nose!!! I guess that's why he has never developed a good young horse in his life. I still find it pretty amazing that one newcomer to the owning ranks has chosen him as his trainer. Talk about a recipe for failure. But that's what we're dealing with sometimes.
I'm just glad we weren't breeders who paid top dollar for a Christian Culllen service when these yearlings were bred. I'm not 100% sure but I reckon his fee may have been $25k that year ... and some of his yearlings struggled past $10k. Now that's painful.
I do believe we pay too much for stud fees - greedy stallion owners cashing in while they can. I guess it's all about demand, though ... and plenty of breeders are willing to pay $15k to go to Art Major this season - even though a lot of his yearlings will struggle to fetch that at a yearling sale in a couple of years.
If you go through a yearling catalogue and compare the average sales price with the average earnings of the entries, it doesn't take long to realise there are plenty of buyers who have no chance of a return.
It's a tough game ... and very few have a recipe for success.