Tough trading for vendors as yearling sale market dips in Tasmania

The total spent at Magic Millions Tasmanian Yearling Sale dropped nearly $1.2 million, while the clearance rate also plummeted as a reckoning hit the bottom end of the yearling market at Carrick on Monday.

Investment fell significantly from both Tasmanian and interstate investors, with buyers shopping far more selectively than they have at this sale in recent years, indicated by a clearance rate of just under 70 per cent.

The overall aggregate for the sale of $2.77 million was the lowest since 2017 and was 30 per cent below last year’s mark. The sale average remained respectable at $30,750, down from last year when it was $35,905, while the median also fell back from $30,000 to $26,000        

The signs were there for a tough market for Tassie vendors with pre-sale inspection numbers low ahead of the sale and most had steeled themselves for a dip in sentiment.

However, while a drop in spending from Tassie-based buyers, which ended up $310,000 less than last year, was predicted, mainland buyers also kept their hands in their pockets, parting with $900,000 less than they did in 2023.

With 90 transactions as of the fall of the final hammer, it represents the lowest number of horses sold at this sale in nine years. Tassie buyers purchased 45, the fewest since the 2018 sale.

There was no hiding from those stats from Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch after the sale, but he said the step backwards was not unexpected.

“It was a tough sale. We were thinking the lower end of the market might come back a cog or two and I think it did today,” he said.

“Unfortunately, there wasn’t a willingness to participate on all horses here. A clearance rate of just under 70 per cent is disappointing. The average has come back more than I would have anticipated.”

“I think we need to work with Tasbreeders and Tasracing and look at what we are doing to ensure we give ourselves the best opportunity to ensure this sale is viable in the future.”  

There were some brighter notes, with two yearlings, a colt by Needs Further and a filly by Grunt, selling for six figures.

Denise Martin of Star Thoroughbreds and her bloodstock agent Brett Howard of Randwick Bloodstock went for a familiar formula for the day’s sales-topper, Lot 5, a colt by Needs Further which cost $145,000.

Star Thoroughbreds have raced two of the colt’s siblings as well as his dam Arenzano, while Howard has been closely involved with the stallion as a shareholder and the man who brokered the deal to get him to Armidale Stud in the first place.

  

“We’ve got a bit of a lead on the family there as we have the full brother to him called Durazzo. He cost $97,500 two years ago. He is still unraced but Barry Campbell has big opinion of him and he’s having his first start on Wednesday at Launceston,” Howard said.

“I said to Denise that I thought this colt was a nicer colt than Durazzo. So if Durazzo has nice ability, hopefully this colt is even better.

“I don’t go out of my way to buy horses that Denise had a connection to. They have to be good horses to start out with. This is the best foal that the mare has had and I think the price reflects that.”

Martin, one of Australia’s most successful syndicators, is a long-term supporter of the sale in her former home state. She races a handful of horses in the purple and white Star colours in Tassie, trained by her brother-in-law Barry Campbell at Spreyton.

Needs Further proved the dominant sire on the day, with his progeny grossing just short of $500,000 across nine horses.

The current crop of Needs Further yearlings represents an inflection point in his career, as it is the first crop from his return to Armidale Stud, having spent one year in Victoria in 2020.

“He has done a stellar job down here in Tassie,” Howard said. “If you said to me seven or eight years ago, that he would have done what he did, then I would have said ‘yes please’.

“It’s been an amazing ride for Armidale and the other shareholders and the horse’s supporters. It’s been tremendous.”

The other six-figure yearling of the sale was a filly by Grunt, Lot 109, which sold to Tony McEvoy and Belmont Bloodstock for $100,000. A half-sister to three winners, she was offered by Brookview Thoroughbreds.

McEvoy and his son Calvin train the best of Grunt’s progeny to get to the track, the triple Group winner Veight, who is the only runner by the sire they have trained.

Local trainer John Blacker was the biggest buyer in the day in terms of overall spend and yearlings purchased, with $250,000 across eight horses.