Spears Comments On Harrisburg Sale

Published: November 10, 2008 08:32 pm EST

This afternoon, Trot Insider spoke with Paul Spears, president and CEO of the Standardbred Horse Sales Company, regarding the six-day sale that recently wrapped up in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Spears said that the sale was down 27 per cent overall. The average price from the three-day yearling portion of the sale was $30,420 and the gross was $31.94 million. Those yearling figures are down from the 2007 numbers, which were $40,824 and $42.78, respectively.

The numbers that the three-day mixed portion of the sale produced were also lower than those produced one year ago. The average and gross for this year's sale was $22,234 and $24,457,000, respectively, down from $27,750 and $27,444,377 in '07.

"To be honest, I had few expectations coming in," Spears told Trot Insider. "This sale was held during a 'perfect storm' of some major negative events. We're talking about a major economic downturn of a global variety mixed with some truly remarkable dollar fluctuations. Add uncertainty in terms of United States politics into the mix and the timing of this sale probably couldn't have been worse.

"I think when the Lexington Sale was being held, the whole crisis was starting to come into focus, but in the last few weeks the whole situation became much more clear and evident."

Spears acknowledged that, given the aforementioned circumstances and the overall trend this year in term of yearling sales, the yearling portion of the sale did take a hit. Spears did note that the mixed sessions of the sale were still relatively strong, though. He chalked that strength up to jurisdictions with slots programs having bolstered purses for the aged ranks.

Spears told Trot Insider that some major overseas buyers decided not to come at the last minute, but there was a new prominent buyer, in particular, that was very active in the higher end of the market.

"When it came to stock on the higher end of the market, the bidder was strong. People paid what they thought was adequate and there was no buyer remorse," said Spears. "The top of the market sold well, while the mid-range was down. The bottom end of the market was down even more."

Spears has opted not to get too hung up on the numbers produced from this year's sale, as he fully realizes that this year has been an anomaly. He also said that it would be dangerous for breeders to change their entire way of doing business based solely on a year like 2008.

"We are coming off of several record years. Yes, our sales numbers are down for 2008, but not too many years ago we would be popping the cork on some champagne after having generated $57 million at a sale."

Tags
Have something to say about this? Log in or create an account to post a comment.