‘If you can provide buyers with all the information, they are certainly willing to bid’
Kooringal to sell entire foal crop unreserved through an online auction
Kooringal Stud is a fixture at the majority of the eastern seaboard sales and a regular vendor in Adelaide, but this year the Lamonts have made the bold decision to offer its yearling crop entirely online, bypassing the traditional market.
The southern NSW family–owned stud will next month sell 21 yearlings by stallions including Magic Albert (Zeditave), Duporth (Red Ransom), Impending (Lonhro), The Brothers War (War Front), Epaulette (Commands) and Super One (I Am Invincible) through the Inglis Digital platform.
Like almost every business sector, breeders have had to adapt the way they sell their horses because of the pandemic and it is for that reason that stud manager Angus Lamont made the call to skip the 2021 sales series to instead sell their yearlings before Christmas.
“At the time we made the decision, it was a pretty uncertain time. I didn’t know if Victoria was going to open up or whatever else where we might be sitting and that led to the decision,” Lamont said yesterday.
“Even though the borders have now opened up, we’re happy to back the decision and go that way.
“Some of the yearlings were certainly in the Classic sale, but we just decided rather than pulling the draft apart, we would just go all online.”
The costs associated with preparing yearlings for various sales, such as Inglis’ Classic and Premier and Magic Millions’ Adelaide auctions, was also a factor behind the move.
“The preps you have to do with them, accommodation and transport, x-rays and scopes and all the bells and whistles, it certainly adds up, so this way I think we can find a home for them,” Lamont said.
“We might take a hit on some, but hopefully we will have a few surprises with some of the others and it will even out in the wash.”
The Kooringal-consigned yearlings will be offered unreserved and an on-farm inspection, hosted by Inglis’ Jonathan D’Arcy, will be held at the Riverina property at Harefield next Friday from midday.
Transparency has been bandied around all year as vendors and auction houses have played to a bigger online buying bench. Lamont has watched closely and, in his view, “horses seem to be making their value”.
“If you can provide buyers with all the information, they are certainly willing to bid,” he said.
“The class of horse we’ve got there, from nice winning families, are not the top-end syndicators’ horses in some respects, but they are good trainers’ horses. These trainers who are buying these sorts of horses can’t afford the time to get up to a Classic sale and then they are getting blown out of the water on the ones they want anyway.
“This is probably a bit more of a market for trainers who are sitting at home and looking at these sales online. We thought ‘why not try it?’
“We are either going to look like geniuses or idiots, so we will know afterwards, won’t we?”
Described as well-grown and well-educated horses by Lamont, the young studmaster believes the draft will also appeal to traders looking for stock to prepare for next year’s two-year-old sales.
“We have some lovely colts by Duporth and Magic Albert and there’s a really nice Impending colt as well,” he said.
“They are pinhooker sort of horses for people who could turn them around and get them up to a ready–to–run sale.
“There is an option there to do that and, the other thing is, all the sires bar Impending have got runs on the board. Duporth and Magic Albert – people have seen a lot of them. They can look at them online and they will see that they are certainly not the culls.
“They are a good line of horses overall.”
Kooringal Stud, where Phillip Stokes’ Listed-winning sprinter Ancestry (The Brothers War) was bred and raised, has this year welcomed the first foals by ATC Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) and Victoria Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) winner Prized Icon (More Than Ready), and his presence could herald an immediate return to the public yearling sale ring in 2022.
“You have probably got to take a first season horse like Prized Icon to the buyers a bit more and he is throwing some outstanding types,” Lamont said.
“If we can get a number up to the Gold Coast and Sydney and Melbourne as well as Adelaide, it is probably the way we are going to have to go initially, but there will also be horses available online throughout the year.
“Whether this is a one-off, we will certainly know after we assess how it goes.”
People wishing to inspect the Kooringal draft on December 4 must RSVP by Tuesday to enable the farm to comply with Covid-19 regulations. The yearlings will be offered through the Inglis Digital December 11 to 16 auction.