Team Dynamic (Adam and Dean Watt) along with contracted veterinarian Dr Tim Roberts, have been pounding the pavement and working hard over the past 7 days inspecting the yearlings which are available at the 2019 Magic Millions Yearling Sales.
The Magic Millions commences tomorrow, Wednesday 9 January 2019 at the Gold Coast.
Acknowledgement and credit to the Vendors and the Magic Millions sale selection panel who between them, have put together a stunning catalogue and arguably the best
“on type” sale we have seen here on the Gold Coast in the past decade.
By lunchtime on Tuesday, our Team had completed 3 rounds of physical inspections, whittling down the Book 1 catalogue from the 888 lots to leave our vet with 107 sets of x-rays to read of horses that qualified through our strict due diligence procedures.
This is a record amount of x-ray inspections being undertaken by us and indicative of the high-quality lots available.
Realistically, there is always a dropout rate after x-rays are read of approximately 10% which we consider “fail”.
It’s just the same as doing a building and pest inspection when buying a house. You don’t want to buy a house riddled with termites ….. and with horses, you don’t want to buy a horse with x-rays that look like Swiss cheese.
Amongst our list are many yearlings which we accept and appreciate should sell for prices above our ceiling price however we still do the due diligence on those lots because at auctions, there can always be the potential that some yearlings may fall through the net. Therefore, having done our due diligence homework, we can bid with confidence should any lot be selling under the radar.
We love buying at the Magic Millions as vendors send their running types here rather than being a fashion parade.
In 2019, it is promising to be an interesting sale with the Vendors and Buyers anticipating a slight correction to previous years and a drop in the clearance rate based upon basic economic fundamentals in Australia and abroad.
Locally, the correction in the housing market and credit squeeze is hurting many, as banks have over reacted to the Banking Royal Commission and this will undoubtedly have an impact. So is the lack of wage growth in real terms since the Global Financial Crisis which is combatting cost of living pressures on household items such as electricity and fuel.
Add in a tentative investor market which is expecting a change of government from Liberal to Labour which historically delivers a 6 – 9 month investment hiatus post-election on discretionary spend and fear that is already biting the investor market based upon Labour ideologies towards negative gearing and superannuation.
Then of course we have the trade war between the USA and China and tensions with Russia and North Korea which also impact upon global confidence.
Whilst these factors are not expected to immediately impact upon and deflate the thoroughbred industry which is resilient to these forces based upon a finite supply of quality thoroughbreds and record high prizemoney levels, it will be interesting to see how these forces impact on the clearance rate as Vendors need to re-evaluate.
It’s fascinating to observe the machinations at play here at the Magic Millions sale grounds as Vendors are reporting inspection numbers are down 25% across the board.
However, the professional buyers are here in force and there is always demand for the Best of the Best.
It is expected that the top end of the market will be there but it may be a little patchy and the middle market and that area may struggle however it is expected to be competitive in the market up to $150,000 on the well conformed individuals.
Make sure you follow Team Dynamic on our Website, Twitter, Facebook and Linked-In as we report on the sale on a Day-by-Day basis and we alert you to purchases we make.