Industry faces trouble as supply outstrips buyer demand

What is the problem?

A key measure of the health of the bloodstock market is the clearance rate – the percentage of lots in an auction that find a buyer. In an ideal world, 100 per cent of those on offer would change hands for big profits; but that is rarely the case, as vendors set reserves on their horses and will take them back home if the value is not met in the ring. Vendors are also able to bid on their own stock and can end up 'buying a horse in' if other bidders don't reach what is deemed to be a fair price.

Clearance rates have been the talk of this year's British and Irish Flat yearling sales season, which kicked off in Doncaster in August with the Goffs UK Premier and Silver sales, continued over the Irish Sea at Goffs and Tattersalls Ireland, and reached its climax this month with £140 million spent on horseflesh at Tattersalls in Newmarket during the October Yearling Sales.