Pinhook’s Mee to set up base in France for northern summer and autumn
Bloodstock agent to explore dual-hemisphere opportunities with family by his side
Agent Dave Mee will bid adieu to Australia, the Pinhook Bloodstock principal relocating to France next week for at least six months in a multi-purpose move for business, education and family reasons.
However, the Kiwi, who has been based in NSW for 20 years, won’t be lost to the industry Down Under as the agent intends to return in time for the 2023 sales circuit, starting with the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January, and continuing to service existing and new clients while expanding his reach in the northern hemisphere.
Mee, whose partner Anne-Laure Berthelot is French, plans to attend the northern hemisphere sales from September and he has already canvassed a number of breeders about the possibility of sourcing stock on their behalf on the “well-worn path of breeding stock and horses in training sales” at Arqana, Tattersalls and Goffs in Europe and Keeneland and Fasig-Tipton in the US.
“We’ve been planning it for a couple of years and we were supposed to do six months in New Zealand and six months in France, but obviously Covid’s prevented us from travelling up until now,” Mee told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“The timing coincides with the fact that spring is generally a quieter period after the [southern hemisphere] sales circuit ends and you have booked the majority of your clients’ mares in [to stallions] and seen the first season sires.”
Mee and Berthelot will be based on the west coast of France at La Palmyre, between Bordeaux and La Rochelle, where their two children will be enrolled in a local school for the period of their overseas adventure.
“I am going to drop myself in the mix in France and learn a bit more about the racing and try and source some nice breeding and racing prospects while I am over there. I can’t wait,” he said.
“I am going to do the well-worn path of attending the breeding stock and horses in training sales, but I also want to spend time with the family and travel. I really want to get off the beaten path and explore other avenues [for my business].
“Naturally, being in France, I am going to try and focus on the French industry and there’s no substitute for being able to go and look at a horse in person and get to know the people over there. It’s not the last time I’ll be going over there, so I see it as the start of an ongoing add-on to my business.”
The northern hemisphere industry is not unknown to Mee, who worked for trainers at Newmarket in England in 1999 and 2000 prior to launching his bloodstock business, as he has been buying horses from the US and Europe for a number of years to be brought back to Australia.
Last year, he sourced the Grade 3-placed mare Excellent Sunset (Exceed And Excel) privately in the US and his clients subsequently put her in foal to Frankel (Galileo) to southern hemisphere time last September. She sold at this year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale through the Newgate Consignment to Yulong for $1.05 million.
Mee believes the thoroughbred industry provides for constant learning and he hopes that being based in Europe during a peak northern hemisphere racing period will enable him to hone his skills and enhance his knowledge.
He has inspected about 6,000 weanlings and yearlings in Australasia each season over the past few years – purchasing horses on behalf of trainers Symon Wilde and Tom Dabernig, as well as Flying Start Syndications, among others in 2022 – and the stint in France will enable him to increase that number significantly.
“There’s probably two or three guys who I respect more than any other in the yearling selection space – it’s pretty obvious who they are – and they are generally more seasoned guys, older guys, that have that wealth of experience and knowledge and miles under their belts in terms of the volume of horses they inspect each year. Money simply can’t buy that experience,” said Mee, vice-president of the Federation of Bloodstock Agents Australia.
“I am certainly not putting myself on where those guys are at and the success they have had, but it is certainly an aim to increase the numbers I buy.
“I bought 35 yearlings this year and in the next year or two I’d like to aim to try and double that because, pound for pound, I’d be willing to put my record up against anyone’s in terms of the results per dollar spent.
“I’d actually like to be looking at more horses and by going to Europe it will allow me to do that to a degree and I really want to develop my craft as much as I can.
“Where I am going to be based, there’s a lot of jumping trainers and I want to delve into the different facets of the horse world as well as doing the obvious things like Chantilly and Newmarket, where I’ve worked before.”
A chance meeting at the recent Magic Millions National Weanling Sale with US-based Australian equine therapist Troy Brandenburg, a former jockey and rodeo rider, also fuelled Mee’s desire to further his equine education, which basing himself in France will allow him to undertake.
“I met Troy Brandenburg up at the Magic Millions … and he was fascinating to hang out with and to learn more about horses’ muscles, tendons and ligaments and how it affects their movement. It is an area I am keen to learn more about to help develop the craft of selecting nice horses, particularly young horses,” he said.
“I am going to try and experience different aspects of the horse industry, sport horses, dressage and national hunt horses. I am going to use it as an educational tour alongside it being an experience for the family.”
Mee, who arguably has his best chance of a breakthrough Group 1 victory via the Dabernig-trained multiple Group 3-winning Flying Mascot (Tavistock) this spring, added: “I will be back in January in time for the Magic Millions just as normal. Anne and the kids are staying in France for an additional six months and I will be coming back earlier.
“It will have its challenges on a number of fronts, but I am committed to trying to develop the craft and trying to get better and better with my horse selections.”