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Lexington, Ky - As the Keeneland January Horses of All Ages sale came to a close, many of the short yearlings sold in the auction’s fifth and final day will be shipping off to new, if short-term homes. The practice of “pinhooking” is fairly common at public Thoroughbred sales, and January is no different. Pinhookers are buyers who purchase a young horse as a weanling or yearling and plan to keep it for a relatively short period of time for resale as a yearling or two-year-old in training with the hopes of making a profit.
Since young horses can grow considerably between those age ranges, pinhooking would require a crystal ball to guarantee 100 percent success. As Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital’s Laurie Metcalfe, DVM discussed Thursday, weanlings and short yearlings have plenty of time to either correct physical flaws or worsen them.
In terms of growth, Mark Taylor of Taylor Made Sales Agency, says pinhook buyers have their own methods of deciding whether a young horse will turn out to be tall enough for their tastes.
“They’re the sharpest. They can tell if something’s going to grow,” said Taylor. “A lot of times, they’ll measure them from their fetlock [ankle] to their elbow, and then they take that distance and flip it from the elbow to the wither [top of the shoulder] and they can see where they’ll end up growing.”
Taylor reports that most youngsters, although they may be perplexed by the measuring process, tolerate it just fine.
Molly Jo Rosen, managing member of ownership syndicate Post Parade Racing, says that ultimately, the practice can be “opening the book and throwing a dart at it.”
“In the pinhooking market you have to spend the amount of money you’re wiling to lose … What we look for is obviously conformation, but more though, we look for body type,” she said. “We look for ‘What does that horse remind me of?’”
Rosen has extensive experience clocking horses on the California racing circuit, and is used to noticing body type and proportion differences between different types of runners.
In the January market she says, most pinhookers are looking to sell in the September or October yearling sales, since waiting for the spring two-year-old auctions would mean over a year’s investment before return.
The preparation of (and investment into) pinhooked horses for sale isn’t much different than those who haven’t yet made their first pass through the auction ring, according to Rosen. Younger horses go to the owner’s farm of choice and spend their days much as they did before sale—eating, sleeping, and growing. Daily rates for space, feed, and care of horses can range anywhere from $22 to $35 for central Kentucky farms.
The amount of exercise a yearling receives in preparation for sale varies based on consignor or body type more so than whether or not it is a pinhooked horse.
Thoroughbreds are typically taught to accept a saddle, bridle, and rider in the fall of their yearling year, and will begin working on the track as two-year-olds. Two-year-old-in-training sales feature public workouts for buyers, but they are typically over set, short distances and don’t require any different type of training or skills for pinhooked sale horses.
There is a potential to make huge profits, however. Rosen recalls one yearling she purchased with partners for $12,000 in September and later sold for $115,000 in April. She purchased another in the same price range and turned down over $100,000 for him later. In the end, the owners decided to keep the horse because it had grown into such a great racing prospect. That’s the key, according to Rosen—pinhookers should have a back-up plan in case their investment isn’t ready for sale as planned, or doesn’t bring its minimum price, and that could include a trip to the starting gate.
“There comes a point where you take a shot for the money, and it’s got to be right for the money … you’re not always going to be right.”
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Keeneland January’s fifth and final session finished Friday with gains over the 2012 edition. In total, this year’s gross receipts were $45,207,300 (up 19 percent over last year), with an average of $40,912 (up 8 percent from last year), and a median of $15,000 (no change from last year).
This year’s auction surpassed last year’s in gross sales during Wednesday’s session.
The day’s topper was Hip 1850, a yearling colt by Kitten’s Joy who sold for $100,000 to Greendale Bloodstock. Out of a Stephen Got Even mare, the colt was consigned by Hill ‘n’ Dale Sales.
The 2012 January sale spanned only four days, so there is no fifth session for comparison to this year’s numbers. Friday’s gross sales came to $1,518,700 with an average of $8,391, and median of $4,000. The percentage of horses not attaining reserve was 33.2 percent for Friday, with a cumulative percentage of 25.2.
While Keeneland’s Walt Robertson, vice president of sales, deemed the RNA percentage “acceptable”, he says it was higher than he would have liked, and may reflect a higher standard on the part of buyers.