I’m coming to you this week from Baden-Baden in Germany. So good, they named it twice.
Sadly, I’m not here on a jolly — I’ve not had much time for steins of beer and currywurst — it’s very much a flying visit for work.
AFPIt’s sales season on the Flat[/caption]
You see, it’s the beginning of sales season — the equivalent to football’s transfer window.
It’s the time of year when trainers are all over the continent replenishing their stocks for next season.
It’s ironic a lot of the horses we bought this time last year still haven’t hit the track, but here we are jumping in with both feet again.
It’s an important part of the job, recruiting the next generation and investing our clients — and sometimes our own — cash as wisely as we can.
No doubt, it is the busiest time of year, as I’m still training 200 odd horses and trying to find next year’s team at the same time.
Each sale is a little different, we had the Premier Yearling Sale in Doncaster earlier this week which is a sale you usually associate with sharper, speedier horses and two-year-olds.
In Germany, where we have had a bit of success in the past, you are more likely to get horses who are staying or middle-distance types.
At the October sale here, the Arc winner Torquator Tasso was bought for just over £20,000 a few years back.
Myself and the likes of Ralph Beckett and Tom Clover can only hope we unearthed a diamond like that this week.
The wagon rolls onto Goffs in a few weeks and then it’s the mayhem of Tattersalls in October, when you get a good mix of all types of horse.
We won’t know the results for at least another six months and it takes a hell of a lot of legwork, but it can definitely be a make or break time of year.
Some horses we will buy to order for owners who have a specific type in mind, and some we will buy on spec if we like the look of them, and we will find owners for them further down the line.
First, you have to do your homework by scouring the pedigree information on each horse in the catalogue, and then you will examine the horse as closely as possible as a physical specimen.
During inspections the horses will be walked up and down so you can get an idea of their athletic ability and make-up.
Once you’ve got a shortlist the horses will undergo a vet screening, where they will look at X-rays to make sure they are fit and healthy, just like a routine medical when a club signs a footballer.
You’ve got to have some control when you head over to the sales ring — we have budgets and values on every horse, and once the bidding goes over that valuation you have to walk away.
Discipline is very important and we tend to stick within our budget — mind you there have been plenty of occasions over the years when I’ve got carried away while the blood has been pumping.
Though I suppose any time you go over budget for a horse and they aren’t any good on the racecourse you’ve got carried away.
I dread to think how many times that has happened over the years!
Fortunately, we have got plenty right as well, of course.
It is a difficult game and you can never be totally sure how things will work out but we don’t do a bad job in the long run.
Hopefully we’ve had a good week, and there is a lot of time to dive back into the ‘transfer window’.
Looking back at last week, we had a great week at York with a couple of winners, and the team have come out of it in super shape.
We will make our minds up as regards future targets for all of them, including Coltrane who has lots of big staying targets over the next couple of months.
We are slightly catching our breath this weekend with only a handful of runners, including WORKS OF ART (3.55) for the King and Queen at Chester. She has a good chance.
But CLUB MANAGER (7.45), who won nicely at Kempton last time, is probably our likeliest winner at Chelmsford this evening.
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