The Secrets to Selling a Horse to Hong Kong
"If done right over the long term it can become profitable."
As the latest shipment to Hong Kong sends the likes of Group 3 winner Archives from Australian shores, bloodstock agent Dave Mee has shared some insight into preparing a horse for Hong Kong buyers. Mee, principal of Pinhook Bloodstock and a recommended agent on G1Xchange.com, has had plenty of success buying both raced and unraced Australian horses on behalf of clients overseas, particularly in Asia. One of those was Go Baby Go, a son of Medal Of Honor. Mee bought the three-year-old in 2011 off a Cranbourne trial and placed the horse with a Hong Kong client. Now a nine-year-old, the gelding has raked in more than AU$1.5 million from 55 starts and eight wins in Hong Kong.
But the demand for proven stock in Hong Kong has prompted the Hong Kong Jockey Club to make alterations to the criteria for a prospective import; finding a horse qualified for export has become much tougher which has in turn driven prices up. "For raced horses, in the last 18 months they (HKJC) have changed the base rating to Hong Kong (rating) 70 to try and raise the level of quality of the population," Mee said. "It’s created a shift in the market place. A lightly raced two or three-year-old that had won a provincial race at Mornington or Hawksebury used to qualify them for import into Hong Kong, but that’s no longer the case. "It took a while for everyone to find their feet in terms of the quality of horse needed to reach that level and the price that had to be paid to secure those horses. "Now, generally speaking, to be up to a Hong Kong 70 rating a horse has to be better than a midweek Melbourne or Sydney level." READ: Talented Godolphin colt sold to Hong Kong.
Mee says it is not as easy as simply making a healthy offer to a qualified horse, the prominence of syndicate ownership in Australia means that minor share holders can often make deals difficult. "For any horse I am either asked to sell or proactively make an approach on to buy, I will email the Hong Kong handicapper to confirm where each horse sits in terms of ratings and then approach the owners," he said.
"I keep an eye on all two and three-year-old races and if I think a particular horse looks promising I'll keep tabs on them moving forward to see if they can eventually qualify. "But with record prizemoney in Australia, the reduced numbers of qualified horses that are actually available, and the fact that more horses are owned by syndicates, it’s making it harder and harder to buy the nice horses. "If I see a horse is owned by 20 people or if they paid $200,000-plus for it as a yearling, I know it’s generally going to be a waste of time. Money talks all languages of course but you get to know who’s a seller and who’s not."
Mee said the "smarter guys" play a numbers game. "They might buy four or six yearlings between $20,000 and $50,000, get them into the system and up to the point of a trial to assess their talent," he said. "Some are sold as trial horses to Asia, some are kept to continue racing in Australia to maybe try and qualify as a raced horse and some will be culled to race in weaker jurisdictions. "If done right over the long term it can become profitable and a self-funding enterprise."
So what does the Asian market demand? “Generally a horse has to be at least 15.3 (hands) and 480kg. Generally the Asian market equates height and good body weight to speed – of course, that’s not always true, but they do like bigger horses," Mee said.
“People sometimes call me up and say they’ve got a half-brother to a horse in Hong Kong but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will stimulate interest from buyers. Unless it’s a close relation to a Hong Kong Group horse like a Rapper Dragon or an Able Friend, it doesn’t always get much traction."
And are there hot stallions? Well, yes, of course there are, but Mee will keep that information to himself. “I’d be blowing my cover if I told you who were up and coming stallions in Hong Kong that are flying under the radar but there are certainly stock of stallions I’ll be targeting at this year’s yearling sales with a view to on selling to Hong Kong," he said. "Starcraft is a good example of a horse that was flying under the radar – a year ago he was good old Starcraft getting his fair share of winners, but I could see there were some nice horses both racing and coming through the system up in Hong Kong. "It doesn’t always work out as you’d like, but as luck would have it in recent months his stocks have risen dramatically and he has numerous high class gallopers progressing through the ranks and he's doing really well up there. "From a buyer's perspective this year though, especially for those looking to pinhook and trade, his cover has pretty much been blown." BY DAMIEN RACTLIFFE - @DAMIENRACTLIFFE https://www.g1x.com.au