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Mills, one of Southern Hemisphere’s leading bloodstock consultants, has recently procured some of the most high-valued mares at the National Broodmare Sale.
The Impact chats to Sheamus Mills about current buying trends, his own purchases and what’s buying at the top end looking like.
Q: We are in the process of reviewing the 2021 broodmare sales and you were one of the leading buyers, purchasing six horses for A$7.3 million this year. And that's an average of about A$1.21 million if and if we take Matilda (sold for A$160,000:, your average goes up to A$1.43 million. Are these the sort of prices you expected to pay, especially at the National Broodmare sale?
A: No, I wasn't anticipating that at all. I went there with the aspiration of buying you know, some horses around the sort of the A$200,000 to A$400,000 mark.
I didn't think there was a shortage of nice horses in that bracket but those horses were making A$600,000 to A$700,000 and I couldn't really I couldn't really justify spending that kind of money on horses that I thought were worth three hundred to four hundred thousand. That’s how I ended up chasing the horses that I thought were the absolute cream of the crop because I thought there was more value in the A$1 million horses.
I guess, between the Shadwell dispersal and then the general sort of strength in the market this year, I've never seen a year where that magical figure of a million dollars has been eclipsed so regularly. I found that a little surprising but in saying that I took part in the buying of those horses. I happy to have found myself in position where I where I was tipping over that that sort of mark. Everybody will justify the horses they bought at the price they bought them. And I guess with mine, I certainly see the horses that I bought has been long term prospects. If you're in the top part of the market the entry fee is a lot more than you would have liked in previous years.
Absolutely. This year, it's, it's been quite the number. I in fact, I was talking to a few people who walked away with nothing.
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Q: Would you say that this was one of the main reasons which polarized the market?
A: I think it did. A lot of horses that went past the million dollars mark, may not have made a million dollars. It proved harder than usual to buy the nice horses in the A$300,000 to A$500,000 bracket.
I did leave some orders behind unfortunately, that I wasn't able to fill. Those orders were really nice mares, in the A$300,000 - A$500,000 mark, which I would say in the past is always bought you something nice. But this year, it looks like there was a lack of those sort of mares there. So, some of them made more than I could justify, and more than the orders were for. Regardless of whether you're spending A$100,000 or spending A$1.5 million, I still want to go home with it with a expectation that, that I'll get my clients out of that horse in, three to five years. Obviously on some of these, they're going to be longer term holds. But they still have to leave them with the idea that that it's going to be financially viable for them.
Q: Could you tell us a bit more about Longwood thoroughbreds who are new players in the market?
A: They were active at the Chairman's sale last year. They bought some nice mares in foal, particularly to I am Invincible, which is a stallion we share admiration for. Between the farm and the end clients, they have a aspiration to sell back in at the top end of the market. You need the dollars to be there and not everybody can be there. It's a bigger risk play. From my experience, and a noticeable market trend over the last couple of years would be how much stronger the top end has got. I noticed this year that the appetite for those maiden blacktype mares was really big. I thought they made crazy money but I think it's like entirely justified on the basis that the top end of the market continues to be the end that has the most scope for further growth. And that's where you need to be so. Certainly in the last few years, those expensive mares seem to have gone from half a million dollars to a million, which double their value. And the mares that might have been worth A$150,000 have gone to A$200,000 which is only a 25% increase. So I guess what I'm saying is the top end seems to have increased exponentially against what the against what the middle markets done.
Q: Lastly, what is it about popular race mares that have caused them be sold for such high values at auction? Is there a branding element which increases their intrinsic price?
A: Another emerging market trend has been racetrack performance. I think type has taken over from pedigree as far as the sale ring results go. I think racetrack performance is the other area that buyers are very discerning on now. It would seem to me that if you wanted to be in the right part of the market, you need race track performance, and you need type. In the past, you can probably do without race track performance, as long as you had pedigree. I think it's swung the other way. And unfortunately, these are never, static, sort of trends. They change from year to year, especially in the last couple of years, the price is exponentially higher than what you would expect to pay for the horse.