who buys weanlings?

[Toccet02]

Big farms, to toss them in with their big groups of farm weanlings?
Can't imagine small farms would buy and wait all that time to break and train the horse.

[LB]

The majority of them are bought by pinhookers who plan to sell them at the yearling sales in July, August, and September.

A few of the higher priced ones (in November, not this sale) go to end users.

[Toccet02]

what does end user mean, exactly?

[Sysonby]

I'm not LB but I interpreted the remark as meaning the buyer who ultimately races the horse.

In addition to pinhookers, sometimes at certain levels, really exceptional weanlings are bought by "bargain" hunters who can afford the weanling but not the yearling they hope will develop from it and the difference in board is way less than the difference in value.

[Vindicated]

I agree-
IMO even a smaller owner-perhaps one that owns their own place would buy weanlings to race.
I have never really thought about it, we have purchased weanlings at mixed sales a few times, dirt cheap usually-and they tended to outrun (or bigger sale prices than) our homebreds-

I would think that if you (or someone you know) has a good eye for conformation, and a place to store them-weanlings may be a better buy than yearlings in the long run. I never really thought about it honestly-but I know alot of yearlings have already started training by the time they get to the sales-and I am not a huge fan of that idea.

[KBEquine]

We bought a weanling Dec., 2007, to either pinhook or race ourselves - she's technically always for sale & in fact went through the FT Midlantic Yearling sale, but went through the sales ring on the same day the stock market took that huge drop, so got bids, but didn't sell.

We brought her home planning to break her & either sell her when broke & galloping or race her ourselves, because we're not too keen on the schedule you need to follow to have one ready for the 2 y.o. in training sales.

Unfortunately, my husband, who would have been doing the breaking because that's what he does, broke his ankle, ending any filly breaking for the immediate future, any way. So I suppose she's a little "more for sale" than before, although I'm more confident with her than with many that if we can get her to the track, she'll reward us for our efforts.

But for us - buy a weanling filly, throw her in the weanling filly herd at home made financial sense because we can raise her for less than we could buy her for, at her sire's average yearling price, any way. Plus she has an active G1 winner under her 2nd dam & her own dam earned more than $100k, so we figured she has a shot at being a race mare if she doesn't sell, so we tried to contain the risk to what we could afford.

In addition to the filly we pinhooked, we also took a homebred filly by a non-commercial regional sire to the sale & while she didn't get a bid in the ring, we sold her for an amount comfortably above the minimum bid at the sale & will be getting payments from her first 2 wins [knock on wood] plus breeders' money if she wins, since she was bought by a trainer who rarely runs outside of PA & does very well in PA - and happens to like offspring of that non-commercial regional sire. He offered us the same deal on the pinhooked filly, but it wasn't as attractive because when you pinhook, you get cash from the sale but not the breeders' money.

[Heidilady]

In addition to the filly we pinhooked, we also took a homebred filly by a non-commercial regional sire to the sale & while she didn't get a bid in the ring, we sold her for an amount comfortably above the minimum bid at the sale & will be getting payments from her first 2 wins [knock on wood] plus breeders' money if she wins, since she was bought by a trainer who rarely runs outside of PA & does very well in PA - and happens to like offspring of that non-commercial regional sire. He offered us the same deal on the pinhooked filly, but it wasn't as attractive because when you pinhook, you get cash from the sale but not the breeders' money.

Out of curiosity, what was the stallion? I enjoy PA sires, I think they're underrated. Sort of a diamond in the rough stallion population where people are more realistic about their chances and breed mares that might actually fit them instead of paying too much and sending in mismatches in KY.

[KBEquine]

In addition to the filly we pinhooked, we also took a homebred filly by a non-commercial regional sire to the sale . . .

Out of curiosity, what was the stallion? I enjoy PA sires, I think they're underrated. Sort of a diamond in the rough stallion population where people are more realistic about their chances and breed mares that might actually fit them instead of paying too much and sending in mismatches in KY.

The stallion is Duckhorn by Not For Love - his first foals are 4 y.o.s of 2009, I believe. While he has had just 7 winners, he was not himself a 2 year old winner - I think he got better as he got older & am curious how his just turned 4 y.o.s will do.

He was supported fairly well in terms of quantity, although I get the impression many breeders who booked to him early on didn't have a good plan for getting their foals to the track, which might also help explain that low number of winners, in addition to the fact his offspring are not likely to be precocious.

While we bought the mare in foal & didn't actually plan the mating, I've always liked Duckhorn - he is a big, well-balanced attractive stallion. On paper, it was a good cross - I like the sex-balanced crosses in the interior of the pedigree; the folks at Werk made the rating an A++ 11,000% or some such. The filly was very attractive & we are anxious to see her race, although her owner/trainer doesn't expect her to start as a 2 y.o., and since she has some growing to do, we'll be happy to wait, too.

[Bid]

Weanlings are actually a good alternative to breeding to race. It costs less overall and you're cutting out a lot of risks as well as getting a variety of pedigrees to choose from. Often a good horse is overlooked as a weanling-especially if you like turf Not that we've been successful in any facet of this game, but our most talented horse was a weanling purchase. We bought 2 in 06 that now are looking great as 2yr olds. I probably couldn't afford them if I had to buy them now.

[Bid]

Make that 07. Time flies when you're signing checks. Another thought is that we send them to the best people so we know the type of care they get which eliminates issues and hidden timebombs.

[Toccet02]

:oops: Make that 07. Time flies when you're signing checks. Another thought is that we send them to the best people so we know the type of care they get which eliminates issues and hidden timebombs.

That's OK. I was just telling someone that a 2YO I have a connection to "has yet to race!!"
uh . . . like all the current 2YO's? I was subconsciously thinking she was 3; confusion between foaling years and sale years always gets me.

[gc 53]

When are the first sales where weanlings would be included? Mid Summer or?
Thanks,
Gary

[madelyn]

There is only one sale in KY at which weanlings are sold (I don't know about other sales states) and that is Keeneland November. Well Fasig Tipton has a November select sale also that a few weanlings might get accepted for. Keeneland January includes horse of all ages, as does Fasig Tipton February, but at that time weanlings have become short yearlings.

[Bid]

Fasig Tipton Timonium, MD and the FT Texas sale @ Lone Star are both in December each year.