Selecting A Horse

If you are serious about buying, you should attend the sale complex to inspect yearlings on at least one of the pre-inspection days. At yearling sales, moss yearlings are stabled from between 3 - 7 days prior to the sale so there is plenty of opportunity for you to inspect what may be your future champion.

Vendors are pleased to parade yearlings in which you may be interested in and perhaps have added to your short list on the Inglis iPad app or selected from the catalogue.

On busy inspection days, studs may have several potential buyers looking at horses at the same time, so patience is always appreciated.

If you are inspecting horses and are realistic about your limited knowledge of physical conformation, we advise that you don't make comments to the stud's masters about the horses in front of you.

The experienced and knowledgeable buyers rarely pass option on the horse they are inspecting. A polite thank you to the leader and a smile is all that is required.

If you have chosen a trainer, you may wish to accompany him/ her whilst doing inspections or you may choose some yourself and then ask the trainer to inspect those horses if he/ she has not already done so. Many trainers will automatically inspect all yearlings being offered for sale and therefore will be familiar with the horses you have selected.

Know and appreciate pedigree

Pedigree reveals the success of family members and success tends to produce success. Look for consistency and quality performance in the pedigree. IF you are not familiar with reading a pedigree and it all looks like a foreign language to you, seek the help of a bloodstock agent or trainer to help simplify this problem.

Don't search for the "perfect yearling"

Look for the well-balanced athlete who moves well and can easily handle andy minor faults. Successful horses come in all shapes and sizes, and stakes races are filled with horses with conformational flaws. Being too picky or strict on confirmation and vet reports often leads to missing out on very successful racehorses <<insert example??>>

Study the horse

Study each horse's demeanour, eye expression, and overall presence. A horses' character and how he handles himself/ herself is a clue ot later performance. How a yearling copes with the stress of a Yearling Sale may have a bearing on how it copes with the racetrack later in life.

Evaluate faults

When evaluating faults, think in terms of the degree of a conformational flaw. Create your own specific system for recording the degree of deviation, from very slight to severe. Keep in mind that horses handle minor to moderate degrees of deviation successfully, if they move in a fluid and athletic way.

Yearlings with less than perfect legs or throats are generally just as success as those without flaws, if they have balance, athleticism, sufficient pedigree, and a competitive nature. <<insert example??>>

Conformation

Many times the analogy has been made with going to a group of young school boys and physically inspecting them to select your rugby team. Some will look like the stars of now, others will look like they will grow into a star player in a few years. Conformation will be covered in more detail in coming months. Therefore, inspect a majority of horses before studying hundreds of pedigrees.