The unheralded yearling handlers deserve all the praise
The energy of a thoroughbred horse sale is frenetic.
Anxious vendors hope their hard work and investment pay off and cautious buyers try to find a future champion at the right price.
Adding to the intensity is the constant sound of high-pitched whinnies of yearlings who have been launched from the quiet and calm of farm life into a completely foreign and daunting environment.
While they are nervous, their handlers must stay calm and focused, showcasing them to the best of their ability during endless parades in front of potential buyers in the lead-up to the auction.
On sale day, as handler and horse prepare to enter a noisy, crowded auditorium in the hectic pre-parade ring, the tension is high and, for some, it’s overwhelming. Gleaming colts and fillies fed full of grain resemble kites flying high in the sky and, as they rear and jolt sideways, you wonder how the person on the end of the lead rope could possibly enjoy their job.
This week, a Tik Tok video highlighting the dangers of handling yearlings posted by Izzy Talty did the social media rounds. It was footage captured of her friend, Victoria Wicks, at the Inglis Classic Sale two years ago as she was struck down to the ground by a colt.
Amazingly, Wicks never let go of the lead and escaped injury. The video has since gone viral and had more than 8 million views.
“Every year I post it for my friend’s birthday. It doesn’t offend her and she knows what she did wrong. He (the colt) just had enough and was sick of it. She was a bit harsh on his mouth and he told her to get lost,” Talty said.
“I think it can be very hard to handle yearlings. Sometimes we forget they are only just over a year old and they are flight animals. We should always be kind to them because they sense how we feel. It’s a very tough job sometimes, I don’t know how they do it. I take my hat off to them, they do a great job.”
One young horsewoman who is earning tremendous respect from her peers for her knack with sales yearlings is 19-year-old, Molly Northam.
The daughter of Scone trainer Rod, she has been handling horses since she was 15 and is part of the Vinery Stud yearling team at this week’s Inglis Classic sale.
“I have worked for some really good people who have taught me a lot,” Northam said.
“You must have patience. They are only young, they don’t know anything, and you take them away from anything they have ever known and put them in front of hundreds of people and make them calm.
“You have to learn to be soft, especially when they are going off and being naughty. I try to be relaxed and just walk them out like I’m out in the paddock because if you are shitting yourself they will be shitting themselves ten times more. They can really give it to you if they want to.”
When it comes time for the horse to go under the hammer, the pressure for all concerned is immense.
“I can’t imagine how they must be feeling when they are confronted with that,” Northam added. “They are usually worse in the pre-parade than in the auction ring. There are horses and people everywhere. Then they go in the ring and they get so scared by themselves and they just stick to you and trust you.
“You have to try to keep them moving in the ring and if they are scared they want to stand and look around, terrified. They need to walk on and look presentable and make people want to buy them. If they are naughty that could be the difference in that last bid.”
Everything that these young racehorses-in-the-making experience during sales preparation can set the tone for their future. Poorly handled and managed, they will likely be difficult to train and never realize their full potential. They will also bear little appeal for pursuits in their life beyond racing.
“It’s about patience and understanding of them. If they play up, you have to say it’s OK and be soft but you have to be stern as well and not let them get away with it, otherwise they get into a habit and once they get into it, it’s hard to break it,” Northam said.
“A yearling that’s prepped properly for a sale is so easy to do everything with afterward. If it’s done properly it’s so good for the rest of their life.”
Northam loves her job and says it’s hugely rewarding when it all comes together on sale day for a good result.
“The feeling you get taking them through the ring is amazing,” she said. “To see all your hard work pay off is well worth it.
“I love having a 500-kilogram colt that will just calm down and be the most beautiful horse and listen to you, that’s amazing.
“It’s crazy to think you can train a wild animal to wander around next to you through a ring and not try and kill you.”
Northam is a seriously talented young horsewoman and has worked for various major farms during the past five years, including Middlebrook Valley Lodge and Twin Hills Stud. She says she’s building her hands-on experience in the hope that one day she might emulate her father by becoming a trainer.
She’s certainly off to a good start and, in the years to come, won’t be leading them. Instead, she will be on the other side of the fence buying them.