Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al- Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, helped boost sales at Europe’s biggest auction of young racehorses by 8 percent from last year, when fewer yearlings were sold.
Tattersalls, Europe’s biggest bloodstock auctioneer, posted sales of 53.8 million guineas ($90.7 million) at its three-day auction of yearlings, or 1-year-old horses. The average selling price for a yearling this year was 113,907 guineas, compared with 121,515 at the 2008 auction.
The Dubai ruler and his associates spent 7.5 million guineas on more than 40 horses in the first two days of the sale in Newmarket, England. During the same period last year, when the auction was held shortly after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., he spent 6 million guineas on 33 yearlings.
“It’s held up extremely well, particularly if you take into account the global economic situation,” Jimmy George, marketing director at Tattersalls, said in an interview.
Irish breeder John Magnier yesterday bought the most expensive horse at the auction, a bay colt sired by Oasis Dream, for 700,000 guineas. Last year, the auction’s top lot was sold for 650,000 guineas. Some 472 horses were sold this year compared with 410 in 2008.
The Dubai ruler, the world’s biggest horse buyer, attended Tattersalls all week. Wearing sneakers, a hat and reading glasses perched on his nose, he watched proceedings around the paddock yesterday as he spoke to his advisers and flicked through the sales catalogue.
Famous Owners
Benny Andersson of the Swedish pop band Abba, England soccer star Michael Owen and packaging heiress Kirsten Rausing were among the buyers and sellers present this week.
A higher turnover at the yearling sales demonstrates “the enduring demand for quality horses,” Tattersalls Chairman Edmond Mahony said in a statement on its Web site.
The bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers, the credit crunch and global economic slowdown that started last year have curbed demand and lowered prices for other luxury goods, such as contemporary art, antiques, classic cars and wine.
The global financial crisis, which began with the collapse of the U.S. subprime-lending market in 2007, has led to more than $1.6 trillion of writedowns and credit losses at banks and other financial institutions, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The average price paid for a yearling at Tattersalls, the world’s oldest bloodstock auctioneer, declined more than 6 percent.
Quoted in Guineas
The price for yearlings is quoted in English guineas -- equivalent to one pound and five pence. The guinea, no longer in use, was the unit of currency often paid to artists and professionals.
Last week, Ireland-based Goffs, Tattersalls’ closest competitor and partly owned by the Aga Khan, reported a drop of more than 28 percent in sales to 24.9 million euros ($36.8 million) at its premier yearling auction. Buyers spent 49,669 euros on average per horse, 8 percent less than a year ago.
Both sales are a gauge of confidence in a sport who’s biggest players include Sheikh Mohammed and Irish millionaires Magnier and J.P. McManus.
“The huge investment from Sheikh Mohammed continues,” Harry Herbert, managing director of Highclere Thoroughbred Racing, said in an interview in the paddock at Tattersalls yesterday, where horses were walked by their grooms in the sun before being auctioned. “The market is much stronger than we thought it would be.”
The past year has been “the most difficult” since he become involved with syndicates in 1987, said Herbert. His company runs a syndicate system that allows owners to share the cost.
“It’s worrying; you are trying to sell a product which is a luxury good,” Herbert said.
(Source: Bloomberg)
