the news
Enable named the Cartier Horse of the Year for a second time ENABLE WAS NAMED the 2019 Cartier Horse Of The Year at the 29th annual Cartier racing awards, European horseracing’s equivalent of the Oscars. Bred by owner Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms, the five-year-old mare
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added a further three Group 1 successes to her remarkable CV in 2019. This is the second time Enable has been crowned Cartier Horse Of The Year, with the great mare having previously taken the top honour in 2017. She becomes just the third horse to be a two-time Cartier Horse Of The Year after Frankel (2011 and 2012) and Ouija Board (2004 and 2006). The Nathaniel mare, the only Europeanbased filly or mare to gather career earnings of over £10 million in prize-money, remains in training for 2020.
She is also the Cartier older horse for 2019 and equals the record of the legendary Frankel, another Juddmonte homebred, in gaining five Cartier Racing Awards, having also been named Cartier three-year-old filly in 2017 and Cartier older horse in 2018. The Cartier/Daily Telegraph Award Of Merit for 2019 went to former jockey Pat Smullen. One of the outstanding jockeys of his generation and a nine-time champion in his native Ireland, Smullen received the news of his pancreatic cancer diagnosis in 2018. It led to his retirement from the saddle,
Good value was to be had in Book 1, but buyers must always bear in mind an “exit strategy” and not buy on a whim
T
HE WORD “DISCONNECTED” has been widely used in recent political commentaries to highlight the fact that our parliamentarians seem to be so out-of-sync with public opinion. The same thoughts on being disconnected came to mind when mentally reviewing the past month of yearling and horses in training sales. I have come to the conclusion that many buyers at Park Paddocks conveniently leave their brains in the car park and studiously avoid the multitude of facts and statistics that abound to give guidance as to where to find value in the sales ring. For some buyers, the problems start with their diary dates. While there are some breeders and pin-hookers who
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focus on the Tattersalls October Book 2 or 3 catalogues, there is absolutely no doubt that the large majority of the best stock is offered at Tattersalls Book 1. Admittedly, the 2019 average of 258,000gns and median of 150,000gns might frighten many potential investors, but it is our experience that this is the very best sale for getting a bargain. Highlighting this, consider that record-breaking trainer Mark Johnston bought 14 lots for an average of 85,000gns and only one of those purchases was for more than the sale average! Apart from value there is also the chance of winning a £25,000 sale bonus if your yearling wins a qualifying race. Two of our own agency purchases were for less than 30,000gns, so a qualifying win would have the purchase
price back straight away. With training fees continuing to rise but prize-money remaining static, many buyers favour the idea of buying a precocious sort who could win in the early part of a two-year-old campaign. Yes, that may provide more immediate owner satisfaction, but it does not help the overall financial considerations. Both training fees and capital expenditure have to be considered. An exit strategy is essential for any venture into racing and this entails making a plan to maximise/minimise any possible capital revaluations at the end of the envisaged training period. I suspect that this is far from prospective owners’ thoughts when entering Tattersalls to buy a future champion.
