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Comments anyone?
Nearside hind anyone, I would not want a horse I have for sale walking like this in a promotional
video. lot 41, you would think they could edit it.
The videos have continued to improve in quality every year, do the owners see the video before
they are put on the website?
No you do not get to see the video untill it's online.
I was not having a shot at the horse, just the video.
I'm actually pretty well placed to comment on this one, as I own lot 41.
I don't have a problem with the video at all ... the colt is just dancing around and on the toe, rather than being head down and stretching out. He actually used to spend most of his time pacing in the paddock.
For what it's worth, he's clearly the best yearling we've ever been associated with - and we've been lucky enough to be involved with some pretty good ones over a long period of time ... buying and selling for fairly big money. He's about as flawless in terms of conformation as any young horse we've bred ... and a couple of big trainers have already had a look at him and said they loved him. I guess you can see whatever you want in a video if you look hard enough.
Hi BenScadden,
Promotional videos and pictures of horses at any age are hard IMO.
Hey Ben
Nice type and you should do well through the ring and sometime's it is hard to get a yearling to do what you want when you want.
Good Luck with that one Ben and anyone else who has one in the sale. Anyone one coming over to PGG sales in February ?
He's a precocious young fella ... very full of himself and thinks he's king of the world ... the chances of him walking in a straight line when the video was shot would have been virtually nil ... he just wants to go all the time. I think that's why he's so athletic ... he would spend so much time on our farm tearing around the paddock at a million miles an hour. I think he should do OK on sale day but only time will tell. He's definitely for sale ... we sell em all, basically ... but I won't be disappointed if we ended up taking him home.
And, Don, yes, I'll be in NZ for the PGG sales ... I try to head across every year. Haven't bought one over there for a while, last one was Sapphire Lil a couple of years back.
Cheers
Small world Ben as I worked a horse out of Lady Lilly Denover, a full sister to Elizabeth Denover. He's out at the moment with a lung ailment.
Strangely enough I was just about to comment in a related thread about what a nice type I thought Ben's colt was & in particular that he had the 'quick feet' the best ones in his immediate family invariably have. The 'quick feet' thing was originally pointed out and explained to me by George Aiken incidentally. I know for a fact George was of the very firm opinion it was something that came down the line from Lumber Dream... and you guessed it, Lot 41 has Adio Annie (by Lumber Dream) as his 3rd dam.
Over the years I've seen a lot of that damline and up close too because Tony Pace bred quite a few good ones from it & they raced in & around Sydney. In fact for a long while they were nearly all broken in at Riverstone when Dave McGill was doing that work for Tony. To look at Lot 41 reminds me quite a lot of Macrossan... only once he is fully grown I think he will be much more substantial. Good luck with him Ben.
Yes, very small world, Don. I loved Lil when I saw her as a yearling and was keen on getting an Artsplace filly from a broodmare perspective. I like the family and Elizabeth Denover has done a terrific job. She's one of those rare 'no-miss' broodmares. I've just been lucky Lil is now showing a bit on the track and has hopefully justified the gamble to buy her as a yearling.
Triplev ... you're right, our colt certainly has quick feet ... a real 'dancer' ... very, very light on his feet. I really do like him but I'm biased ... and we can all be experts before they hit the track.
It's funny you mention George Aiken, as David Aiken trains my horses when they're good enough to race in Melbourne (Sapphire Lil being the most recent). David also trained Itsallgreektome and Fifteenletters for me. David's one of the few trainers I know who has a really strong interest in pedigrees. I guess he certainly has the right bloodlines for it!!
G'day Ben,
He got me in straight away because I'm always very taken with horses that are light on their feet.
I can't say I know David but years ago I got to know George and David's brother, Mike, when they ran what I think was then called the Foster's APG...way back in the early days under the Parramatta Livestock banner. That was the first time that I ever sold a yearling that I'd bred myself. Last that I heard Mike was working for one of the big Sydney Daily Newsapers...might have been the Telegraph? Via the e-mail I've also gotten to know a friend of David's from the US, Jimmy Cruise. Jimmy used to train...might have also owned(?) Ultra Jet and I understand he and David have been friends ever since then. It's a small world.
Yeah, that's right ... Jimmy Cruise has trained horses for the owner of Ultra Jet for many years.
Why not in the premium sale?
Lot 130
Star Chaser-CCullen
Not all horses are nominated for the premium sale, so when going through the sale book you could easily swap some around on pedigree. Also some are nominated and don't make the sale due to conformation faults and so on.
It's impossible to judge a horse's conformation from a video ... maybe that colt toes out really bad ... looking at the video, it appears his hocks may be a bit dodgy ... you could even suggest the near-side one is curby ... but, again, I defy anyone to make a definitive judgement on a horse based on a 30-second video. All these horses were inspected by a team of professionals who would have seen a lot more of the horse than what's evident on a brief video
Totally agree Ben. A few years ago I once heard a buyer saying he watched the sales videos of several horses and none of the In The Pockets were any good as they looked 'terrible'. Out of those he looked at on that years video, there came 6 Group 1 winners by In The Pocket. I hope he has had better luck since. The videos are merely a introduction for the yearling and a way to get a potential buyer interested. We can see what we want to see into them. As Oscar Wilde was once reputed to say "We are all in the gutter but some us are looking at the stars" Some remain looking at the gutter.
Hi Ben
I agree that it would be hard to pick on a horses conformation on a 30 sec video. Whats your opinion on the N.Z video as it shows the horse walking towards and away from you.
Right on the money there Mango. For various reasons some yearlings simply just don't get nominated even though by rights they should have been.
Some Vendors do have a thing about the Premium angle and so don't want to support it for whatever reason. Personally I don't understand that...but their choice obviously.
We've got a couple of yearlings that are up for sale this year and I think they would've gone straight in but the logistics conspired with external non-horse related commitments around about those dates to make it impossible...so we put them all into Sydney instead.
Next year will be another story because our decks will be well cleared by then. I think we've definitely got two, maybe even three candidates and rest assured, they will all be nominated. Should I keep my fingers crossed for a slot in Barn D ? :p
I love watching the videos from Hanover Shoe Farms - their yearlings look like machines! :)
Hey Mango,
I do prefer the NZ videos a touch ... but I agree with triplev that they're only giving a very brief first impression of a yearling. They provide an opportunity to get the 'feel' of a horse ... it's general type, like heavy, athletic, etc ... I must admit I might end up with a half-dozen I particularly like from the videos ... but they often don't match those expectations when I see them in the flesh.
I don't think you could gain any true assessment of a horse from a video. Ideally you need to see them in their natural environment and watch them move, then have another check in the lead-up to the sales. And then you'll still need a huge dose of good luck to find one that can run
G'day Mango,
I should have added to the above....
I'm in two minds about the Videos. I like them from the point of view that it's very enjoyable to look through them all however at the same time my gut feeling is that quite a lot of horses will get themselves red penned because of, for want of a better term... a poor screen test...while at the same time very few horses will get themselves included due to the camera loving them. Like everyone else we had the opportunity to get all of our yearlings done but declined it because in terms of their sale preparation we felt the timing wasn't right to record in the first week of January yearlings that were lined up to go to under the hammer on the 27th of February. Others might see it differently but in the life of a yearling sometimes 6-7-8-9 weeks can be a long time. I was only talking to a friend of mine two days ago about this. She preps heaps of yearlings every year and remarked on how much she felt her draft had come on... even in the short space of time between the photos being taken and the recordings having been made...and now.
thoughts on best prepared?
1. dalton
thought brooklyns looked very ordinary, all very fat with little muscle
Hi Triplev123
I was speaking with the part owner of the one i've got going through the sale's and when i asked him how he was going he said he is a racey type which he has always been eats everthing but not bulking up. He also commented that in the last 2wks since the video was done he has shot up.
Hi Buster
I watched all of the premium sale video's and then went out to success stud and inspected there sale draft and there yearlings look heaps better now then when the video was taken it's amazing what 2wks can do. By the way i'm not saying they looked bad on the video. In reference to Brooklyn Lodge it won't hurt them to be carrying a little extra weight as they have a 10hr truck ride down to the sale's which will take a little weight of them, where as Annie Dalton doesn't have to travel to far.
the bettors delight out of queen xena did look good though, so he could be the standout colt if he has progressed as expected
they just seem to look like big foals though when they are that fat
The idea of the video & picture is to help sell the horse nothing more. If it is no help then? I do not know.
I do think a video can help ... We've had a few people ask about our colt after watching the video of him. That can't be a bad thing. It's really just an advertisement for your horse ... not a definitive method of guaranteeing a sale.
I doubt anyone would buy a yearling because they liked the look of it on a video ... but it may pique their interest. I can't think of too many negatives from a sellers' - or buyers' - perspective.
Hi Ben,
Its really good to hear your thoughts on this and I appreciate that you do not hide behind an alias.
Cheers
Hey Justdoit,
Well, I guess that's the point of these forums ... to express opinions. And I'd reckon most of us love harness racing, so we all have something in common.
It's interesting to hear everyone's opinions - and it's refreshing they're not all the same.