Welcome to 2014! The yearling sales have certainly got off to a buoyant start. Inevitably this means one thing for breeding stock values - they will increase.

At most of the 2013 broodmare sales many of you probably walked away empty handed and frustrated at being unable to compete with your rival bidders on the horses you liked. The prices being paid for a lot of the better quality mares were hot, white hot in some instances. It looks like being even worse in 2014!

The majority of breeders today are what we call "commercial breeders." The word "commercial" infers the breeder is trying to make a profit from their breeding enterprise. In your day to day business you would never contemplate paying over inflated prices for plant and equipment, property or any type of income producing asset. You'd go broke right? So why are people so quick to do it in the thoroughbred industry, especially seen at its worst at public auctions.

If you are genuinely trying to make a profit you just cannot afford to pay too much for your broodmares. You know that saying, "You make your profit when you buy, not when you sell." The most profitable breeders on the planet are patient and diligent with their purchases, choosing to buy both in the private and public arenas, but primarily they buy private. Why? Because they can usually get better value for money.

So you have a choice. Wait for the upcoming mare auctions or get proactive now.

2014 has already got off to a profitable start for several breeders who have purchased privately through Randwick Bloodstock. Ed & Clark McKeon (Palya Bloodstock) purchased the mare KEELA (in foal to SNITZEL) through us in September 2012. The purchase price $28,750. KEELA had been advertised on our web site (and other sites) for several weeks. During this time over 1,000 people had viewed her pedigree. People had been queuing up for months to get a mare into SNITZEL in 2012. We could not understand why people weren't falling over themselves to buy a mare who was only days away from foaling to SNITZEL, and who was advertised with an asking price equivalent to his 2012 fee. Proactive Ed picked up the phone. "What's wrong with this mare KEELA?" "Nothing we are aware of. We can't work out why no one's bought her?" was our response. As they say the rest is history and her resulting 2012 SNITZEL colt was sold at last month's Gold Coast Magic Millions for $280,000. Well done Ed & Clark.

A couple of other happy Randwick Bloodstock customers are Ian & Jo Wunsch. They purchased the mare STREET SIGN through Randwick Bloodstock in May 2012 for $75,000 and several months later she foaled a lovely DENMAN filly. That filly was to sell for $300,000 at last month’s Magic Millions to Gai Waterhouse/James Harron. Congratulations to Ian & Jo, and thank you for being proactive and picking up the phone. It certainly paid off in a big way for them.

To view our latest offerings on Bloodstock.com.au click here . If there’s a horse which is listed and holds some interest, please don’t be afraid to pick up the phone or send us an email and ask for further information. Even if there is nothing appealing amongst the current batch, you are still encouraged to call or email and let us know exactly what it is you are in the market for. That way we can communicate with you directly when something comes up for sale which meets your criteria. The choice is yours.

Until next time,

Best Regards,

Brett Howard