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The Rip Van Winkle race mare poised for sale to start her new career as a broodmare, made more than ten times her reserve. Jamie Walter of Proven Thoroughbreds has been in the industry for over four decades and was pleasantly surprised at the final outcomes.
During an exclusive phone interview, Walter shares his journey of selling the mare on Inglis' digital platform, his concerns for the treatment of retired horses and his innovative solution of taking the industry towards a more sustainable and more humane future.
Q: Missed The Alarm sold for A$55,000 which was ten times your reserve. Did you feel happy that the mare made so much over what you expected?
A: I'm a little bit unconventional when it comes to reserves. Reserves in people's minds mean the minimum price they'll pay. But for me, particularly with this new phenomenon of online auctions where people bid electronically, there is a system-generated response which tells people they have reached the reserve. That tends to generate interest, so we deliberately settled on a low reserve to boost interest. We wanted a competitive market. I thought that she would make about A$15,000 or maybe a bit more right. So, we put a reserve of A$5,000. We are thrilled with the final outcome.
Q: Did Phoenix inspect her in advance?
A: In the last couple of hours things heated up. Phoenix didn’t personally inspect the mare but they may have got someone to do that on their behalf. Or they could have spoken to people who knew of her. The great thing about the digital auction platform is that given it is a five-day-long sale, people who are interested can view the horse or her videos and photos, they can look at the pedigree and other information and most importantly they can request more information, which finally becomes useful to the other interested parties as well.
Q: Now what was your favorite Thoroughbred purchase this year?
A: That’s a tricky one because we buy a lot of horses. This year we bought 37 horses. I really liked the Not A Single Doubt X Networking filly and I also liked the Spirit of Boom x Passara colt we purchased this year.
Q: What do you think of the Everest race concept and its popularity?
A: Australians really enjoy their racing. I think it's the third biggest employer in Australia. The Everest concept was bound to do well in Australia. I'm not at all surprised. Australia also embraces new ideas so the digital platform was also embraced very quickly by the industry.
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Q: What is the positive change that you'd like to see in the industry?
A: I would like to see the large breeders and stud farm owners with ample land and the race clubs do more for retired racehorses. Unfortunately, horses are not used on the land anymore. So, it's important that we find a home for these retired horses. Some of them that can go on to a second career should be retrained but those that can’t, still need to be rehomed. These large farms certainly have the land for it. They are simply beautiful animals and they have been good to the industry. So, the industry should do good for them.
Q: As the owner of Proven Thoroughbred, you make sure that your horses are retired and/or rehomed properly.
A: Yes, we do. We either help them get retrained and find a home for those horses that are really old, or they are mentally unable to adjust to a new career. I believe that if we can build responsibility as individuals for the racehorses, then we are less likely to be more callous about it as an industry.
I believe this should become a law. Currently, as an owner, one doesn’t bear the responsibility of looking after them. A horse has a racing career of say, eight or ten years but they go on to live up to the age of twenty-three or twenty-five years. But if it becomes mandatory that as an owner you need to take responsibility for the care of these horses for their lifetime, the industry can develop a bit more care in the way that they are treated. It's only when you start looking after the old, you become more careful about what you're breeding, how you're breeding them, and what happens to them further down the line.
Today, because it's somebody else's responsibility to do something about these horses, one feels that it's all right to continue doing what we do best. So currently there is an imbalance in the industry. Taking responsibility for the racehorses or any Australian bred racehorses especially those animals that have been part of this industry, would be a very good idea.