Horse Auctions and the CPA

The cauldron of the auciton is where some buyers use their experience and skills to buy horses at the best price possible - as an auction house we want to be transparent and legally compliant.

The reserve price debate will always rage on there is no doubt ...but the auction is such a fluid beast that some reserves are set only seconds before going into the ring as vendors feel out the buyer energy!

Small steps for now as we become legally compliant?!

Exactly, stop psising around with little secret reserves and don't-tell-anyone-crap.

Furthermore, if a breeder wants to buy back then let him buy back. For goodness sake he owns the poor horse.

It seems that transparency and honesty are two things the Racing Industry hate- If everything was so rosey in the ring then i think Tom would not be on ABC trying to get people intrested in buying- The Auction Alliance case is proof enough that buyers need protection from dishonest sellers/auctioneers at Auction. If you wish to get new buyers how can you possibly tell them that the owner of the item will bid against you to try to get a better price for his horse. The objection of the bid is to buy the item not to increase the oposing bidders bid. An auction is meant for selling not buybacks(let's not even think about how the buyback issue raises stallion services)

Flash Harry Wrote:

---

> mr magic if reserve is R200000 why would any body
> with a half brain start any where below this?
> auction over in half the time and no waste time
> looking at R200000 horse when the budget is
> R100000


100%

Won't further transparency be opened up if the breeder is identified as buying back his yearling. Make it obligatory for the breeder to identify himself??

Step in the right direction imo - but..... I don't think the process will ever be totally 'honest and clean' - there will always be a way:

Let's say a breeder wants R100k for his horse - he goes to someone he knows and asks him/her to bid the horse up to 90K - if a 'genuine bid' then follows, the breeder gets his R100k - if no 'genuine bid' follows, the breeder informs the actioneer that it is a buy back.

Imo there has to be a balance where the process should be as 'clean and open' as possible, while still allowing those who have built up experience over many years to be able to use this experience to their advantage.

The whole world has speeded up and where they can the TBA should try do as much as possible to do the same. People want it quickly and not like watching paint dry. We need new people to come and buy into this industry. What worked in the old days probably is not the best these days. Look at how T20 and 50 over games has brought the younger people back to cricket. The old guard still hangs onto test cricket but in most if not all places more spectators at time quicker version of the game.

And welcome to T20 racing:

20 minutes between races at the course

Two teams of jockeys

Astute tote cashiers

Runners for the following race are already in the parade ring while the runners for the current race are being loaded into the stalls

13 carded races

Fewer meetings, more night meetings

And I think that we are all PADDLING up the wrong creek......

The bottom line is that Ghost bidders, reserves and buybacks are the least of our problems...... If we know what we are doing of course.... ! When we value the horse before the sale, keep this info close to our chests and then stick to our guns as per our pre determined value for said horse, the paddles, ghost bids and buybacks are all just a lot of crap, an absolute waste of time, unimportant and irrelevant to those who know what they are doing and who do it regularly.

And all the paddles in the World, ghost bids and reserves are completely useless in the face of a potential new buyer who knows very little about Racing and is being brought like a lamb to slaughter, as his "advisor " or "bidder" leads him down the garden path..... And later receives his "comm"......

And not any or all of us, nor Tom and TBA can do a thing about that........ Unless, of course, we open a thread, entitled, "STRANGE PRICES" and update with regular input, comparisons, averages and facts............

But, will we also show the "low" prices, the "bargains"....and will we know WHY they were so low.... Will we report on conformation........? Or blame it on the lack of Ghosts or on the paddles...?

The beautiful part of this debate is that some of the posters refer to an auction as if there is some specialised knowledge involved which will secure for them ( and them alone ) an outstanding specimen with indisputable abilty.

About 95% of the horse industry is about offloading untried and (usually) useless creatures onto willing and sometimes misguided buyers.

If I were a first timer I would be running off to Louisq to buy me a horse based on his post above! He must 'know' something but would my results be any better? Who knows.

The best guide as to the accuracy of the process is to evaluate the performance of every sales topper ever sold. So much for expert knowledge and guidance! Almost without exception they have all been abject failures. Fact.

At the end of the day buying horses is far more hazardous than punting. And we all know how hit and miss that can be.

So why not let the process at least begin by being open and transparent? That's really is all the legislation attempts to promote in the face of all the usual industry resistance and muttering. As well as its usual adherence to the status quo.

We still need to:

1. Speed up the process; and
2. Stop wasting Craig's and everybody else's time.

The day I have to reveal my identity when bidding is the day I stop attending these auctions.