NY Means Business: Horse Business

 

“New York is Open for Business,” including the horse business!

Executive Director Tracy Egan of the New York Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund visited the grounds of the Fasig -Tipton Sales Pavilion in Saratoga Springs to spread the word that she is confident in the future of both racing and the Fund’s programs.

“Our award programs are pegged to purses that give horses a chance to pay their own way, and the awards encourage breeders to produce horses of increasingly better quality in order to qualify for an award,” Egan shared with customers looking over the weanlings, broodmares and horses of racing age on the sales grounds. Egan said it appeared to her that the majority of potential buyers on the grounds were doing their homework thoroughly, as they asked handlers to bring out the weanlings time and again for viewing and copious note-taking.

Bloodstock agent Carol Murray appeared to be looking at every weanling on the grounds, and said she was “confident I’ll find several good prospects for my clients to bring right back here next August” (for the Preferred Sale).

Glen Brock, who pinhooks and handles bookings for Brook Ledge Horse Transportation, says he hopes to find a few pregnant mares to upgrade some broodmare bands in Pennsylvania. He also has a shopping list from his daughter, who wants a weanling or two to prep in hopes of seeing at least a threefold return on her investment when she brings it back to public auction.

Breeder Joe McMahon of McMahon Thoroughbreds addressed the 800-pound elephant on the sales grounds when he told people that he “takes the Governor (Cuomo) at his word when he says he believes thoroughbred racing and breeding can contribute even more to the state’s economy.” McMahon points to the Governor’s Travers Day message, in which he acknowledges that the Mid-Summer Derby “ is a showcase day for the great State of New York. Saratoga draws the very best horses and riders to the nation’s most beautiful racetrack.” More importantly, added McMahon, is that “the Governor understands that thousands of families across New York depend on the state’s horse racing industry. He said so in that Travers’ message and he’s not going to let down the farm workers and backstretch employees, nor the breeders and trainers.”

The New York breeders and consignors who are selling at the Tuesday, October 9th sale may be rivals in the sales ring, but they reach consensus on one point: this sale is a wonderful opportunity for breeders to find an end user who may race their weanling prospects, or to search for a mare who will be a step or two above what they already own.

Egan predicts that the sale will establish the need for a Columbus Day weekend sale in Saratoga on an ongoing basis. Consignor Harry “Chip” Landry expects the sale to become a fixture on the F-T calendar “if they make money. And they will.”

Visitors are welcome at the sales grounds beginning at 8 a.m., with the first horse entering the auction ring at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, October 9th.

Contact: Executive Director Tracy Egan
518-580-0100

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